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FOM Newsletter July 2001

 Calendar information about cultural and community events in Morocco.   Events in Rabat, Casablanca, Fez, Tangier and throughout Morocco of possible interest to readers are included.  Updated weekly each Thursday.  Compiled as a community service by Carol McCreary.  Contact Carol to be included on the mailing list.

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    07/28 Week in Review:  News clips from Morocco
    07/21 Week in Review:  News clips from Morocco
    07/14 Week in Review:  News clips from Morocco
    07/07 Week in Review:  News clips from Morocco
    06/30 Week in Review:  News clips from Morocco

Compiled weekly by Mhamed El Kadi in Morocco and posted each Saturday on this site

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   Morocco's Future:  Arab, African, or European?

By Bradford Dillman in Foreign Policy Magazine

Commenting on the late King Hassan II's determination to bring Morocco into a free-trade zone with the European Union (EU), a Moroccan newspaper editor asked, "Where else can we look? To the south there is famine. To the east there is slaughter. To the west is the ocean. The north is our only horizon." As Morocco redefines its place in the world in the new millennium, will it lean more toward Europe, weakening its roots in the Arab world and disassociating itself from the troubles of sub-Saharan Africa? Globalization will pull the country toward its liberal, industrialized neighbors across the Strait of Gibraltar. Nevertheless, this kingdom at the crossroads of many civilizations will continue to orient itself in many directions at the same time. Its future identity will depend on how politicians and citizens respond to global pressures for democratization, economic reform, and human resource development. By balancing and absorbing the cultural, political, and economic influences from surrounding regions, Morocco may remain one of the most peaceful, stable, and pluralistic countries in the Arab and African world.  MORE

   Morocco and the CIA

The coming to the throne of King Mohammed VI in July 1999 allowed Moroccans to discover gruesome details about the magnitude of disappearances and deaths under torture during the reign of his father, Hassan II.

On the taxi ride from Marrakesh airport to La Palmeraie, Morocco is as I remembered it. Drunk with fatigue, prickling uncomfortably in the humid night air, we drift through an eery, biblical landscape that reeks of rotting garbage, bonfires and abject poverty.

   TITOUAN, Morocco, 24 July -- King Muhammad VI of Morocco has said that there are no political prisoners in his country. "Now there is not a single political prisoner in Morocco," he told Asharq Al-Awsat, a sister publication of Arab News.

'Morocco' that's all kif and kaftans, isn't it?" said a wit.  Not in my experience.  I asked for a tailor-made, family-only, discovery tour and got it.  In March, winter-drear Highlands vanished beneath us through a murky dawn to be replaced, two air-hops later, by post-Haj celebrations in silken-aired Marrakesh, complete with a Maroc- orange sunset.

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Alastair Hendy gets in a stew in our second look at deliciously simple North African cuisine.

July 1 2001  Alstair Hendy. Sunday Times

   The mobile monarch: The euphoria that came with King Mohammed VI's accession to the throne has dissipated together with hopes of progressive reform.

Paralyzed Saharan kingdom is failing to implement democratization, warns second in line to throne.  RABAT Morocco's slow democratization process was in danger of unraveling, according to a member of the North African country's royal family.

Jul 10 2001 Business Day 1st Edition

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   Country profile: Morocco.

The Kingdom of Morocco is the most westerly of the North African countries known as the Maghreb. Strategically situated with both Atlantic and Mediterranean coastlines, but with a rugged mountainous interior, the country remained independent for centuries while developing a rich culture blended from Arab, Berber, European and African influences.

Are your pals all leaving the city this summer for exotic vacations, leaving you behind to contemplate the same four walls and the same limited bank account? A trip to Arlington might be your ticket to escape. For not much money, Taste of Morocco will treat you like a pooh-bah.

   Foster Wheeler: Foster Wheeler awarded contract for refinery expansion in Morocco.

Limited has been awarded a front-end engineering and design (FEED), feasibility study and project management contract (PMC) by Societe Anonyme Marocaine de L'Industrie du Raffinage, SAMIR, for the expansion of its Mohammedia Refinery. The project aims to increase capacity, maximize gasoil production and meet improved product quality specifications.

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Human rights groups in Morocco have demanded an inquiry following revelations surrounding the kidnapping and murder of 1960s opposition leader Mehdi Ben Barka.

Revelations have been emerging in France and Morocco about a political intrigue that has remained unresolved since the mid 1960s.

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    Battle to save cultural jewel.

Volubilis, one of the most important Roman sites in North Africa in under threat from growing visitors. British exports are hoping to help conserve it.

By Giles Tremlett in Larache, posted on Wednesday June 13, 2001 on The Guardian.

Street children who flee Morocco face beatings and abuse in Spanish enclave.

    Why Marrakesh is the place to be?

The Moroccan capital is attracting growing numbers of Brits looking for an exotic holiday home, writes Gordon Miller

    You've tasted the food, now try the wine. Morocco is the new new world and the rest of the gang had better take note.

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