FOM Newsletter August 2001
Morocco Week in Review
 August 11,  2001

The number of people who benefited from the anti-illiteracy programs in 2000-2001 reached 301,500 persons, compared to 233,6000 in 1999-2000 and 107,490 in 1995-1996. According to statistics released by the department of employment, vocational training, social development and solidarity, 130,035 attended state-managed literacy programs, another 10,4000 took the courses organized by the Habous (Islamic endowments) and Islamic affairs ministry, 105,490 benefited from non-governmental organizations programs and another 3,500 persons attended literacy courses held by enterprises.

The source also explains that customized literacy programs were developed according to the targeted social and professional groups. In 2000-2001, several sessions were held for the training of 516 instructors on pedagogy and reproductive health concepts. A percentage of 70% of recipients were women, compared to 67% in the previous campaign. Rural women accounted for 85% of the rural people who attended the literacy courses.  Ongoing programs target to reach in the three coming years over 1.5 million persons.

The US Trade and Development Agency (TDA) extended Morocco's ONEP (National Office of Drinking Water) a $400,000 grant to finance a feasibility study on the use of ozonation in water treatment and filtration by active coal. The grant agreement was signed on Wednesday by US ambassador Margaret Tutwiler and ONEP Director General, Ali Fassi Fihri. The new technique, to be adopted in the Bou Regreg water treatment facility, will replace water treatment by chlorine, using ozonation followed by filtration on activated coal. Such a substitution would improve water quality produced by this important water treatment facility, which supplies four million persons living in the coastal zone between Sale and Casablanca. The selected American consultant will examine technical options and prepare a financing strategy. Earlier this week the US Agency also extended Morocco's Office of oil prospecting and exploitation a $399,880 grant for a feasibility study to support a Geographic Information System and Information Technology Project. ONAREP will select an American contractor to design a GIS-based "information flow system" for oil and natural gas exploration and production in Morocco.

http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/010809/2001080921.html

The US Trade and Development Agency (TDA) extended Morocco's ONAREP (National Office of Oil Research and Exploration) a $399,880 grant for a feasibility study to support a Geographic Information System and Information Technology Project. The grant agreement was signed on Monday by US ambassador Margaret Tutwiler and Amina Benkhadra, ONAREP Director General. Under the accord, ONAREP will select an American contractor to design a GIS-based "information flow system" for oil and natural gas exploration and production in Morocco. The recommended system solution will enhance and optimize present operations inside ONAREP by virtue of improved information management exchange for geo-technical, commercial and financial data. It will also create an open architecture to allow the efficient transfer of essential information between the proposed GIS system on the one hand and geo-technical analysis and interpretation workstations and financial and accounting systems on the other. The contractor will be responsible for building a template to cover the upstream oil and gas sector in Morocco (including a national map) including the following modules: a concessions database; a seismic database; a well database; a production database capable of generating production history graphics; stratigraphy; a catalog of information; drilling data; reservoir engineering data; geo-chemical data and core analysis data. Also provided will be financing options, environmental analysis, regulatory issues, implementation plan and staffing and training requirements.

King's decision to create Amazigh institute welcomed by Amazigh cultural associations.

The National commission of the Amazigh manifesto said it is proud over the decision announced last July 30 by King Mohammed VI to set up a royal institute of Amazigh culture. The commission expressed hope, in a statement sent to MAP, that the royal decision, which it described as wise, will be put in practice shortly and will be the first step towards the constitutional recognition of the Amazigh language as a national and official language. The commission also hoped that other grievances of the Amazigh movement will be met. In a related development, the BBC radio station broadcast on Saturday a program on the issue, moderated by a host of Moroccan intellectuals. Ahmed Dgharni, an attorney, said this is undoubtedly a positive step that should be hailed and supported until the institute becomes reality. He also hoped that the Dahir (royal decree) will give large prerogatives to the institute. 

In his Throne Day speech, the king announced a project to set up a Royal Institute of the Amazigh Culture in a bid to preserve and promote this culture which he considered as a component of national richness. The institute will promote the Amazigh culture and will participate, along with concerned ministerial departments, in conceiving and following up the process to integrate the teaching of Amazigh language in the Moroccan educational system, the sovereign explained. The institute will also propose appropriate policies to consolidate the place of Amazigh in the national social, cultural and media space as well as in the local and regional affairs, King Mohammed VI said, adding the move falls in the frame of the new concept of authority meant to enable "the regions of the kingdom to run their own affairs, within local democracy and the unity of the nation." Several Amazigh (Berber) cultural associations and organizations expressed in a collective statement pride and satisfaction over the royal decision, hailing "the rehabilitation of Tamzight (Berber language) as a component of the Moroccan identity." They also considered the king's speech on his 2nd enthronement anniversary as a program that will usher Morocco in modernity and offer assets for a democratic society able to face challenges of the 3rd millennium.

Recognizing Tamazight as a component of national identity is a historic milestone in the sovereign's will to make of Morocco a space of tolerance, diversity, brotherhood and openness, they said. Rehabilitating Tamazight will open a new era of development of the Moroccan cultural and civilization legacy, the associations said. The statement was signed by Ouzzin Aherdan, for the youth branch of the National Popular Movement (MNP), Abdelwahed Driouche, for the "Tifinagh" magazine, Moukhliss Moha, for the "Amougguer" cultural association, Ali Alansari for Agraw Amazigh and Mohammed Bouichi for the preparatory committee of the national popular youth congress.

Rabat - The ministry of agriculture, rural development, water and forests announced the servicing of a toll free phone line where citizens can report on problems of poor quality of food, packaging or labeling. The service will be operational starting August 6 from Monday through Saturday. It is destined to help prevent food intoxications and improve the efficiency of food products quality control.

Morocco's veterinary and agronomic institute will sponsor next October 7-10 an international conference on biologic agriculture as a healthy, economical and environment-friendly production system. The encounter, to be held with the collaboration of the Bari Mediterranean Agronomic Institute (Italy) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), will bring together farming scientists and professionals from many countries to debate latest scientific techniques and their use in production and marketing systems. Debates will also deal with regulations, control and certification standards, fertility management and the use of modern techniques in various farming sectors. Some 200 researchers, industrialists, producers and specialists from Morocco, the Maghreb, the USA, Australia, Europe, south America and Europe will be attending the scientific forum.

Morocco and Japan signed on Wednesday documents under which Japan extends the municipal open-air theater in Marrakesh a four million Dirham-grant (US$ 363,600) to purchase lighting and sound equipment. The open-air theater, designed according to Arab-Islamic architecture, has a capacity of 1,200 seats. It is built in the form of an amphitheater with a semi-circle stage. Since 1981, Japan financed 13 cultural projects in Morocco for a total amount of 47 million DH (US$ 4.27 million).

The number of Moroccan expatriates who sailed from Spanish southern ports to spend summer holidays at home reached on Tuesday a record number of one million people. According to sources from the committee supervising the transit operation in Spain, from June 15 through Aug.7, some 1,009,862 Moroccans and 240,320 cars sailed from the ports of Algesiras, Almeria, and Malaga towards Tangiers, Nador and Moroccan occupied towns of Sebta and Melillia. A total of 2,424 shuttles were operated from June 15 to Aug.8 between Spanish southern ports and Moroccan northern ones. Starting from Aug.7, the pace of embarking at the Spanish ports slowed down as the return season starts. On Wednesday alone, a total of 12,792 Moroccan expatriates embarked from the Spanish southern ports towards Morocco.  

http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/010810/2001081020.html

Moroccan expatriates have deposited at Moroccan banks over the period running from January 2000 to June 2001 some 61.3 billion DH (about $5.33 billion), reported Moroccan daily L'Economiste. This figure marks an increase of 12.6%, said the daily, quoting the Moroccan Banks professional grouping. The Moroccan expatriates' remittances have increased during the first six months of 2001 by 23% and might exceed 24 billion DH (some $2.08 billion) by the end of the year, compared to 21 billion DH in 2000 (about $1.82 billion), the daily wrote. Some 966,868 Moroccan nationals settled in Europe have crossed the strait of Gibraltar, from June 15 up to August 5, coming back home for summer holidays. Compared to the past year, the number of Moroccans having sailed from Spanish ports to Moroccan shores have increased by 7 percent, the transit operation coordination committee told MAP. Ferry boats have made some 2,290 shuttles between the two banks of the strait in this period.

RABAT, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Morocco's trade gap for the first five months of the year rose 10.3 percent to 18.9 billion dirhams ($1.62 billion) due mainly to a continuing decline in exports, the finance ministry said on Tuesday. The value of export in the January-May period shrank 2.0 percent to 31.7 billion dirhams due to a 27.6 percent drop in food, beverages and tobacco exports and a 32.8 percent fall in agricultural products, the ministry said in a report. Both falls stemmed from a drought that has hit the North African country for the past two years, an analyst said. Imports rose 2.2 percent to 50.6 billion dirhams, nudged by a 24.2 percent rise in cereals imports and a 16.5 percent leap in semi-processed product imports. Imports, excluding cereals, rose only 0.8 percent. "The pace of foreign trade growth has clearly declined at the end of May to 0.6 percent in 2001 from 13.8 percent in 2000," the ministry said. The cover ratio of exports to imports slid to 62.7 percent from 66.3 percent a month earlier and 65.4 percent a year ago. The European Union is Morocco's main trade partner accounting for almost two thirds of foreign exchange earnings.

($1=11.643 Moroccan dirhams) (Rabat newsroom, +212-37 720065 fax +212-37 722499, rabat.newsroom@reuters.com))

A leading Moroccan politician has called for an inquiry into the government's involvement in the torture and death of opposition activists in the 1970s. "In Morocco's dark years, violence and torture were systematic methods in police stations and secret detention centres," Ahmed Bendjelloun told the weekly Assahifa in an interview yesterday. Human rights groups say the security authorities have opened several secret torture and detention "dungeons" from the 1960s. The most notorious is Dar el Moqri, in Rabat. "While in detention in the 1970s, I heard of mass graves near orange trees at Dar el Moqri," Mr Bendjelloun, a prominent lawyer and leading figure in the Avant-Garde Democratic and Socialist party, said. He said he was tortured for weeks, not to extract information but to demonstrate the power of the military establishment.

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