Virtual Magazine of Morocco on the Web
Morocco Week in Review 
April 16 2005

Morocco: cold wave has had limited impact on produce exports
Liz Cheney: Morocco could be a model for countries of the region.
Morocco orphanage squalor revealed.
Thousands Circumcised in Morocco.
Conference on democratic transition in Morocco.
Voluntary early retirement: Take up of the program top 23,473.
"Aicha des Gazelles" Rally Race in Morocco.
Energy Efficient Buildings Planned in Morocco.
Moroccan Engineer Awarded at International Invention Fair.
Moroccans Based in US to Participate in Tangier Football
Rabat to host 'Mawazine-Rythmes du monde' festival.
25 million earmarked to rehabilitate Roman Volubilis site.
FIRST COURSE FOR IMAMS KICKS OFF.

Morocco: cold wave has had limited impact on produce exports

Tholen - The Moroccan minister of agriculture has confirmed the cold wave at the beginning of this year has had no substantial negative consequences for the fresh produce exports. According to the minister the total exports of early fruits and vegetables amounted 358 K tons at the end of March 2005, in comparison to 349 K during the same period in 2004. The total volume of citrus exported reached 355 K tons at the end of March 2005, representing an increase of 17% comparing to the same period in 2004. The damage to the crops varies greatly depending on the crop and region, but has impacted an area of 217K ha in total.
http://www.freshplaza.com/2005/14apr/1_ma_coldwave.htm 
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Liz Cheney: Morocco could be a model for countries of the region.
Politics, 4/14/2005

Liz Cheney, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs believes "Morocco could be a model for countries of the region," noting that "King Mohammed VI has put the country on the path of modernization while respecting Morocco's culture and traditions." Cheney, who ended Tuesday a three-day official visit to Morocco, told Morocco Times that reforms instituted in the north African country were among the top issues she discussed with Moroccan officials. "We have also discussed the new political parties' law and the new press code, which is before the parliament," she said, adding that talks also touched on education, notably girls' schooling.

On the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI)'s assistance to Morocco, Cheney said "we provide technical assistance as the (Moroccan) government looks at the reforms they need to implement once we have the FTA." The Free Trade Agreement (FTA), signed between the two countries in June 2004, eliminates tariffs on 95 percent of all bilateral trade between the United States and Morocco, and includes stringent protections for intellectual property and the environment. MEPI has granted USD 6 million to assist Morocco in the framework of the US-Moroccan FTA, and allocated USD 2 million to fund a programme related to the new family law (Mudawana). According to Cheney, MEPI aims to disseminate knowledge about the family law approved by the Moroccan parliament last year to promote the situation of women and enhance genre equality.

She pointed out that the purpose of programs like MEPI is to support "reforms coming from people themselves and from the government." "I think reforms are absolutely coming from the inside. Morocco is the model for the whole region in this regard." MEPI, she explained, is not trying to impose reforms from outside, noting that it supports "universal values including the right to education, the right to vote, the right to have a jobÉ etc." "These are a whole range of issues to which we will respond with our resources to the changes that are coming from people who live in each individual country," she said.
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/050414/2005041430.html 
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Morocco orphanage squalor revealed.
By Ahmad Amrawi Thursday 14 April 2005

Orphans of a Moroccan charity have taken their six-year struggle for justice to King Muhammad VI, resulting in the arrest of 10 staff members, including the director. For years, the 700 residents of the Ain Chock Islamic Charity House in Casablanca - said to be the largest orphanage in the Arab world and Africa - have endured squalid living conditions. The shelter has no health services and lacks potable water, according to Moroccan media reports. Despite residents' attempts to make public the conditions of the shelter, it was not until King Muhammad VI paid a surprise visit in April that an inquiry was started.

Arrests made
The king ordered an investigation that has resulted in the arrest of orphanage director Muhammad al-Kassi, its secretary-general and eight others on charges of embezzlement, misuse of public money and power, and document forgery. A police source told Aljazeera.net the investigation was continuing and more arrests of key personnel are expected. Moroccan media has reported that the suspects' property, as well as that of their families, has been seized and their bank accounts have been frozen. Before the king's visit, shelter residents gave a CD containing photos of the facility's living conditions to Zulikha Nasri, the king's adviser on social affairs.

Horrible conditions
Moroccan journalist Abd al-Wahid Mahir said the Ain Chock shelter, which was inaugurated by the late king Muhammad V in 1927, "has become a haven for drug addicts and delinquents". "Some residents prefer to be in jail than to remain there [at the shelter]," he said. "Bathrooms, showers, kitchen and dormitories lack sanitary and basic facilities. The place has turned to a den of cockroaches and mice. It also lacks maintenance services," Mahir said. One resident, Said Rafie, 30, who has lived in the shelter since he was six, described the conditions there to Aljazeera.net. "Official figures, which have been made public after the arrest of the defendants, show we should get meals with meat three times a week, which has never happened. Our daily lunch is either lentils or beans," said Rafie, who is a student at Casablanca Law University. "We have been starving, which forced some of us to go out to sell vegetables and cigarettes to make money to get food." Rafie, who is also a social activist, said he and his colleagues have been protesting since 1999. "We have used all means to attract attention to our ordeal," he said. "We have staged protests, we have written to newspapers telling them about our suffering. Unfortunately, our demands had always fallen on deaf ears."

Orphans
Rafie is one example of the 700 residents who have lived at the institute since they were children. Because they have no family and nowhere to go, they found no alternative but to stay even after becoming adults, Rafie said. Most are students and hope to one day find a job and live a decent life. Some residents leave the shelter and even manage to immigrate illegally to Europe, mainly Spain, in search of a better life. In one of the rooms of the shelter, pictures on the wall show those who have left for Europe and who still keep in contact with their friends at the shelter. The investigation is reviewing the charity's annual government funding and its expenses. Moroccan media quoted officials as saying the shelter last year received 10 million Moroccan dirhams ($1.2 million). Reports also revealed that the Ministry of Justice had granted the institution 800,000 dirhams.

Outrage
A copy of an Ain Chock document obtained by the Moroccan media indicated that the institution received a total of 8.2 million dirhams in 2002. The scandal has triggered outrage among Moroccans, many of whom have called for the maximum penalty for the accused. "The association, which was supposed to be a charity house, turned out to be a corporation, specialising in stealing orphans' money," Karima Rhanem, managing editor of the Morocco Times website, told Aljazeera.net. "What happened might certainly be a lesson for any irresponsible behaviour, those thinking of stealing public money.

Photos published
Another Moroccan said he was shocked when he saw the pictures of living conditions in the shelter published after the king's visit.
"That's a real crime. The residents live in a miserable situation, and thank God the king saved them," Khaled ben Yahya, an English teacher in the northern Moroccan city of Tetouan, told Aljazeera.net. "That's the mirror of what is happening elsewhere. Corruption should be severely punished. It is a crime in all senses of the word, and the defendants' penalty should be a lesson for anyone who dares to commit such crimes," ben Yahya added.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/4BBEBC29-A1E6-4FE4-81D4-42E4A00C3CCE.htm 
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Thousands Circumcised in Morocco.
By Associated Press April 14, 2005 FES, Morocco

The infant son of King Mohammed VI was circumcised Thursday, and thousands of Moroccans also went through the procedure in a massive show of solidarity for the prince, a news agency reported. The circumcision of Moulay Hassan, the king's only son, marked the start of three days of nationwide celebrations across the north African kingdom to honor the event. The boy turns 2 next month. Some 5,000 boys were circumcised in Casablanca, Morocco's largest city, and thousands more in other cities and towns, the official news agency MAP reported.

The ritual of circumcision, known as "t'hara" or purification in Morocco, signals the entry of young boys into the Muslim community. The practice -- once mainly carried out by barbers -- today takes place primarily under a doctor's supervision. HRH Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan was circumcised along with thousands of Moroccan children. About 50,000 boys, including 1,700 in Fez, have been circumcised in different cities and regions of the kingdom on this occasion.(Morocco Times)
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-morocco-circumcisions,0,7683192.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines 
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Conference on democratic transition in Morocco.

A conference under the theme "Democratic Transition in Morocco" will take place on April 15 in the High School of Commerce (ESCP) in Paris, said MAP. This conference is organised by the Association of Moroccans in High Schools (AMGE-Caravane). It will be presented by Pierre Vermeren, historian and researcher at the Institute of Political Studies in Bordeaux and a specialist of Maghreb issues. The meeting is part of a set of conferences organised by the Association, of which the last one was on the "Law of Political Parties in Morocco" on April 1. It was given by Mohyeddine Amzazi, Governor and Director of Studies and Analyses in the Interior Ministry.
http://www.moroccotimes.com/news/article.asp?id=5596 
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Voluntary early retirement: Take up of the program top 23,473.

A total of 23,473 civil servants applied for the government's voluntary early retirement program by April 12, said on Wednesday Mohamed Bousaid, minister in charge of the Public Sector Modernization quoted by the official press agency MAP. Applications of males surpass those of females who represent 40% of the total, said Bousaid who was answering a question in Parliament. He added that 8,762 were accepted (37.3% of total applications); 7,727 got the preliminary go-ahead (32.9%); and 6,984 are still processed (29.8%).

The Moroccan government launched early this year a voluntary early retirement program in a bid to reduce the plethora of civil servants of the country, and to reduce the public sector wage bill which weighs on the State's budget. The are 700,000 civil servants in Morocco for whom the government budgeted for 2005 MAD 60 billion in wages (5.4 billion euros). It represents 12.5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The program dubbed Intilaka --literally "departure"-- consists in encouraging members of the civil service to retire before reaching the age limit, which is set at 60 years-old in Morocco. But they have to get the approval of their hierarchy first. The government made the pledge to process each application and give a final decision no later than two weeks following its filing. Candidates have until June 30, 2005, to apply.

This is not the first time that the Moroccan government has devised such a program. In 2004, a similar project undertaken by the Ministry of Finance was a flop. From the 60,000 early-retirements forecasted, barely 1,000 applied and were accepted. The financial conditions of the new program, executed this time around by the Ministry in charge of the Modernization of the public sector, are much more attractive.

Selected candidates will be entitled to a tax-free indemnity equal to 45 days salary for each year's service, up to a maximum of 36 months. The indemnity cannot exceed 50% of what an employee would have received until retirement. In addition to a forfeit indemnity, early-retirees would benefit from a monthly pension equal to 2% of the salary until the age of 60, and 2.5% beyond 60.

A prerequisite for the pension, though, is to have contributed for a given period to the pension plan: 14 years for women, and 21 years for men. If this condition is not met, early-retirees get to retrieve all what they have contributed into their pension plan with CMR, the public sector pension fund.

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"Aicha des Gazelles" Rally Race in Morocco.
14/04/2005 The 15th

"Aicha des Gazelles" rally will take place 21-30 April in southern Morocco, with 92 teams from over 14 countries taking part .The unique 4X4 women-only race involves driving off-road for nearly 2,500km through the Moroccan Sahara. Speed is not taken into account in the ranking as competitors must combine strategy, keen driving and a sharp sense of direction. A lobbying initiative by UNESCO will be conducted during the race to promote fighting AIDS.
http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/homepage/ 
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Energy Efficient Buildings Planned in Morocco.
14/04/2005

The Centre of the Development of Renewable Energies (CDER) in conjunction with the UN Development Programme, the Ministry of Energy, and the Department of the Environment, is planning to launch a project to instill an energy efficiency code for buildings in Morocco. The project aims to establish regulations that will require more economically- and environmentally-friendly technologies in meeting the goal. "When power consumption is optimized, the environmental impact is obvious because there is a visible decrease in the greenhouse effects," says Mohamed Berdai, CDER general manager. The organizations involved plan to institute the energy codes in about 50 new buildings.
http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/homepage/ 
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Moroccan Engineer Awarded at International Invention Fair.
12/04/2005

Moroccan engineer Majid El Bouazzaoui recently won two prizes at the Geneva International Invention Fair for creating a device that allows use of real-time video-telephony via ordinary GSM networks. The 28-year-old won both the Gold Medal for Electronics and the Special Prize of the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research.
http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/homepage/ 
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Moroccans Based in US to Participate in Tangier Football
Tournament. 12/04/2005

A football team of US-based Moroccans will take part in the annual Al Atlas tournament from 17-20 May in Tangier, announced Washington Athletic Club president Hassan Semghouni. The team consists of footballers in New York, New Jersey, Florida, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and the Washington, DC, area. Organizers of Al Atlas, sponsored by Royal Air Maroc, want to see participation of 16 football teams of Moroccan residents established in North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. In the 2004 edition held in Agadir, Canada won the 12-team event 
http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/section/sports 
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Rabat to host 'Mawazine-Rythmes du monde' festival.
Local, 4/13/2005

The Moroccan capital will host world musicians at the 4th Mawazine-Rythmes du Monde Festival slated for May 18 to 25. The imperial city of Rabat will live on the vibrations of musical bands emanating from the five corners of the globe in a unique moment when Latin American vibrations embrace the African rhythms and Middle East music interacts in sheer symbiosis with the European sounds. At the opening ceremony, the festival will star the Indonesian vibrations and magic of "Danses de Cour des palais."

The melting pot event will feature concerts given by top world artists notably Salsa maestro, Oscar d'LZon, Brazilian Samba star, Dona Inah, the emotion-filled voice of the Benin's Kidjo and Cape Verdean, Lura. Moroccan strong voice of Abdelwahhab Doukkali will echo in the imperial city in harmony with the other Moroccan mystic voices of Ihsan R'miki, Hadra Chefchaouen, Abdellatif Bayati and Salah Cherki. The 8.5 million Euros festival is an opportunity to discover world music and to promote the cultural and tourist potentials of the Moroccan capital.
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/050413/2005041335.html 
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25 million earmarked to rehabilitate Roman Volubilis site.
Local, 4/13/2005

MAD 25 million have been earmarked to rehabilitate and preserve the ancient Roman site of Volubilis, 145 km East of Rabat, under an agreement signed, here Tuesday, between the ministry of culture and ONA Group. The project is meant to finance constructing a museum, administrative buildings, waiting rooms and land management of the site. It will also promote archaeological research through establishing a research and reserve laboratory.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Minister of Culture, Mohamed Achaari said that works in the site will start on June 1st to end in June 2007 highlighting the scientific and tourist value of the site. On his part, ONA representative, Rachid Slim described cooperation with the ministry of Culture as "strategic" noting that ONA group will finance with MAD 3.3 million the construction of a research and reserve centre at the Volubilis site.

Considered a universal patrimony by UNESCO in 1997, the Roman city of Volubilis dating back to the years 200 and 300 is one of the Mediterranean archaeological sites to have preserved all its characteristics and it musters rare archaeological objects. Strewn on a hill with the panoramic sights of extended plains, Volubilis attracts thousands of tourists each year especially at the annual Volubilis Festival.
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/050413/2005041331.html 
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FIRST COURSE FOR IMAMS KICKS OFF.
RABAT, 15 April (AKI)

Morocco's religious affairs minister Ahmed Taoufik will on Monday inaugurate the country's first course for imams at an official ceremony in the capital. The course will be held at the Ulema Council in Rabat, and attendance will be obligatory from now on for all those wanting to preach in Morocco's mosques. The course will be "intensive" and will cover teolology, culture and social science, the Rabat-based daily Liberation reported.

In his speech on Monday at the course's inauguration, Toufik is expected to emphasise the necessity for imams to understand that "mosques are not places to give personal opinions and analyses", Liberation said. Once they have completed the course, future imams will need to "abstain from spreading sectarian interpretations or analyses," Toufik is likely to stress. The newly trained imams will be assigned to mosques around Morocco "on the basis of need".
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Religion&loid=8.0.151265028&par=0 
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