Morocco Expels Syrian Ambassador

Here is a piece from Reuters on Morocco's decision to expel the Syrian envoy while calling for a democratic transition in Syria saying that Syria cannot remain "as-is."  Our prayers are with the people of Syria. 
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Morocco expels Syrian envoy, Damascus retaliates

By Souhail Karam

RABAT | Mon Jul 16, 2012 9:38am EDT
 

(Reuters) - Morocco ordered the Syrian ambassador on Monday to leave the North African kingdom and called for a transition to democracy in Syria, and Damascus retaliated by declaring the Moroccan ambassador there persona non grata.
Rabat's move followed the defection last week of Syria's ambassador to Iraq and the flight the week before of a prominent general once close to Assad - developments that Western officials said showed that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was losing his grip on power as the rebellion against him drags on.

Earlier on Monday rumors circulated that the ambassador to Rabat, Nabih Ismail, had also defected to the rebel side. A Syrian embassy official denied this but had no further comment.
Morocco's Foreign Ministry did not immediately explain the timing or the reason for its decision to expel Ismail, but said in a statement the situation in Syria "cannot remain as it is".

It added that Morocco wished for "an efficient and resolute action to ensure a political transition towards a democratic setup that guarantees Syria's unity, stability and regional safety to achieve the brotherly Syrian people's aspirations for dignity, freedom and development."

Ambassador Ismail and his deputy Anwar Mohamed were not immediately available for comment, but the Syrian government struck back quickly by declaring Morocco's ambassador Mohamed Ikhssasi persona non grata as well.
Morocco had already recalled Ikhssasi in November 2011, and Monday's decision to kick out Ismail was the latest in a series of diplomatic expulsions that have increased Assad's international isolation as Syrian rebels gain strength.

Ali Anouzla, editor of independent online newspaper Lakome.com, said Rabat may have sought to avoid diplomatic embarrassment by ejecting the Syrian envoy ahead of the next meeting of Friends of Syria - Assad's opponents in the West, the Arab world plus Turkey - that it is scheduled to host soon.

"It (expulsion) feels very belated," he said.
In May, the United States, France, Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia, Bulgaria and Switzerland all turfed out Syrian diplomats in response to a massacre of 108 people in the town of Houla in May. Japan followed suit.
Morocco's North African neighbors Tunisia and Libya, which saw their own dictators swept away in last year's Arab Spring uprisings, expelled Syrian diplomats as far back as February.

Morocco itself was rocked by pro-democracy demonstrations, inspired by Arab Spring uprisings, last year to demand a constitutional monarchy, less corruption and poverty.

Unlike in Syria, where initial unrest was met with a military crackdown, the Moroccan protests abated after King Mohammed floated a charter of democratic reforms and let moderate Islamists take over the government for the first time.

(Writing by Lin Noueihed, editing by Mark Heinrich)

Prime Minister of Mali asks Morocco for Help with Unrest

Following up on the last post, the Prime Minister of Mali visited Morocco to ask for assistance with the current political and cultural violence going on in the country.  Here is an  article  about the situation from al-Magharebia.
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Mali calls on Morocco for help

2012-07-09

Morocco needs to use its international clout to help bring stability to Mali, the Malian prime minister said in Rabat.

By Siham Ali for Magharebia in Rabat – 09/07/12 

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Malian Prime Minister Cheikh Modibo Diarra on Friday (July 6th) concluded a two-day visit to Rabat to discuss the Mali crisis, Sahel security and bilateral co-operation.

"I came here to ask Morocco, the king, the government and the people, to use of the faith that the international community has in it to help Mali regain its integrity and sovereignty by all possible means, especially diplomatic channels," Diarra told reporters after meeting with his Moroccan counterpart, Abdelilah Benkirane.

The aim of the visit was to highlight the current situation in Mali to Moroccan officials, he stressed.
"What is happening in Mali affects not only my country, but also the whole of Africa and the sub-region in particular," Diarra said.
Malian Minister of Communication Hamdoun Toure told Magharebia that both countries shared similar views. He welcomed Morocco's willingness to help Mali combat terrorism.

Meanwhile, Moroccan Foreign Minister Saad Eddine El Othmani said that his country was still playing an active role in handling the instability in Mali. All countries in the region must shoulder responsibility for seeking solutions to the serious problems faced by the country, especially the invasion of its northern region by terrorists, he said. Morocco, which takes a great interest in the Sahel region, is talking to different countries in order to find a solution to the crisis, El Othmani added.

Mohamed Cheikh Biadillah, the speaker of the Chamber of Councillors, commented that the talks with Malian officials focused on security threats in the Sahel region. The situation requires all parties to come together to restore security and tackle crime, he added.

All security matters in the Sahel and the Maghreb are of interest to Morocco, Chamber of Representatives Speaker Karim Ghellab agreed.
The country officially welcomed the adoption of the UN Security Council resolution on Mali on July 5th. Morocco has urged Sahel and Maghreb countries to co-operate more closely in combating al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and affiliated groups.

Regional security and humanitarian challenges should be tackled by "thwarting the secessionist desires of certain armed movements in the region and the activities of terrorist groups and armed movements in this region, as well as organised crime networks", Morocco's UN Ambassador Mohamed Loulichki said on July 5th.

For his part, Toure called for bilateral co-operation not only in security but social and economic domains. "Morocco has decided to double the assistance it gives Mali for education purposes. The number of students who come to Morocco each year will rise from the current level of fifty to one hundred," he said.

This content was commissioned for Magharebia.com.

Thousands Protest in Morocco Calling for Election Boycotts

Here is an article from Reuters with information on the protests that took place today in Rabat and other places in Morocco.
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Moroccans protest polls, violence in the capital
Sun Oct 23, 2011 10:38pm GMT

* Thousands call for boycott of Nov 25 polls

* Police beat, kick protesters in in Rabat

* King Mohammed promised fair and transparent polls

By Souhail Karam

RABAT, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Thousands of Moroccans demonstrated in cities across the country on Sunday, calling for a boycott of early parliamentary polls next month whose outcome will be key to the future of reforms crafted by the royal palace.

The protests are the latest in a series of regular peaceful demonstrations by the youth-led opposition February 20 Movement, inspired by uprisings that ousted leaders in Tunisia and Egypt to demand a parliamentary monarchy and punishment for officials accused of graft.

In the capital Rabat, a Reuters reporter saw dozens of riot police with truncheons beating and kicking protesters who had gathered in front of the parliament building at the end of a march by around 3,000 people.

A local elected official in the country's biggest city, Casablanca, said about 8,000 people took part in a similar protest there. Several thousand took part in protests in other cities including Fes and Tangier.

"These nationwide protests were held around the common theme of calling for a boycott of November 25 parliamentary polls," said Omar Radi, an activist from February 20 Movement's local committee in Rabat.

"It is obvious that the polls will bring to power the same figures who have for years been plundering the wealth of the country and holding hostage the future of the Moroccan population," he added.

King Mohammed has promised in recent speeches that the elections will be fair and transparent. The main opposition Justice and Development Party (PJD) has decried laws recently passed for the polls as doing too little to prevent vote-buying.

Under reforms approved in a July referendum, King Mohammed will hand over some powers to elected officials but will retain a decisive say over strategic decisions. The new government will draft laws enshrining a new constitution.

In March the 48-year-old monarch, reacting swiftly to protests inspired by the revolts in Tunisia and Egypt, promised to reduce his powers through changes in the constitution. The parliamentary poll was brought forward from September 2012.

But protesters in Rabat, joined for the first time this week by hundreds of jobless graduates, chanted "The elections are a charade, you will not fool us this time."

"Money and power must be separated," read a placard carried by the protesters, while many brandished pictures of the body of Muammar Gaddafi, the slain deposed leader of Libya, with the caption: "This is what happens to despots."

The charter drawn up by the king won near-unanimous support in a July referendum that critics said was itself far too hasty to allow proper debate.

Parliamentary elections have been held in Morocco for almost 50 years in what was widely perceived as window-dressing for the kingdom's Western allies. The king and a secretive court elite named the government and set key policies.

Their grip on power was helped by high illiteracy rates, an ingrained deference to a dynasty that claims descent from the Prophet Mohammad, and control over the media.

The interior ministry has used a mixture of repression and divide-and-rule tactics to tame political dissent. This has led many Moroccans to lose interest in politics: turnout at the last parliamentary polls was officially 37 percent. (Editing by Tim Pearce)

© Thomson Reuters 2011 All rights reserved

"Arab Spring" Disrupts Moroccan Tourism

Here is an article about the affect of the "Arab Spring" on the tourism industry in Morocco.
It seems that turmoil in one "Arab" country causes Western tourists to hesitate to visit them all. There is a benefit however in learning to become less dependent on tourist dollars and all of the strings attached to those dollars.
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'Arab Spring' hits Moroccan tourism

2011-09-30

By Siham Ali for Magharebia in Rabat – 30/09/11

It has been a tough year for tourism in Morocco. The Arab Spring, the Marrakech bombing, the economic slowdown and the fact that Ramadan coincided with August all took a heavy toll on the sector, Tourism Minister Yasser Znagui said last week.

The sector growth dropped by 6% in the first half of the year compared with the same period last year. Znagui admitted that the growth was weak but added that it was higher than the global average of 4.5%.

Despite a downward trend, Morocco fared better this year than other North African countries. Tunisia witnessed a decrease in tourist arrivals by more than a third, and Egyptian tourism fell by 60%.

"Morocco is the only tourist destination in the region that came away with its head held high in 2011 despite a difficult situation marked in particular by the Arab revolutions," the tourism minister said on September 21st at Top Resa, France's biggest tourism fair.

Sociologist Amine Mrabti echoed the sentiment. The Arab world is perceived as a uniform whole by Westerners, he said, and events in one country affect the others on all levels.

Many industry insiders were disappointed with the figures. Ramadan, the beginning of the school year and regional turmoil have impacted tourism, said travel agent Mohamed Charrati.

"A lot of people opted to postpone their travels," he said. "We've coped so far, but we fear the worst. Officials must come up with effective and fast solutions to support us and turn things around."

Domestic tourism should be encouraged by means of attractive offers, said economist Moha Zaki, and Morocco's strategy on advertising in foreign countries should be reconsidered.

The tourism ministry vowed to ramp up its advertising campaign. The focal point will be the country's diversity, with various aspects to be promoted to potential visitors: the seaside, rural Morocco, ecotourism, mountains, the desert and so on. The campaign will target the traditional markets of Western Europe.