Virtual Magazine of Morocco on the Web
Morocco Week in Review 
September 8, 2007

GE Healthcare grants Moroccan cancer NGO high-tech screening equipment.
Rabat, Sep. 4

General Electric Healthcare granted Morocco's Lalla Salma Association to Fight Cancer a MAD-5Mn loan in the form of a state-of-the-art cancer screening equipment for the national oncology institute (INO). The digital mammography unit and digital ultrasonograph were handed over by President and CEO of GE Healthcare, Reinaldo Garcia to Princess Lalla Salma, President of the association. Morocco the first country in the Maghreb region to possess such equipment that give precise diagnosis of breast cancer.

The mammography unit is the first system in the world to use feeble X rays to screen micro-calcifications. Its results are subject to a three-step reading technique that includes the INO, a Brussels-based cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment institute, and, in certain cases, a digital ultrasonography for a top-notch diagnosis. The technology will make it easy to diagnose about a thousand women in the Rabat region before benefiting other women from the rest of the country.
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/imp_social/ge_healthcare_grants/view
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Micro-business NGO grants MAD 2Bn in ten years.
Casablanca, Sept. 3

The Al Amana Association for promoting micro-businesses has granted over MAD 2Bn (about USD 244Mn) since its creation ten years ago, Prime Minister, Driss Jettou said here on Saturday. The PM hailed as "positive and impressive" the achievements of Al Amana, which he said was instrumental in developing the national association fabric, especially at the social, economic, voluntary services and professionalism. The association has helped a large fringe of the population to build their own projects, despite geographic and financial difficulties, he added. Al Amana is planning to double, by 2011, the number of credits granted to reach a million, and to double five-folds the volume of these credits to stand at about USD 1.2Bn. The association will then claim the status of micro-finance institution.
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/social/micro-business_ngo_g/view
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On the road to Morocco for cancer centre.
editorial@hamhigh.co.uk    30 August 2007   Matt Eley

BELLY dancers and musicians helped transform a Hampstead hospice into a Moroccan den during a fundraising night. The Marie Curie Hospice in Hampstead is aiming to raise £2million of the £3.4million needed for a major refurbishment of its Lyndhurst Gardens home. And last Thursday guests were invited to the launch of a trek to Morocco to help the cause. In October 2008, about 40 supporters of the hospice will trek to Mount Toubkal in the Atlas Mountains, hoping to raise more than £60,000 in the process.

Hospice fundraising manager Liz Allen said: "We are really excited about this challenge as for the first time all funds raised by participants will go specifically towards the hospice. "It's a great opportunity for Marie Curie supporters based in the area to do something specifically for their local hospice. "The planned refurbishment is vital - basic improvements such as putting in double glazing and upgrading all the patients' rooms will enable us to continue caring for cancer patients and their families for many years to come." The refurbishment which begins in October will be the first major works at the hospice since it opened in 1976.

The project includes turning two four-bed rooms into single rooms to give patients more privacy, updating the hospice to give it less of an "institutional" feel and putting fully accessible wheelchair toilets and basins in every room. Last Thursday's Moroccan night was designed to encourage the 50 guests to sign up to the trek or encourage others to do so. Hospice ward manager David Zilkha previously trekked the Inca trail to raise funds and he was keen for others to follow his lead.
He said: "It was a fantastic experience and as soon as I heard about the Morocco trek I wanted to sign up.

"The altitude is the biggest challenge - it makes you much slower and it is hard work but to be somewhere like that makes it feel like just a minor inconvenience. "It was such an amazing group of people - all had their own reasons for doing it - or people they were doing it in memory of."

The trek will take place over a long weekend in October. Those taking part will start in Marrakech before heading of on a tough two-day hike up the 4,167m Mount Toubkal, with two nights spent under the stars. For more information or to sign up, call Liz Allen on 020-7853 3442 or visit www.mariecurie.org.uk.
matt.eley@hamhigh.co.uk
http://www.hamhigh.co.uk/content/camden/hamhigh/news/story.aspx?brand=NorthLondon24&category=Newshamhigh&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=newshamhigh&itemid=WeED30%20Aug%202007%2015%3A05%3A24%3A733
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Death in the Atlas highlights tale of two Moroccos.
Thu 30 Aug 2007,  By Tom Pfeiffer ANFGOU, Morocco, Aug 30 (Reuters)

Moroccans voiced shock and anger last winter when 11 inhabitants of the isolated village of Anfgou in the High Atlas mountains died from cold. Newspaper and TV reporters pushed their way up the snow-filled, cedar-lined valley in off-road vehicles to find a community living in the Dark Ages. Many victims died when the roofs of their mud houses collapsed under metres of snow. Children with hacking coughs were still playing in the icy streets, barefoot in T-shirts.

Before the crisis ended at least 20 more people, mostly children, had died. With them, so did interest in Anfgou. But the strangers returned last weekend when the first canvassing agents turned up in Land Rovers emblazoned with posters of candidates in Sept. 7 parliamentary elections. A hot sun beat down now on the village but the inhabitants gave them a chilly reception. "Where were you when our children were dying of cold? Why do we see you only now?" said a thin village elder with gnarled teeth. "Get out of here."

One agent said his candidate would improve living conditions in Anfgou and help free a villager imprisoned for grazing animals in the cedar forests. "We don't trust any of these people," villager Said Ouskina said when the agent had left. "Whoever wins, we'll never know if he went to parliament or went home to sleep for five years."

IGNORE AT YOUR PERIL
Crowds of children joyfully gathered up leaflets scattered from campaign vans but almost no one in Anfgou can read. Even if they could, the leaflets are written in Arabic, a foreign language for most of the Berber population. Anfgou's 1,500-strong farming community, cut off for three months of the year by snow, is far from the image of a modern, progressive Morocco being touted by the government.

The kingdom's cities are seen as the main battleground where secular modernists will do battle with resurgent political Islam against a backdrop of social tension and the threat of attacks by religious radicals. In contrast, the rural vote is seen as loyalist and conservative.
But political analysts say rural and urban life are closely linked in Morocco and any politician who ignores the countryside does so at his peril.

Some urban tensions are born in Morocco's remote regions. Rural areas in crisis are emptying as the young seek work in overcrowded cities already struggling with poverty and high unemployment. That is complicating the government's efforts to eradicate urban slums because newcomers from the provinces arrive to occupy shacks left by people rehoused in state-subsidised flats. Some of the countryside is occupied by big, irrigated farms that are efficient and prosperous. But most farmers use ancient equipment to eke a precarious living from small plots of land.

COLONIAL LEGACY
Government critics see the situation as a hangover from colonial times when France divided its possession into "Useful Morocco" and the rest. The result -- Morocco has barely budged from its position of 123rd in the United Nations human development index. Though the North African country is a short ferry ride from Western Europe and a top tourism spot, around 40 percent of the population struggles in poverty.

The government stands by its recent record, saying the country is now open for business thanks to new industrial parks, ports and motorways, a tourism boom and real estate projects. A campaign to end rural isolation has allowed part of the route from Anfgou to the outside world to be laid as road. Two months ago the village turned off its diesel generator and linked up to the electricity grid. Four months ago, Anfgou linked up to the mobile phone network.

But the Atlas valleys have a long history of resisting the authority of lowlanders and cynicism remains widespread. On prominent hillsides across the country, the words "God, Nation, King" are marked out in stones or white paint. The same can be seen high above the dirt track near Anfgou, but here the words "Nation" and "King" are barely visible. (Additional reporting by Rafael Marchante) http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL29669681.html
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Women struggle to influence Morocco assembly.
Thu 6 Sep 2007, By Zakia Abdennebi RABAT, Sept 6 (Reuters)

Moroccan women are certain to win at least 10 percent of parliament seats in polls on Friday, but the kingdom needs to deepen reforms to advance equality in the male-dominated politics, activists say. Some analysts say the 2002 reform may have actually done more harm than good by encouraging complacency among a masculine elite that is keen to improve Morocco's image abroad without pushing for rapid change of the underlying realities.

"We still have a long road ahead, even though women have done a lot of work in the assembly," said Khadija Rubbah, an official of the Moroccan Women's Democratic Association. "We should boost women's parliamentary role, but the mentality of men still rules in parties and in parliament."
The association wants an immediate move to guarantee women a third of seats in parliament, with an eventual goal of half.

Increased participation by women is seen as crucial to the gradual liberalisation of the tradition-bound political system and gain more rights for women in the workplace and at home. Just under half of the country's 30 million people are illiterate, leaving many vulnerable to being abused by those in authority or manipulated by religious extremists, campaigners say. Asmaa Ouazzani, 38-year-old secretary, said: "It's unjust that women are not represented sufficiently. Women are better than men at running economic and social questions therefore are better placed to address social problems."

KING ENCOURAGES
The 2002 reform, encouraged by reformist King Mohammed, was a major change. It created a women-only national list of 30 seats in the lower house of parliament. The other 295 seats in the assembly are freely electable in a local list system and tend to be dominated by men. As a result the number of women lawmakers went up to 35compared to the two seats they held in the previous assembly. The women MPs have spoken out about unemployment among youth and health. But in practice assembly debates have tended to be dominated by men due to numerical superiority and an assumption by some male MPs that they are more experienced than women.

In elections, too, Moroccans are used to seeing a male face on election posters. Malika Assemi, a poet and politician, said the reform was a key first step but more needed to be done. "Unfortunately women's parliamentary role has not been encouraged by public opinion and party politicians," she said.

Parliament member Bassima Haqawi said: "Women have changed the stagnant image parliament had in the mind of Moroccans. But in these 2007 elections, women have been excluded from the local lists. "This distinction between national and local lists should not continue. I think that the national list has played its role and parties should give more chance to women."

King Mohammed has worked hard on women's rights. In 2004 he sponsored a law that gave women equal status to men, shared family rights and the right to start divorce proceedings and separate from their husband after six months. Before, divorce was a right for a man to exercise whenever he wished. The minimum marrying age for women was raised to 18 from 15 and polygamy was made harder to practice.

But as far as women's political role is concerned, Morocco remains behind Tunisia, the Arab world's most progressive nation in women's rights. More than a fifth of Tunisia's lower house of parliament are women and it has two women ministers and five junior ministers. Morocco has one woman minister and one junior minister.
http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL06413191.html
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Morocco secures €45 million road project funds.
7 September By staff writer © afrol News

Moroccan government has secured a loan of €45 million from the African Development Bank to improve its rural road network. Since 1970, the bank has been dealing with Morocco and disbursed €4 billion. The latest operation, which is dubbed the second National Rural Roads Programme (NRRP2), its objective is to provide access to the rural population and improve rural transport services, with the ultimate goal of reducing poverty in rural areas and bridging regional income disparities.

"Rural roads covered by the Bank-financed programme fall under the first phase of the NRRP2, which involves transforming about 65% of rural roads into paved roads and 35% into earth roads,\" the bank said in a statement. "The Bank’s intervention will entail the construction of 460km of six-metre wide paved roads of sub-grade including one-metre wide shoulders on each side with a four-metre wide double-layer surfacing of the central strip; 226 km of earth roads of the same width but with intensive compaction of the final layer of the sub-grade; and, construction of drainage structures and signposting." In addition, box drains, culverts and gutters will be constructed in the regions with irregular rainfall. Among others, the project will improve rural accessibility to hospitals, schools, reduce air as well as stimulate economic development.

The project covers all 23 provinces of the Kingdom, specifically agricultural regions which are generally landlocked areas. "Despite the constraints of remoteness and the vulnerability of the agricultural sector to the vagaries of the weather, annual agricultural production from the project area substantially impacts on GDP growth and household incomes owing to the size of the active population which derives its livelihood from the sector and the consumption patterns of the population which tends to favour local products," the bank officials said.

The programme area that accounts 14% of the GDP through agricultural activities is key in Moroccan economy. Agricultural sector employs over 44% of the total national work force.
http://www.afrol.com/articles/26670
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Jewish woman runs in Moroccan elections.

Maggie Cacoun first Jewish woman to run for seat in Moroccan parliamentary elections. ‘I do not want to be treated as a Jew,’ Cacoun says. Maggie Cacoun, a 54-year-old businesswoman from Casablanca, is the first Jewish woman to run for a seat in Morocco’s parliament. Cacoun, who was recently elected to head the woman’s list of the Al-Wast Al-Aghtama’i (Social Center) party, did not want her Jewish background to become the focus of her campaign.

"I do not want to be treated as a Jew. I am a loyal Moroccan citizen first," she said. Nevertheless, her candidacy has been the talk of the elections that will conclude at the end of the week. Since news of her Jewish identity broke, Cacoun has been asked to explain why she had not made aliyah to Israel, and how the Moroccan Jewish community viewed her involvement in political and social issues.

"I have never considered leaving Morocco. Since I am first and foremost a patriot of Morocco, I want to focus on what’s being done in my country. I did not seek permission to run from the Jewish community. The only person I consulted with was my husband, and he gave me his blessing," Cacoun explained. Cacoun is not the only Jewish Moroccan of the estimated 5,000 Jews living in the country to be running in its parliamentary elections. Contractor Joseph Levy joins his fellow community member in the race.

Before the establishment of Israel in 1948, there were some 300,000 Jews in Morocco.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3445123,00.html
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Morocco's wheat imports up 66% by late July.
Rabat, Sep. 5

Morocco's wheat imports reached, in the first seven months of 2007, some USD 377Mn, that is a 66% rise compared with the same period of 2006, according to figures released by the Office des Changes (Exchange Office). A 48% increase was also registered in terms of volume, with some USD 182.5Mn, against USD 148Mn in the same period of last year. The office added that France ranks first among Morocco's suppliers of wheat with 568,500 tons, followed by the United States with 320,400T and Canada (220.000T), noting that the average price of a ton of imported wheat went up to USD 255 against USD 190.
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/economy/morocco_s_wheat_impo/view
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Morocco's Latif Lahlou wins Best Screenplay in Montreal Film Festival.
Montreal, Sep. 6

Moroccan producer and director Latif Lahlou won the Best Screenplay and the international film critics' FIPRESCI prize for his movie "Samira's Garden" in the 31st World Film Festival that wrapped up on Monday in Montreal. The movie represented Morocco in the "International Competition", the most important event in the festival, screening world premieres. Morocco was also represented by other feature movies "Fin machi a Mouchi" (Where are going Moshé?) of Hassan Benjelloun (2007), "Malaikatou Asshaitane" (Angels or Demons?) of Ahmed Boulane (2007), in addition to the US-Moroccan movie of Steffen and Christian Pierce "Marrakech in sha Allah" (2006).

"A Secret" of French Claude Miller, the festival's closing screening, won the festival Grand Prize with the Belgian-Dutch movie Ben X of Nic Balthazar. Ben X shared Best Picture with the French movie “Un Secret” and won the all-important Public Award voted on by the public. It also took the Ecumenical Prize, given to films with sturdy moral values.

The Special Grand Prize of the Jury went to Noodle, by Israel's Ayelet Menahemi, while Switzerland's Jacob Berger won Best Director for “1 Day” (1Journée). Best Artistic Direction went to Teresa: El Cuerpo de Cristo, by Spain's Ray Loriga. The Best Actor glory was shared by Brazilians Filipe Duarte and Tomas Almeida for “A Outra Margem” while the Best Actress prize went to Andrea Sawatzki for “The Other Boy” of Volker Einrauch (Germany). Speaking of shorts, “Cleaning Lady's Dreams”, by Belgian Banu Akseki, was awarded first prize. “L.H.O.”, by Jan Zabeil of Germany took second.
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/imp_culture/morocco_s_latif_lahl/view
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Magic of a Moroccan maze.
By Joe Hildebrand

THE spiritual capital of Morocco is Fes. The spiritual capital of Fes is the medina. And the spiritual capital of the medina is the sales pitch. There are something like 20,000 streets in the medina or old town of Fes. Most of them have no names and those that do don't need them. None of them is straight, all of them are skinny.

You won't even find the ubiquitous Moroccan mopeds in here, let alone a car. Every other street has a staircase, a sudden arch or a hairpin turn and while Moroccans are crazy drivers, they do, apparently, have their limits. The only vehicle capable of successfully negotiating these streets is a donkey or – if you're on your way up in the world – a mule. No map can help you here; you'd be better off with a divining rod.

Minutes ago we were oblivious to the clatter and calamity. We were politely sitting to attention on a tour bus, surrounded by genteel couples in their autumnal years being given a drill as though we were all about to go to war. Our local guide tells us that if a fast-moving mule is coming through there will be a warning cry of "barak! barak!". "By the second `barak' it is too late," he smiles. Scaring tourists is a national sport in this place.

Moroccans are born to sell. Anything can be yours if the price is right and discovering the right price is an art form. If you pay the asking price of any object in a medina or at a street stall the seller will be profoundly disappointed. Rest assured he will happily take the money, but he will be disappointed nonetheless. It's kind of like kissing someone out of the blue: Moroccans expect you to at least dance with them first – if not buy them dinner.

The first stage of the courtship is when a vendor tries to catch your attention. They'll say hello in every language they know, ask where you're from, follow you down the street. (Someone's cousin is always watching the shop.) They will invite, entreat, implore and beg you outright to come into their shop. They will tell you it will bring good luck, that the shop is a shortcut to wherever you're going, that they had a vision of you in their sleep last night.

They will, of course, also claim you don't have to buy anything, but if the conversation has gone on this long chances are you already have. Yes, they're born salesmen, but as far as I'm aware they never actually buy anything. That's where the tourists come in. Whether you're an unwieldy, befuddled group of middle-aged, middle-class westerners who blend in to the marketplace like Dennis Rodman at an accountants' convention, or whether you're a wannabe backpacker who thinks he's gone native, you will run the gauntlet.

With impressive dexterity, our group was effortlessly, and not always unwillingly, eased through a pre-plotted course of spending opportunities. At one point on the road to Marrakesh we were told we were stopping off for a traditional Moroccan tea ceremony (there is no such thing) only to have the door literally bolted behind us while countless Moroccan rugs were unfurled in every direction. This is nobody's fault. Even on the upper end of the travel circuit there is simply a natural order of things in a country which is officially run by a benign king and unofficially run by a benign mafia.

On the lower end of things, if you're ambling along alone or with a couple of friends you will have countless unofficial guides hire themselves on your behalf and take you anywhere you want to go, a journey during which you will discover that everywhere is on the other side of their cousin's shop. If you don't buy anything from the cousin your guide is likely to ask for a bit extra as thanks for extricating you from the initial purchase. It's an entrepreneurial spirit that should serve the country well.

The loudness and the brashness of the stallholders in the medinas – all male – is in stark contrast to the sea of silent women, faces covered, quietly going about the actual business of shopping. Sometimes you feel as though you don't even see them, but they are always there. You get the feeling it's the only way anything gets done. Another peculiarity of Moroccan salesmanship is that the further upscale you go, the less they appear to want to sell you anything at all.

At a hole-in-the-wall restaurant at Fes, a couple of us asked for a coffee. I'd noticed earlier that the place didn't seem to have a coffee machine but that was no problem. Our endlessly obliging host urged us to sit and then disappeared into the cafe next door. Minutes later he re-emerged with coffees for all. You can't imagine the manager of McDonald's nipping across the road to Hungry Jack's when he runs out of Big Macs.

Compare this to the enthusiasm of the waiter at the five-star Royal Mirage at Marrakesh who – literally in the middle of taking our lunch order – simply turned around and wandered off.

Like a sunrise over the Sahara, it was one of many things in Morocco that I had never seen before. They are an easily distracted people. The young waiter never returned but I hope to see him again one day.

It's not a geographic thing. Again in Marrakesh you can be treated to an invitation to dine that has all the hallmarks of a West End musical number. In the vast glowing night markets a sea of chefs all dressed in white compete with each other to harness the endless waves of tourists. Their entreaties are more intense than in the less glitzy Fes and also more creative. Here they don't just rattle off multi-lingual hellos, they also do a fair trade in Jamie Oliver impersonations. In fact, their diction is better than his.

There are no names for the stalls here, so if you walk away after the show you'll hear their laughing plea as you go: "Remember 85, remember 85..."

Back in the modernised western decay of Casablanca, the ancient medinas seem far behind. The noise comes from the crazed and dirty traffic, not the desperate pleas for a sale. As I walk back to the hotel, I smile at a little girl spinning in circles. Surely no more than five years old, a picture of innocence. Ten metres down the road and I hear an angelic pitter-pat behind me. The same pair of wide brown eyes stares up in hope. Her left hand profers up a packet of tissues, her right hand proffers up its empty palm. I give her a few dirhams and wave the tissues away. I already got what I paid for.
* The writer was a guest of Insight Vacations . The Sunday Telegraph
http://www.news.com.au/travel/story/0,23483,19379739-27987,00.html?from=mostpop
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