Rabat – The PJD, Morocco’s ruling party, announced on Tuesday its intention to start visiting Algerian political parties, following King Mohammed VI’s speech calling for a dialogue with “openness” and “good faith” between the countries.

The Algerian Ennahda and Front for Justice and Construction (FJC) parties rejected the invitation Thursday, according to Algerian media outlet TSA.

“The PJD is the ruling party in his country. Therefore, they will act as a representative of the Moroccan government. I think that this approach advocated by this Moroccan party will not lead it to what it wants,” said Mohamed Doubi, the secretary general of Ennahda.

The PJD said it wanted to meet Algerian parties “in order to seek solutions with a view to normalizing bilateral relations and overcoming all disputes that prevent the development of cooperation between the two countries”.

If the PJD “wants to achieve positive results, it must take an initiative in a formal framework through the government it leads. The parties do not have the capacity to make decisions binding on both countries,” Doubi said. He added that opening the border must be studied between the governments of the two countries.

Algeria’s FJC went even further, saying the onus was on Morocco, reports TSA. “Morocco must first put an end to the tension,” said Slimane Chenine, deputy of the FJC party. “The PJD’s initiative linked to King Mohammed VI’s speech is not in line with our movement’s approach,” Chenine said.

Spain, France, the UAE, Jordan, the African Union and the United Nations Secretary-General have supported King Mohammed VI’s initiative to establish a joint political mechanism for dialogue with Algeria.

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Rabat – M-Wallet will enable Moroccans to pay for a wide range of services and goods just with their mobile phones, the African Ecofin agency reported.

The “contactless payment” will come into effect by the end of November, in line with an agreement between Bank al-Maghrib, Morocco’s central bank, and the telecommunications regulator, in coordination with Moroccan banks.

According to the telecommunication regulator, Morocco had 44,027,000 mobile subscribers as of June 30, 2018, and the number is only growing.
Bank Al-Maghrib predicts that M-Wallet will handle as much as MAD 50 billion in transactions by 2023.

The platform intends to make payment easier reduce the theft of cash, and replace credit cards that charge merchants monthly and transaction fees.
In 2017, Bank Al-Maghrib started considering contactless mobile payment when Abdellatif Jouahri, governor of the bank expressed his optimism about the project, saying, “The principle of interoperability has been accepted.”

Banks and mobile carriers have twice before attempted to launch mobile payment systems. Maroc Telecom launched the Mobicash service in 2010 in partnership with Attijariwafa Bank. Meditel (now Orange) and BMCE Bank also jointly started a cash platform in 2013. The services are not widely used in Morocco.

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Rabat – King Mohammed VI’s offer came on November 6 as he gave a commemorative speech on the 43rd anniversary of the Green March.

The Moroccan monarch called for unity and brotherhood in the Maghreb region, saying that decades of cold diplomacy served no one’s interests in a region with a shared history that faces multiple common security and socio-political challenges.

Reacting to King Mohammed VI’s message, the US State Department said that rapprochement between Algiers and Rabat could help de-escalate regional tensions between two important players.

MAP, Morocco’s state news agency, quoted the State Department as saying that dialogue and improved diplomatic ties between the two neighbors would lead to significant gains for regional security.

“The US Government has urged Algeria and Morocco to recognize that improved relations will help the two countries tackle common bilateral and regional issues such as terrorism, illegal immigration, drug trafficking and economic integration,” the Department of State told MAP.

Algeria silent, inflexible despite warm international reactions

King Mohammed VI’s “frank dialogue” and Maghrebi brotherhood message has garnered positive reactions in Africa and elsewhere.

The US’s reading of the regional implications of the royal message echoed reactions by other governments and international bodies.

Spain, France, the UAE, Jordan, the African Union and the United Nations Secretary-General were all quick to applaud King Mohammed VI’s move. They hailed the boldness of Mohammed VI’s proposal to set aside decades of hostility and give a chance for peace and diplomatic normalization.

The international community’s response has supported the belief that frank dialogue between Algiers and Rabat would also help settle the Western Sahara question. Meanwhile, since the King’s speech, Algeria has shown no signs of readiness to allow the diplomatic overtures Morocco wishes.

Earlier this week, Morocco’s ruling party, the Justice and Development Party (PJD), announced plans of a trip to Algiers to meet with Algerian political parties.

PJD’s statement said that the party hoped to “seek solutions with a view to normalizing bilateral relations and overcoming all disputes that prevent the development of cooperation between the two countries.”

But Algerian parties have turned down PJD’s proposal. They argued that necessary steps to facilitate normalization between the two countries should come from governments rather than political parties.

“The parties do not have the capacity to make decisions binding on both countries,” said Mohamed Doubi, the secretary general of Algeria’s Ennahda party.

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Rabat – The outlook comes from a recent Fitch Ratings analysis.

As Morocco’s government keeps its traditional policy of subsidizing commodities such as butane gas, sugar, and flour, the budget deficit and public debt figures in 2018 are set to be far higher than initially expected by government calculations.

While the government planned to narrow the central government budget deficit to 3.0 percent in 2018 from 3.6 percent of GDP in 2017, the analysis predicted the deficit will actually widen to 3.8 percent of GDP.

Social programs were prioritized in Morocco’s proposed budget for the 2019 fiscal year. The goal of the government’s social policies was to support consumers’ purchasing power and decrease socio-economic disparities.

However, as it came at the expense of an inclusive-growth-oriented fiscal policy, overemphasis on social policies only exacerbated citizens’ discontent, according to Fitch.

“Despite strong investments in infrastructure and manufacturing capacities in recent years, Morocco’s non-agricultural activity has failed to accelerate and job intensity of growth remains low, resulting in only small improvements in employment and social indicators.”

But the picture is not all bleak. In fact, according to the rating, there are many reasons to be optimistic about Morocco’s prospects, especially in the medium and long-term.

Positive indicators include “fiscal consolidation leading to a trend reduction in government debt/GDP;” “sustained improvement in the current account balance consistent with declining net external debt-to-GDP;” and “stronger growth potential and an improvement in development indicators” over the medium-term.

Suggesting that the positive indicators outweigh the persisting structural setbacks and the potential risks, Fitch Ratings gave Morocco a BBB- rating. The rating, Fitch explained, indicates an overall “stable outlook” for Morocco’s doing business index.

“Morocco’s ‘BBB-‘ rating is supported by a track-record of macroeconomic stability, comfortable external buffers and a low share of foreign-currency debt in public debt,” Fitch

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Rabat – The public show of allegiance to a complex national and cultural heritage took place at a cultural event in Marrakech on Thursday.

Under the theme “Moroccan Judaism: Toward Shared Moroccanness,” panelists and participants convened to celebrate films and other cultural works that shed light on “beautiful historical stories of shared heritage and togetherness” between Morocco’s Muslim and Jewish communities.

Zhor Rehihil, a curator at the Moroccan Judaism Museum, the body that organized the event in Marrakech, said that Thursday’s meeting between artists and participants—mostly a young audience—was an opportunity to cultivate seeds of Moroccanness in young Moroccan Jews.

She said that the country’s history is full of “beautiful shared memories” that need to be taught to younger generations to ensure a harmonious and shared future.

According to the Rehihil, the museum has been engaged on the cultural front of the struggle to integrate minorities’ history in official Moroccan accounts. The objective is to instill in young Moroccans from the two communities the skills to appreciate their country’s complex and rich heritage.

Thursday’s event, she said, was a culmination “of all the efforts that the Moroccan Judaism Museum has been making for twenty years” to celebrate religious and cultural diversity in Morocco. The museum’s work has been “profound and unremitting,” she explained.

Referring to the number of successful cultural events and discussion panels that the museum has organized since 1997—both in France and in Morocco— Rehihil said that acknowledging diverse cultural heritages is necessary for a changing Moroccan society. What it all boils down to, she elaborated, is that “we, Jews and Muslim Moroccans, have worked together because we share the feeling of Moroccanness.”

In a 2013 documentary film, “Tinghir-Jerusalem,” Moroccan-Jewish director Kamal Hachkar explored the complexities of Moroccan Jewry. The film received wide critical acclaim for offering a reconciliatory reading of cultural complexity in a world where “binarisms and inward-looking attitudes are on the rise.”

The Moroccan Judaism Museum played a key role in the realization of the documentary, the museum’s curator said. Art works like “Tinghir-Jerusalem,” she explained, are part of a growing trend in Moroccan cultural circles. “It is part of the awareness-process of our shared cultural heritage.”

Maxime Karoutchi, a Moroccan-Jewish singer and actor, spoke of the “flame of Moroccanness” burning inside him. Karoutchi said he was 14 when he was first introduced to his Moroccan cultural heritage. Since then, he added, he has been “unwaveringly committed to the richness and complexity” of his Moroccan-Jewish heritage.

“Peaceful coexistence is a basic truth and nothing can isolate us from our Muslim neighbors,” Karoutchi said. But Karoutchi was not preaching a detached artistic attitude that offers a dreamy and simplified version of the complexities of daily life. His lifestyle and his public statements reflect his belief in an open and diversity-integrating Morocco.

In a 2015 interview that went viral, the singer celebrated the double heritage of his upbringing. However, he hammered in the interview: “I am first and foremost a Moroccan.”

The artist regretted, however, that nothing substantial has been done in terms of policies to formally integrate the Jewish heritage in Morocco’s official historical archives.

Perhaps alluding to the recently rumored royal instruction to teach Jewish history in Moroccan schools, the singer said that including Jewish-Muslim shared heritage in Moroccan school textbooks would be a significant step toward normalizing and spreading the lived reality of the two community’s peaceful cohabitation and common history.

Discussions during the event shed light on the often neglected “beautiful history” of Berber Jews, as the Maghreb’s Jewish communities are often called.

Also speaking at the Marrakech event, Kamal Hachkar, the acclaimed director of the “Tinghir-Jerusalem” documentary film, mentioned the critical importance of “building cultural bridges.” For him, celebrating diversity is only possible through cultural bridges and dialogues that point out memories and heritage that members of a society have in common.

Of his documentary, Hachkar said: “The film was not a historical account, but it intended to understand how it is that one survives attachment to one’s native land.” The film originally set out to “interrogate what, for my generation, has remained of our native culture.”

Did he learn anything new from directing the documentary? “I’ve learned that language, primarily Darija and Amazigh [Berber], constitutes the unflinching link between us and our culture of origin,” Hachkar said.

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Mohamed Hikal

Rabat – Passengers at the Menara airport face lengthy lines at passport control upwards of three hours sometimes. Complaining travelers have been posting negative reviews about the low-quality of service and unprofessionalism of some airport employees.

“This airport is a disorganised mess. We arrived and there was no proper queuing system. It took two hours to get through passport control after there being two supposed queues into the main queuing system and people cutting in front of me,” an outraged British traveler wrote on Thursday on the Airline Quality website.

He went on to complain of the airport’s border personnel: “I think I found the reason for such queue though as the man who checked my passport didn’t even acknowledge I was there as he was too busy on his Facebook on his phone. Absolutely disgusted with this airport and such attitude.”

Another British traveler posted his review on the airport’s customer feedback site earlier this month: “A beautifully dramatic airy building, but queue at immigration was completely unacceptable: the worst I’ve ever encountered in 35 years of flying regularly all around the world! It took us 3.5 hours to get from back of queue to an immigration officer’s kiosk.”

He noted that previous reviewers expressed the same frustration “which the airport seems unwilling/unable to do anything about.”

An American agreed that the passport control process was too slow immigration, saying it would be a “deterrent” to visit Marrakech. He called on those in charge to add more employees to make the process faster.

Following a petition by tourism investors and professionals, Karim Kassi-Lahlou, governor of the Marrakech-Safi region, convened a meeting this month with airport staff to find solutions to maintain smooth administrative and security measures and boost tourism in the red city and the economy of the country as a whole.

According to the 2018 tourism statistics released by the Ministry of Tourism, 1.2 million tourists arrived through Marrakech’s Menara Airport between January and July. Licensed accommodation establishments recorded 4.7 million overnight stays.

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Mohammedia – Speaking over the weekend at the 26th Ibero-American summit in Guatemala, Sanchez announced his intent to visit Morocco, months after his first planned visit to Rabat was reported.

Weeks after his election as prime minister in June, Sanchez requested a meeting with Moroccan counterpart El Othmani and a “special audience” with King Mohammed VI. But the Moroccan King was on a trip abroad at the time.

Of today’s visit, Sanchez told journalists the date was also his request, signaling the importance Madrid accords to the “historical ties” and the “strategic bilateral relations” it enjoys with its North African neighbor.

At the Guatemala summit, Sanchez spoke of his Moroccan visit as an important step towards rekindling the two nations’ partnership on “common challenges.” Asked why he had made the first step, Sanchez replied: “I made the request, full stop. That’s all I can say for now.”

Later on Sunday, however, a statement from the prime minister’s office gave more details about the visit.

“Head of government Pedro Sanchez will thank his Moroccan counterpart Saaddedine El Othmani and King Mohammed VI for their country’s efforts in fighting against irregular migration,” Spanish newspaper EFE quoted the Spanish government’s statement.

Also important to Sanchez’s trip to Morocco is the Spanish leader’s desire to “personally reiterate his country’s unwavering commitment” to the partnership with Morocco, EFE reported.

Spain Morocco’s ‘foremost EU’ Ally

While signifying his attachment to the strategic partnership with Rabat and his acknowledgement of the “great job” Morocco has performed to limit the success of irregular migrants’ attempts to cross to Spain, EFE explained, “Sanchez will also guarantee Morocco that Spain will remain its foremost ally in the EU.”

Since his election on June 2, Sanchez has established himself as perhaps the most vocal pro-Moroccan voice in the European club.

When many in the EU reportedly had doubts and mixed feelings about the EU-Morocco cooperation on migration, Sanchez lobbied for more EU funds to “technically and logistically” assist Rabat’s “enormous efforts” in securing Europe’s external borders.

Similarly, as the Morocco-EU fisheries agreement seemed on the verge of collapse over apparently irreconcilable differences between Rabat and Brussels (with Brussels declining to increase Rabat’s financial benefits off the deal), Madrid made it its calling to explain to other EU member states how critical it is for the European body to maintain and nurture alliance with Rabat.

“Morocco is a crucial Spanish ally on many issues, including security, immigration, and economic cooperation,” Sanchez has said of his insistence on travelling to Morocco. His visit to Rabat, he added, will be “very important.”

Read Also: Spanish Prime Minister: My Visit to Morocco Is ‘Very Important’

Read Also: Migration: EU Agrees to Fund Morocco Border Control, Puts Nothing on Paper

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Mohammedia – Tangier has witnessed “spectacular transformations” in recent decades, Liberation wrote, describing the Moroccan coastal city as the linking point between different worlds and continents.

The article, which came as King Mohammed VI and French president Macron inaugurated Africa’s first high-speed train on November 15, listed the many other development projects that have sprung up in Tangier since Mohammed VI ascended to the throne.

According to Liberation, the transformation of Tangier is part of the King’s royal roadmap to transform Morocco into a continental and world-class business hub.

The newly inaugurated high speed train is the “last royal touch to the forced metamorphosis” of Tangier.

“Tangier’s appearance has changed in ten years,” Liberation wrote. Where old and dilapidated buildings once stood, the city now flaunts modern architecture, state-of-the-art seaside resorts, and surging financial districts.

Ahmed Ettalhi, Tangier’s PJD-affiliated city councilor, told the newspaper that his city’s socio-economic transformation is the result of development projects launched by the ruling Justice and Development Party (PJD) in 2010.

According to Ettalhi, the government, under the auspices of King Mohammed VI, is determined to give Tangier the same appearance as that of its “neighboring European cities.”

As Tangier stands just 50 kilometers from Algeciras and 160 kilometers from Malaga, the Moroccan tourist city sees itself as a legitimate competitor of its Spanish neighbors, the PJD official suggested.

While the newly inaugurated train has made sufficient headlines, there is more to Tangier’s “metamorphosis.” Since 2010, the city has grown world-class restaurants and hotels and impressive port facilities.

With its staggering transit figures in 2017 (3.3 million containers, 7 million passengers, 1 million exported cars), the Tangier-Med Port has established itself as Africa’s go-to destination in terms of port-related activities.

Tangier-Med II, an extension project set to open in January 2019, is bound to bring the city’s modernization to even higher proportions, Liberation noted.

Tangier is today Morocco’s fourth biggest tourism city, Ettalhi said. But, he explained, the city’s municipal authorities are aiming higher. They want more. “We want to outclass Casablanca. Our aim is to be on the front line.”

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Mohammedia – On November 12, Morocco’s agriculture and fisheries minister, Aziz Akhannouch, met with Ken Isley, administrator of the US Department of Agriculture’s foreign agricultural service, in Rabat.

After discussing with the American official prospects of stronger bilateral trade and expertise sharing on agriculture, Akhannouch said that Morocco expects a successful agricultural season this year.

According to the Moroccan minister, his department’s efforts and generous weather conditions are expected to drive the 2018-2019 agriculture seasons to an unprecedented harvest.

Commenting on the general optimism of Moroccan agricultural circles, Moroccan outlet L’Economiste reported on November 19 that this year’s bountiful harvest level will be a short-lived exciting period before things return to normal conditions.

According to L’Economiste, Morocco has received more rainfall at this point in the season than it has for 25 years.

By the end of October this year, Morocco had received 1,372 millimeters in rainfall, far higher than anything the country had registered in the last two decades in the same months. The figure, L’Economiste pointed out, is four times higher than what the country generally receives in October and November.

There will be an “exceptional harvest this year,” sources told the Moroccan outlet. Another reason this year’s unprecedentedly bountiful harvest will be sustained, they added, is because this year there has been high rainfall throughout the country rather than in just a few regions.

Too soon to celebrate

Conceding that there is a possibility that rainfall levels will fall by the end of the season, failing to yield the expected record harvest, others have suggested there is at least certainty that the 2018-2019 agricultural season will be far more successful than the 2017-2018 season.

Despite visible optimism, they are calling for caution. They have argued that it is too soon to claim a prospective glorious harvest when the most defining factor is whether there will be sufficient rainfall in March and April.

“There needs to be rainfall in March and April,” a producer told L’Economiste, suggesting that the current euphoria is somewhat premature.

Meanwhile, the agriculture and fisheries ministry is unapologetically optimistic about the prospects of this year’s harvest. In addition to generous weather conditions, the department has invested efforts in maintaining conditions conducive to greater output this year.

While there is already a sufficient supply of fertilizer in Moroccan markets, the ministry is planning to muster up 2.2 million subsidized seeds. “All the necessary conditions are in place to assure a bountiful year,” the ministry said.

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Rabat – In an 80-second video called “Mra Hachak,” the 27-year-old Rabati woman condemned the practices she has seen and experienced in Morocco.

The video denounces social hypocrisy, gender inequality, the importance laid on female virginity, unequal inheritance, sexual harassment, and domestic violence.

“It’s an outcry regarding what we endure and see as Moroccan women. I talked to some men about our experiences and they were shocked as they haven’t lived what we live,” Aya told women’s magazine Plurielle.

After she obtained her baccalaureate, Aya Moudden travelled to England to get a bachelor’s degree in media, communication, and sociology. She then earned a master’s degree in movie-making from the US.

Read Also: Morocco’s #Masaktach Campaign Invites Women to Use Whistles If Harassed

The Darija (Moroccan Arabic) phrase “mra hachak” is an insult referring to a woman as impure, dishonoring, and a source of disgrace. The quick video Aya made has already received 40,000 views.

In September, following the widely-publicized case of Khadija—a Moroccan teenager who said she was kidnapped, held, and gang-raped for two months—and Moroccan pop-singer Saad Lamjarred’s second arrest on charges of rape in France, activists launched the “Masaktach” (Don’t silence me) campaign.

The social media movement condemned the abuse of women and called for a boycott of Saad Lamjarred’s songs on radio stations.

“Masaktach” has been compared to the global “Me Too” movement that spread virally as a hashtag on social media to denounce cases of sexual harassment and assault.

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Rabat- Delegations from the two countries met at the 11th African Union summit on reforms in Addis Ababa. Saad Eddine El Othmani, Morocco’s head of government who led the Moroccan delegation at the summit, met with Mbagnick Ndiaye, Senegal’s minister of African integration.

Discussions between the two delegations centered on finding ways to commit more African countries to the 3S initiative, a 2016-launched platform which Senegal and Morocco pioneered from the outset.

Standing for “Sustainability, Stability, and Security” in Africa, 3S aims to help the AU achieve its most urgent goals, especially food security and irregular migration, according to Dakar and Rabat.

As it expects to collect funds and other economic resources from both African governments and international partners, the 3S initiative seeks to create over 2 million jobs on the African continent.

Within the context of stemming irregular migration among the continent’s youth—especially from rural areas— Dakar and Rabat have also pledged for more coordinated action to curb desertification.

The move would entail restoring about 10 million hectares of cultivable land. The two countries hope that more job prospects and sufficient food will markedly decrease the urge among Africa’s youth to leave the continent.

Senegal and Morocco’s push for an African platform to ensure security, stability, and sustainability is part of the AU’s broader reforms initiative that has been calling for structural reforms for nearly two years.

Since the launch of the reform process in January 2017, Paul Kagame, the AU’s chair, has repeatedly noted the continent’s need for more financial autonomy.

Achieving financial autonomy, African representatives have maintained, will allow for greater ownership of African policies on critical issues like security, migration, corruption, stability, and accountability of African governments vis-à-vis their own people rather than foreign aid donors.
Senegal is Morocco’s foremost ally in sub-Saharan Africa. Dakar

spearheaded Rabat’s return to the AU in January 2017 and has been a vocally favorable voice for Morocco’s aspirations to join the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

During their meeting in Addis Ababa, El Othmani and Ndiaye also upheld their nations’ historical and cultural ties. They insisted on greater bilateral relations and economic integration.

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Rabat – Following routine searches on the weekend, customs aborted an attempt to carry €107,050 in undeclared cash into Morocco.

The suspect, a Moroccan national living in Spain, concealed the cash in his luggage to avoid filing a report of international transportation of currency, Tanger-Med customs reported Tuesday.

According to the port’s customs, a similar operation arrested another Moroccan national residing in Italy who attempted to smuggle approximately €17,600 in undeclared cash aboard a car with Italian plates.

Customs also seized, in two separate operations this weekend, €18,200 and €45,200 in cash transported by two Moroccan nationals returning from Italy.

Earlier this month, the General Directorate of National Security (DGSN) thwarted an attempt to smuggle large quantities of ecstasy pills into Morocco.

In April, authorities arrested a truck driver in Tangier-Med while trying to transport 53 kilograms of cannabis to Spain. An x-ray gave away the drugs concealed between the truck frame and the engine cooling system.

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Rabat – Convening more than 5,000 participants, the 2018 Africities summit November 20-24 in Marrakech aspires to tackle urgent questions related to “sustainable citizenship” and “responsible urbanization” in a rapidly changing Africa.

As this year’s Africities event celebrated 20 years of addressing “Africa’s pressing human and environmental issues,” participants—politicians, academics, journalists, civil society, and elected local officials—discussed common challenges for sustainable development and responsible citizenship in a context of surging global constraints.

Under this year’s theme, “Transition to Sustainable Cities and Territories: The Role of African Territorial Collectivities,” discussions centered on the role of municipalities and local governments in devising mechanisms to foster innovation, inclusive growth, and creative ways of “experiencing our cities.”

Inter-African solidarity and cooperation

Despite the wide range of perspectives from which participants at the summit’s opening ceremony looked at the issue at hand, they agreed on the need to “find creative ways of harnessing the complexities of urbanization in Africa.”

Speaking at the opening ceremony on Tuesday, November 20, Abdelouafi Laftit, Morocco’s interior minister, stressed “Morocco’s readiness to share its experience in urbanization and city planning with its African brothers.”

According to Laftit, Rabat’s experience in decentralization policies and urban planning could be the basis of a concerted African platform to tackle urbanization-related challenges. That this year marks the second time in a row that Marrakech hosts the Africities event “indicates the particular interest that Morocco attaches to African solidarity and cooperation.”

Placing the Marrakech summit in a context of “necessary cooperation between municipalities and other stakeholders,” the Moroccan official remarked that Africa’s numerous challenges (youth unemployment, immigration, ecological constraints) require inter-governmental cooperation to satisfy basic development necessities.

The goal of such a collaborative development agenda, he elaborated, is to “provide citizens with proximity services” and “consolidate human development.”

Urban maturity and reflection

While echoing Laftit’s insistence on a pan-African platform of experience sharing and collaborative development projects, other participants drew attention to the task of reflecting on the future of African cities. Thrust into an unrelenting process of globalization and urbanization, Africa should focus on blending the local and the global.

While it is necessary to jump on the global bandwagon of sustainable urbanization, they argued, the focus should be on investigating the advantages and disadvantages of rapid urbanization. How, they asked, can Africa’s decision makers and stakeholders coordinate efforts to plan a future of sustainability and inclusiveness for African cities?

Answers that participants provided were strikingly different, evidencing their multiple backgrounds. The common denominator, however, was an unceasing insistence on “thinking the future of African cities” by proposing up-to-date, context-specific, and efficient policies.

“The Marrakech summit is one of [African] maturity,” said Soham El Wardini, president of United Local Governments of Africa (CGLU), one of the organizing bodies.

“Transition to sustainable development has become an existential requirement,” she said. But it is important that the dynamics and actions spurring that transition be local. Africities, she explained, “is a useful and open platform for reflecting and deliberating on simple but crucial questions.

Jean-Pierre Elong Mbassi, CGLU’s secretary general, agreed. For Mbassi, “local Africa [homegrown solutions] embodies the future that we all want for Africa: development and prosperity.”

Echoing the event’s themes, he also underlined that fulfilling sustainable citizenship demands inter-African cooperation.

Making African cities livable and sustainable demands actions aimed at understanding and integrating regional disparities and similarities in terms of urban development, he argued.

How do Africans interact with the places they inhabit? What are the policies needed to maintain socio-economic peace in cities of striking socio-economic diversity? How can Africa’s growing urbanization take advantage of the continent’s technology-savvy youth?

While conceding that one summit cannot answer all the questions about the complexities of urbanization, the first day of the Marrakech summit left participants and attendees with optimistic notes on the future of African cities.

Mbassi, CGLU’s secretary general, noted, “The Africities summit gives us the opportunity to invent our future and invite the world to build a sustainable future for us all.”

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Rabat – “I was surprised by the development during my last trip to the Laayoune and Dakhla regions,” said Patricia Lalonde, a member of the EU parliament’s international trade committee.

Lalonde made the comments on Tuesday, November 20, upon hosting in Brussels a delegation of five Moroccan parliamentarians. Mohamed Cheikh Biadillah, co-president of the EU-Morocco Friendship Group, led the Moroccan delegation to Brussels.

Though the reason for the trip was not clearly articulated beforehand, it is believed to have been part of the EU’s assessment of Morocco’s repeated claims that the bulk of the benefits of EU-Morocco agreements involving southern territories go to the locals.

While stressing the positive sides of Morocco’s development policies in the southern provinces, Lalonde also spoke warmly of the EU-Morocco agriculture deal. Of the agreement, she said she was “confident that it will be adopted” by all relevant EU bodies. She however suggested that full adoption and entry into force may take a bit longer, due to a number of required bureaucratic steps even after adoption.

“While on the ground [in the southern provinces], I noticed the advantages and benefits of the [EU-Morocco] fisheries agreement,” she said.

Lalonde’s suggestion backs up Morocco’s development investments in the southern provinces, especially Rabat’s repeated rebuttals of critics of its Western Sahara position.

When voices inside the EU challenged the fisheries agreement, under the grounds that it did not benefit locals, both Morocco and an independent study showed that most of the financial benefits from the fisheries agreement go into development projects and job prospects improvement in the southern provinces.

In her welcoming remarks about Rabat’s engagements in Laayoune and Dakhla, the European politician went as far as saying that Morocco’s development model in the region “should be emulated by governments in other places.”

With such warm comments on Morocco’s investment in the southern regions, Lalonde has joined a long list foreign officials—particularly businessmen and diplomats—who have recently saluted Morocco’s development and investment efforts in the Laayoune region.

Earlier this month, African diplomats who were visiting Laayoune said they were “impressed by the rapid transformations” in the region.

“Every time we visit the region we witness considerable improvements,” said Ismaila Nimaga, ambassador of the Central African Republic to Rabat.

But supportive statements have not come only from foreign nationals involved in politics. Warm comments about Morocco’s engagement in the South have also come from civil rights icons and investors.

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Rabat – The verdict of Slimani’s latest accolade came yesterday in the form of “the 50 most influential French personalities in the world in 2018,” an annual assessment by Vanity Fair of France’s darlings.

The magazine spoke of this year’s “dream team” in the most obsequious terms, evidencing their standing in French society as the chosen few whose unique talents have won them special spots in the heart of the Republic.

The names, unsurprisingly, come from art (mostly literature, cinema, and music), sports (football, in general), and—of course—politics.

Rabat-born Leila Slimani came 2nd in this year’s ranking, behind stylist and photographer Hedi Slimane. Of Slimane, Vanity Fair wrote: “He evinces chosen [read calculated] speech and a precise vocabulary.”

But that laudatory description of the stylist’ obsession with the mot juste also captures Leila Slimani’s minimalist literary style. While Slimani’s debut novel, Le jardin de l’ogre (soon to be translated in the US) experienced lukewarm reception in France’s literary circles, Slimani’s second, novel, Chanson Douce, catapulted her in the highest skies of France’s universe of literary criticism.

Francophone readers are generally bombarded with traditionally pompous, bombastic, and self-important prose. Slimani’s minimalist and constrained prose, however, established her among the pioneers of an emerging Francophone (apparently America-imported) literary style that gives more importance to precision, plot, and emotional sincerity, rather than to eloquent formulations.

As to why Slimani made it to the much-coveted second spot in Vanity Fair’s French “dream team,” the magazine wrote: “With all due respect to those who don’t find her first name Gregorian [read European] enough, our Goncourt winning author henceforth embodies a certain image of a French woman of letters: talented, open-minded, and committed.”

Slimani’s global fame, the magazine went on, may have been uplifted after the New Yorker, a go-to magazine for literature connoisseurs, wrote “eight dithyrambic pages” about her works. But that’s not all. The Guardian, the British newspaper that claims millions of readers worldwide, ran “a big flattering portrait article” about Slimani.

Slimani, Vanity Fair said quoting British literary critic Julie Myerson, is “brilliantly disturbing.” The suggestion points toward Slimani’s usually disturbing and subservice themes. But also perhaps her punchy and deliberately provoking prose.

The novelist, whom Emmanuel Macron, appointed to lead his Francophony renaissance agenda, is actually in a situation where she travels the world and speaks at some of the most impressive forums worldwide, Vanity Fair suggested.

Whatever the magazine’s reason for choosing Slimani, the bottom line remains that the novelist ranked second in a list of gifted and admired 50 personalities that included names like Kylian Mbape (3rd), the rising football sensation; and Emanuel Macron (5th), France’s 40-year old president.

Despite recent scandals that somewhat tarnished his reputation, President Macron remains a star in progressive circles. His sustained admonishment of Donald Trump, Valdmir Putin, and Europe’s far-right politicians continue to drive many people to Macron’s patriotic and globalist outlook, the magazine said.

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Rabat – Based on the idea of bringing together actors—academics, civil society, decision makers—with separate agendas on migration and sustainable development, the forum aims to bring greater visibility to questions that are not generally raised in public debate around intra and transcontinental human mobility.

The forum’s theme, “Honoring International Commitments to Unlock the Potential of All Migrants for Development,” highlights the increasing need to move away from narratives that portray migrants as simply victims or a burden for their host societies.

The forum underscores a necessary shift from political discussions on migrants’ lives to a legal framework to implement policies and actions that acknowledge migrants’ contribution to development.

The “provisional program,” which organizers shared with Morocco World News, speaks volumes about the crucial importance that migration and migrants’ lives have become for policy making and public debate in the fast-moving and globalized realities of today. But also in Moroccan public debate.

From legal inclusion of migrants to improved treatment of undocumented immigrants, the forum’s organizers hope to offer a more comprehensive picture of the complex and sometimes confounding realities of global migration.

Discussions will center on devising a “Euro-African approach” to inspire “multi stakeholder action” while at the same time steering away from the “North-South paradigm.”

As debates rage on the North-South dimension of transnational mobility, the Marrakech forum aims to tackle migration-linked issues from a joint South-North and South-South platform that emphasizes shared responsibilities and common challenges. But immigration also advantages both host and native nations, suggested the program.

The diaspora’s social engagement and remittances, sustainable and expansive citizenship, and the interaction between brain drain and “brain gain” will be among the topics that the forum’s participants are set to tackle during the three-day course of the event.

The forum will close its doors with “official handover of chairmanship from Morocco and Germany to Ecuador.”

Just 3 days after the GFMD event, the city of Marrakech will also host a two-day UN-sponsored “intergovernmental conference on the global compact for migration.”

While having a more political focus than the GMFD, the intergovernmental conference upholds GFMD’s concerns with the legal and social inclusion of migrants in their host countries. According to the UN, the conference seeks to commit the international community to a global agenda on the protection of migrants’ rights.

The GFMD forum will take place at the Palmeraie Conference Center.

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Rabat – On Thursday, appearing to have put behind him the tense backlash of the Jamal Khashoggi saga, the Saudi crown initiated a scheduled series of diplomatic trips which the Saudi royal court has called “a world tour to enhance diplomatic relations with Saudi partners.”

The United Arab’s Emirates (UAE), a staunch Saudi ally, was MBS’s first destination. Cheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nayhan, the UAE’s crown prince, warmly welcomed his Saudi counterpart in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.

The Emirati prince tweeted afterwards: “Delighted to welcome our state guest, brother Prince Mohammed bin Salman. We’re proud of our deep-rooted ties. Close cooperation and a fruitful partnership lies in store for our countries. The UAE will always be a loving and supportive home for our brothers in Saudi Arabia.”

According to Riyadh, MBS’s “world tour” testifies to the kingdom’s readiness to cooperate with “strategic partners” and “brotherly countries” to improve ties “in all areas.” As the tour comes just a week from the G20 summit to be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, observers have been quick to suggest that MBS’s Arab tour is a pre-G20 summit exercise in high-profile public appearance.

Earlier this week, the Argentinian government said that it was highly probable that MBS would attend the summit. “The prince is on the list of attendees and so far we have no information saying he is not coming,” the Guardian quoted Argentina’s presidential press adviser Pablo Di Nanno as saying.

While Riyadh has not released details about MBS’s world tour itinerary, countries like Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Mauritania, and Tunisia have been said to be on the Saudi prince’s destination list following his Thursday premiere in Abu Dhabi.

Quoting Algerian diplomatic sources, Algiers-based outlet TSA reported yesterday that authorities in the North African country “are preparing to host the Saudi crown prince in December.” While nothing certain has been shared about the date and the agenda of MBS’ visit to Algiers, “there is one certainty: the Saudi prince will soon come to Algeria,” the newspaper wrote.

Meanwhile, Morocco, a traditionally strong Saudi ally, is conspicuous by its absence from the Saudi’s itinerary, leading to concerns over where the two kingdoms stand with each other in terms of strategic bilateral ties.

In the buildup to the 2026 World Cup bidding process in June, Saudi Arabia sparked uproar in Morocco.

In addition to voting for the US-led North American bid, the Saudi kingdom rallied a number of Arab countries in smashing Morocco’s World Cup aspirations. The Saudi move did not sit well with Moroccans, who, in great number on social media, called for a revision of Morocco’s diplomacy vis-à-vis Riyadh.

In the meantime, observers suggested that Riyadh’s anti-Moroccan sentiments at the time were meant to punish Rabat for failing to follow suit with other Arab countries in the latest Gulf crisis that saw Saudi Arabia set up a blockade against Qatar.

On November 18, Saudi Arabia appointed Abdullah bin Saad Al-Ghariri as the kingdom’s ambassador to Rabat. The move, coupled with a good personal relationship that Morocco’s Mohammed VI maintains with the Saudi king, was quickly seen as a further move to water don recent tensions between the two allies.

But MBS’s deliberate snub of Morocco signals that Riyadh is yet to make peace with Morocco’s “constructive neutrality” in the Gulf crisis. Saudi Arabia has still not swallowed Rabat’s refusal to diplomatically isolate Qatar, many sources—diplomatic and academic—have concurred.

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Rabat – Air passenger traffic rose by 20 percent during the first ten months of this year compared to the corresponding period last year.

According to the National Office of Airports (ONDA), 4,275,000 travelers have used Menara Airport between January and October this year compared to 3,549,000 in the same months of last year.

ONDA said 504,000 passengers traveled through Menara Airport in October, up 19 percent compared to the 422,000 passengers recorded during the same period last year.

Menara International Airport accounts for 21 percent of all air traffic in Morocco, second only to Mohammed V International Airport in Casablanca, which accounts for 45 percent.

The most popular non-domestic flight in Morocco in October was the Marrakech-Paris Orly flight, carrying 57,000 travelers, accounting for more than 2 percent of national flights. The flight between Marrakech and London Gatwick ranked fourth, with 35,000 passengers, accounting for slightly over 2 percent of Morocco’s total air traffic.

Passengers at Menara Airport face lengthy lines at passport control upwards of three hours sometimes.

One British traveler posted a scathing review on the airport’s customer feedback site earlier this month: “A beautifully dramatic airy building, but queue at immigration was completely unacceptable: the worst I’ve ever encountered in 35 years of flying regularly all around the world! It took us 3.5 hours to get from back of queue to an immigration officer’s kiosk.”

Special offers by budget airlines Ryanair and Air Arabia and airport measures to end delays and long lines at immigration may continue to increase Menara International Airport’s passenger traffic.

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Rabat – David Hale made the remarks yesterday in a meeting with Habib El Malki, speaker of the Moroccan House of Representatives.

Hale extensively commented on the US position on the ongoing UN-led initiative to broker a lasting and mutually acceptable political settlement in the four decade-long diplomatic stalemate in Western Sahara.

The general sentiment in Washington, according to the American diplomat, is that a possible rapprochement between Rabat and Algiers could lead to important overtures both in terms of regional security and in reaching a permanent solution in the territorial dispute in Western Sahara.

Dialogue is the only way forward as both countries face similar security and social challenges, Hale noted. He saluted Morocco’s dialogue offer to Algeria, pointing out that sustainable settlement will only be possible when stakeholders are ready to sit at the negotiating table and compromise on old grievances.

For his part, El Malki put forward the Morocco-US relations, underlining that Rabat has been a robust American ally on terrorism and other security matters. He said Morocco has steadily partnered in America’s fight against terror and transnational criminal networks, establishing itself as the unfailing regional bastion of security and political stability.

“Morocco is a security and stability haven in a troubled region,” the Moroccan parliamentarian said.

Of Morocco’s Sahara position, El Malki reiterated King Mohammed VI’s dialogue offer, hinting at the kingdom’s readiness to “support the UN-led initiative” and engage “in frank dialogue” with Algiers and other concerned parties.

A premonition of failure in Geneva?

Hale and El Malki’s meeting comes just a week before the unprecedented UN-led roundtable scheduled December 5-6 in Geneva. Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco, and the Polisario Front have said they will attend the Geneva meeting.

On the 43rd anniversary of the Green March earlier this month, King Mohammed VI made the unprecedented move of offering “a frank dialogue” opportunity to discuss the sour Rabat-Algiers relations.

The Moroccan monarch said that it was time for both countries to put aside decades-long grievances towards each other to allow for a paradigm shift in bilateral ties and proxy confrontation in the Sahara conflict.

Morocco’s offer has since received a series of supportive statements from foreign diplomats, world leaders, and international organizations.

For all the international fervor, however, Algiers has remained characteristically silent, resurging old doubts about the prospects of the upcoming UN-led discussion.

As Morocco’s extended hand remains ignored by Algeria, it remains to be seen whether the much-anticipated Geneva meeting can prove critical to the international community’s hoped-for diplomatic overtures.

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Rabat – A government source close to the dossier told Morocco World News that it was not MBS who snubbed Morocco, but the other way around.

News circulated last week of MBS snubbing Morocco as a destination in his ongoing world tour. MBS, the argument went, was punishing Rabat for diverting from Saudi strategic guidelines, especially in the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen and in the Saudis’ feud with Qatar.

Earlier this week, however, the Espace MRE outlet said Morocco snubbed the Saudi prince instead.

Read Also: MBS Snubs Morocco as Saudi Arabia Seeks to Emerge from Post-Khashoggi Backlash

According to the MWN source, Morocco decided that it was not ready to host MBS at such a critical juncture.

Although the original article is no longer accessible—probably taken down for some obscure reasons—Morocco World News contacted a source who has been briefed on the information.

Requesting anonymity, the source emphatically confirmed that Morocco did in fact raise concerns about hosting MBS. However, in his usual diplomatic tone, the King did not decline MBS’s request outright, the source said.

Instead, King Mohammed VI reportedly brought up his “busy schedule” at the time MBS requested for the visit and an audience with Mohammed VI, suggesting that a meeting between the two was not going to happen. The visit to Morocco was therefore “not appropriate.”

But still, the Moroccan monarch reportedly proposed that MBS meet Moulay Rachid, the King’s diplomat brother, provided that the Saudi prince wanted to proceed with the visit despite the concerns Morocco had raised.

MBS rejected King Mohammed VI’s alternative.

Weeks after the reported exchange, Saudi Arabia made public the news of MBS’s “world tour,” including Egypt, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Tunisia, and Algeria.

Morocco was the great absentee on the princely list, leading to speculations that Saudi Arabia was taking punitive steps towards Morocco’s numerous positions that do not align with Riyadh’s strategic interests.

MBS, persona non grata?

Morocco has remained a strong Saudi ally over the years.

Despite recent incidents that led the two kingdoms to give each other the cold shoulder on a number of shared interests, reports that MBS snubbed Morocco carried weight in Arab politics. Rabat has a reputation as a strong Saudi ally in North Africa, and yet it was the only country in the Maghreb that did not feature on MBS’ list of visits.

In Rabat’s eyes, however, MWN’s source confirmed, international reputation matters.

The source did not elaborate further. But the unfolding of events in countries planning to receive MBS helped make the point: The Khashoggi murder carries significance in how many perceive MBS.

As the world has concentrated on Khashoggi’s murder, MBS’s reputation is fatally tarnished. The once all-powerful and charismatic young Saudi prince has become persona non grata for many in the international community.

When Algeria and Tunisia confirmed that MBS was expected there, a wave of protests erupted to challenge the governments for hosting the Saudi prince.

Taking to the streets, Tunisian activists said MBS was “not welcome” in their country.

“It is a shame that Tunisia, which has witnessed a democratic transition and a revolution against tyranny and dictatorship, will receive a criminal whose hands were stained with the blood of Saudis and Yemenis,” one of the activists said.

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