Moroccan king stresses kingdom's commitment to building stable, flourishing Maghreb union

Key achievements made during 10 years of Morocco's King Mohammed VI reign

Moroccan monarch grants pardon to thousands of prisoners on 10th anniversary of his enthronement

Algerian president calls on Moroccan king to work together to enhance bilateral relations

King Mohammed VI of Morocco asserted his country's firm commitment to building a stable, merging and flourishing Maghreb union.

In an address to the nation on the 10th anniversary of his enthronement, King Mohammed said Morocco is seeking to provide circumstances that are appropriate for activating the joint Maghreb action as a strategic option to attain ambitions of its five peoples (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania) for integrated development and partnership in an age of international blocs.

The monarch said Morocco will continue its relentless efforts and constructive endeavors to reach a final agreeable political solution to the Sahara issue, stressing Morocco's insistence on an initiative on self-rule in the Sahara region.

Morocco has, over the past years, embarked on a broad-based process of sweeping, comprehensive reforms and a flurry of large-scale development projects, which ushered in a new era under the reign of His Majesty King Mohammed VI.

Ever since his accession to the throne in 1999, the sovereign has consistently voiced firm resolve to press ahead with this comprehensive reform process and see through the various projects initiated in different areas.

The King put social justice, the improvement of the citizens' living conditions and the promotion of full-fledged citizenship atop priorities to fight all manifestations of poverty and social exclusion.

In all these endeavors, the monarch is keeping track of the projects under way, based on a field monitoring approach to check on their smooth running.

The monarch’s social action has materialized through a multitude of reforms, initiatives and projects aimed at accomplishing such important objectives as upgrading the national education system, overhauling the health regime, broadening the scope of medical insurance, facilitating access to housing and achieving human development.

In the midst of comprehensive reforms and wide-ranging programs, the monarch launched, back in mid-2005, an ambitious social project “the National Initiative for Human Development (INDH)”.

The INDH, which is part of a strategic vision to achieve development, sought primarily to address poverty in rural areas and combat social exclusion in urban areas. Four years after its launch, the project has benefited over 4 million people, with 16,100 projects programmed, worth 9.4 billion dirhams.

Given its far-reaching goals, the INDH has been widely supported internationally. Several countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Belgium, France, Germany and the United States, as well as international organizations (the World Bank, the European Union and Global Partnership on Output Based Aid "GPOBA"), have committed themselves to financially supporting the initiative. In this connection, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia donated 50 million dollars in support of the initiative during his official visit to the kingdom in 2007.

Three years after his enthronement, the king launched the mega Tangier-Med project which is geared towards enhancing the north’s development and opening up new prospects toward Europe and the rest of the world. The Internationally-oriented complex, located in the crossroads of major sea routes, targets a close market of as many as 600 million people including West Europe, North Africa and North America.

In view of the prospects for success the project holds, it has been decided to expand the complex by building another port “Tangier-Med II”, which is bound to become an important platform at the international level. It will eventually enable to ship more than 8 million containers and transport 7 million passengers, 3 million vehicles and 10 million tons of hydrocarbons annually.

Building on the logistic competitiveness created by the complex, a vast industrial platform is being developed in the region. The first fruits reaped from this mega project was the setting up of a car assembly plant in the area.

The Renault plant is expected to start production in early 2012 with a pace of 170,000 cars yearly to ultimately reach 400,000 cars a year, thus becoming the most important car assembly plant of Renault in the Mediterranean region. At the social level, the plant is expected to generate beneficial results as it will provide 4,000 direct and 24,000 indirect jobs.

In the same vein, King Mohammed VI, aware that Morocco has all the ingredients of a privileged tourist destination, launched in 2001 an ambitious strategy called “Vision 2010” which is designed to attract 10 million tourists by the year 2010.

The strategy has spurred significant investments towards the sector, generating a great many jobs. Consequently, the sector has become a true engine of socio-economic development. Moreover, the sector’s contribution to the Kingdom’s GDP is forecast to amount to 20 pc.

The results of the strategy achieved so far hold much promise for the sector, with 7.9 million tourists having visited the Kingdom in 2008; that is, an increase of a robust 7 pc on the previous year.

In the field of media, the scope of the freedom of press has significantly broadened, with journalists increasingly addressing subjects that were deemed ‘taboos’. The print press has witnessed the emergence of a large number of new titles, together with the liberalization of the audiovisual sector in May 2006, which gave rise to a notable increase in the number of TV channels and radio stations.

With the same will to carry out reforms, the monarch formed an “Equity and Reconciliation Commission” in 2004 to turn the page on the past human rights abuses of what is commonly known as “the years of lead”.

The commission sought out-of-court settlement of human rights abuses committed between 1956 and 1999 and identified the victims of those abuses who were compensated accordingly.

Religious domain, women’s status, major concerns As part of this comprehensive reform project, the monarch has attached utmost importance to the religious sphere by initiating far-reaching reforms covering the different institutions dealing with religious affairs. The reforms’ ultimate objective was to secure the citizen’s spiritual security both in Morocco and abroad, and promote religious institutions’ supervision and doctrinal unity.

The reforms include the upgrading of the ulema (religious scholars) Council and the retraining of Imams (prayer leaders) to ensure that their academic background and their performance in the fields of education and counseling in religious matters, social conduct and pious behavior, are upgraded.

In this respect, the king had last year launched the ulema’s charter under which the imams will be trained and supervised by the best Ulema - men and women alike – to redefine the mission assigned to the mosque as a place of guidance and counseling and upgrade the role it should play in providing education and enlightenment.

The reforms also paid close attention to grooming women to be effective stakeholders in the various aspects of life. In this connection, a number of women counselors, preachers and supervisors were trained to upgrade family life, improve women’s environment, counsel young girls and instill in them a sense of patriotism along with a strong commitment to Islam’s tolerant ideals and immutable tenets.

Out of deep belief that women can play a major role and offer substantial services to advance their society, a ground-breaking reform was introduced to family life through the new Family Law (Moudawana) which enhanced the status of women as full-fledged members of a just society, enjoying their rights and playing their part in the development endeavor launched by the country.

In this regard, the monarch announced in December 2008, on the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that Morocco is withdrawing its reservations concerning the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, thus recognizing the whole range of their rights and roles.

The Family Law was the culmination of a community-based debate which laid fresh foundations to set up balanced social relations, based on gender equality and the protection of children.

The Law was geared towards guaranteeing for each member of the family life their rights and obligations, in such a way that the younger generations get imbued with virtues of equality.

Among the major initiatives aimed at promoting women’s rights was the review of the Citizenship Act to enable a Moroccan mother to pass on her nationality to her offspring, regardless of her husband's nationality.

In the same vein, H.M. the King proclaimed, back in 2003, a National Day for the Moroccan woman, observed annually on October 10th, thereby reasserting his firm will to press ahead on the path of promoting the rule of law which enshrines equality between the man and the woman.

Morocco-Africa ties raised to effective South-South co-operation.

"Morocco is like a tree whose nourishing roots plunge deep into the soil of Africa, and which breathes through its leaves, which rustle in the winds blowing from Europe,” the late King Hassan II had said.

In keeping with this vision, Morocco has forged strong ties with Africa and Europe, which have been strengthened over time. Its diplomacy in Africa has, over the past years, seen a remarkable evolution as part of a drive to redefine the kingdom’s policy towards the continent so as to give South-South co-operation its full substance with all its human, solidarity-based dimensions, and boost historic, friendship long-standing ties with the continent.

This vision stems from a philosophy which rises above national interests, setting South-South co-operation as a bridge of solidarity with the African partners, and taking due account of Morocco’s traditional ties with the continent.

This redefining effort has a human dimension as well, which springs from the Kingdom’s deep-seated belief and H.M. the King’s keen will to forge sound, diversified and concrete co-operation with the African countries, which realizes Morocco’s ambitions toward its African brotherly countries.

Shortly after his enthronement in July 1999, the sovereign has given a concrete substance to this vision, by announcing at the first EU-Africa Summit (held in Cairo in 2000) Morocco’s decision to write off debts owed to it by the least developed African countries as well as to drop custom duties on products imported from Africa.

The move, which was widely applauded at international level, has opened Morocco’s market to Africa’s products and gave a strong momentum to Morocco-Africa co-operation in various areas. Furthermore, it has been a clear manifestation of effective South-South co-operation, which the Kingdom has constantly been urging.

To turn this will into a reality, the sovereign has paid visits to several African countries where he got acquainted with a host of Morocco-funded development projects and programs.

The Kingdom has also received a large number of African personnel to pursue their studies in its institutes and universities, granting scholarships to hundreds of African students and dispatching professors and experts to African countries to supervise trainings for the benefit of African executives.

As far as its relations with Europe is concerned, the Kingdom was granted an Advanced Status in its relations with the European Union in 2008. The status, which was widely seen as a reward for the various bold reforms undertaken by Morocco, makes it possible for the kingdom to have free access to the European market and to ultimately have road, railway and port infrastructures that are unparalleled in the Maghreb.

It attests to trust and esteem on the part of the EU for Morocco as well as for the strategic orientations it has opted for under H.M. the King.

H.M. King Mohammed VI on Thursday reiterated Morocco's "unwavering commitment to building a stable, integrated and prosperous Maghreb Union."

In a state of the nation address on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of His Majesty's enthronement, the Monarch underlined Morocco's sincere willingness to contribute to "bring about conditions that are conducive to promoting Maghreb joint action as a strategic option designed to fulfill the aspirations of all five peoples for integrated development."

This approach "responds to the requirements of regional partnership in this era of international blocs," H.M. the King underlined in the speech, stressing "sincere desire for a normalization of Moroccan-Algerian relations, in keeping with a forward-looking approach which transcends obsolete stances that are contrary to the spirit of openness marking this 21st century, especially that of the Algerian authorities, who maintain their unilateral decision to close the land border."

"This regrettable attitude is incompatible with the basic right of two neighboring peoples to exercise their individual and collective rights to freedom of movement and to human and economic exchange," the Monarch said.

"True to the Maghreb spirit, I shall continue to work untiringly and support the United Nations' constructive efforts to reach a lasting, mutually acceptable political solution to the regional dispute over the Moroccanness of the Sahara," H.M. the king underlined.

In this respect, His Majesty reiterated Morocco's commitment to "the bold autonomy initiative because of its serious, credible character that has been recognized by the international community, because of the human rights guarantees it provides, because of the reconciliation and reunification of all the sons of the Moroccan Sahara it seeks to achieve, and because of its constructive vision of the Maghreb and of the region, which is designed to help our region rise to the challenges of development, and guarantee progress and prosperity for all its populations."

The Sovereign emphasized Morocco's resolve to pursue efforts "to strengthen the bonds of Arab and Islamic brotherhood by promoting concrete economic and development projects, and by continuing to support the just causes of our Ummah." In this direction, H.M. the king, Chairman of the Al-Quds Committee, pledged to continue doing his "utmost to preserve the character of Al-Quds as the future capital of an independent, fully sovereign Palestinian state."

In the same vein, His Majesty affirmed that Morocco "adheres to the international consensus regarding a two-state solution and welcomes the commitment of the United States Administration to a just solution, with all that this implies in terms of requirements and consensual agreements."

Touching on the Kingdom's solidarity and cooperation relations with sister African nations, H.M. the King stressed the need to "work untiringly to establish genuine partnerships with these African countries, both to serve our common interests and to achieve sustainable development.

Moroccan know-how and expertise should be used to develop model South-South cooperation mechanisms, and implement structural and human development projects." Concerning the Advanced Status enjoyed by Morocco in its partnership with the European Union, the Monarch called on "all the national stakeholders concerned to make concerted efforts to rise to this challenge, and use the opportunities this status offers in various sectors as best they can."

Concurrently, H.M. the king stressed Morocco's commitment to be "effectively involved in what is at stake in our region by, for example, helping to get the promising Union for the Mediterranean under way."

Meanwhile, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Wednesday urged Iraq's ethnic Kurds and majority Arabs to resolve their entrenched dispute over oil and land before a scheduled American troop withdrawal by 2012.

U.S. troops have helped defuse several standoffs between the Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers and Iraqi forces over the last year, one facet of the row pitting semi-autonomous Kurdistan region against Arab leaders in Baghdad.

Gates told Kurdish President Massoud Barazani that Washington was prepared to provide "whatever assistance we can to help resolve these disputes in a peaceful manner," Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters on board a U.S. plane.

At the heart of the feud with the Baghdad government is control over the oil-producing region of Kirkuk, which Kurds consider their ancestral homeland and want to make part of their semi-autonomous Kurdish enclave. The city's Arabs and Turkmen fear Kurdish hegemony.

The dispute has intensified, leading to fears of violence.

Some fear Iraq's waning insurgency might style itself as an Arab bulwark against Kurdish encroachment.

Gates was on the second day of a previously unannounced visit to Iraq, and on Tuesday met Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Morrell said Gates had delivered to Maliki the same message he relayed to former guerrilla leader Barazani. "He reminded his hosts that we have all sacrificed too much in blood and treasure to see the gains of the last two years lost to political differences," Morrell said.

Accompanying Gates in Arbil was General Ray Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, who on Tuesday called the dispute the "number one driver of instabilities" in the country.

"I think he's (Gates) optimistic that there can be follow-through on these issues sooner rather than later. The clock is ticking on our presence in Iraq," Morrell said.

There are some 130,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, and combat troops are due to withdraw by the end of August next year, part of a plan for a complete pullout by the end of 2011.

U.S. combat troops withdrew from Iraqi city and town centers on June 30, and on Tuesday Gates praised Iraqi security forces' leading role since then. He said current security in Iraq could allow for a quicker U.S. departure.

"I think there's at least some chance of a modest acceleration," Gates told reporters.

The number of U.S. combat brigades in Iraq had been scheduled to go down to 12 from the current 14 by January, when Iraq goes to the polls in its first national elections since 2005, but Gates said the number could fall to 11 instead.

His visit comes as Iraqi officials prepare to announce the results of weekend presidential and parliamentary polls in Kurdistan which, despite an unprecedented challenge from opposition groups, are seen as unlikely to unseat Barazani from the presidency and shatter his allies' grip on power.

There is some hope that Iraqi and Kurdish officials may be more ready to make concessions now that Kurdish electioneering, characterized by fiery rhetoric about disputed areas, is over.

Potential Iraqi purchases of U.S. weaponry was also an important point in Gates' visit, his 10th to Iraq as Defense secretary, as Iraqi forces take the lead for security.

U.S. President Barack Obama had urged Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Wednesday to press ahead with national reconciliation efforts and pledged to meet a commitment to withdraw all U.S. troops from the country by the end of 2011.

After meeting with Maliki for more than an hour at the White House, Obama also played down new Iraqi limits on U.S. military operations as "differences in strategy," and he promised U.S. help for Iraq in trying to end its obligation to pay reparations to neighboring Kuwait for the 1990 invasion of that country by the forces of Saddam Hussein.

Maliki, making his first visit to the Obama White House, said after the meeting that Iraqi security forces have become "highly capable" of dealing with domestic threats on their own. He emphasized Iraq's need at this stage for greater economic help and foreign investment.

In a brief joint news conference in the White House Rose Garden after the meeting, Obama said the United States would "continue to provide training and support for Iraqi security forces that are capable and nonsectarian. We'll move forward with our strategy to responsibly remove all American combat brigades from Iraq by the end of next August and to fulfill our commitment to remove all American troops from Iraq by the end of 2011."

He and Maliki "have no doubt that there will be some tough days ahead," Obama said. "There are still those in Iraq who would murder innocent men, women and children. There are still those who want to foment sectarian conflict. But make no mistake, those efforts will fail."

Stressing a need to overcome sectarianism and make room for minorities, Obama said he told Maliki "that Iraq will be more secure and more successful if there is a place for all Iraqi citizens to thrive, including all of Iraq's ethnic and religious groups."

He said the United States "continues to support efforts to integrate all Iraqis into Iraq's government and security forces."

Heading into the meeting, Iraqi officials indicated they wanted the United States to provide more economic support, help resolve problems with some of Iraq's neighbors and -- when asked -- assist in dealing with security threats.

Otherwise, they wanted the Americans to leave them alone.

For its part, the Obama administration wants Baghdad to stop the sectarian disagreements that continue to impede economic and political progress, show a little more public respect for U.S. sacrifices on its behalf and start behaving like a normal, oil-rich democracy.

In reference to American sacrifices, Obama told reporters after Wednesday's meeting that he was especially pleased by Maliki's plan to visit Arlington National Cemetery during his current trip.

The United States maintains about 130,000 troops in Iraq, down from more than 160,000 in 2007 following a "surge" of reinforcements to suppress rampant sectarian violence.

Under a Status of Forces agreement signed during the Bush administration, U.S. troops withdrew from major Iraqi cities by June 30, and all U.S. forces are required to leave the country by the end of 2011. Obama announced in February that he plans to withdraw U.S. combat brigades from Iraq by Aug. 31, 2010, and to gradually pull out the remaining troops until the withdrawal is completed by the 2011 deadline.

Obama said the U.S. transfer of control over cities to Iraqi security forces "should send an unmistakable signal that we will keep our commitments with the sovereign Iraqi government."

Asked whether he had objected to new Iraqi restrictions on U.S. military operations -- curbs that some U.S. commanders say go beyond the agreement -- Obama said: "I think that we have seen both improved capacity and greater confidence on the part of the Iraqi security forces. We're very pleased with that."

He added: "There are going to be, at times, differences in strategy" over how to move against insurgents, for example.

"There are going to be those kinds of strategic and tactical discussions that are continually taking place between the two sides. But, overall, we have been very encouraged by the progress that's been made."

Maliki said those who thought Iraqis would be "incapable of imposing peace and security" in the absence of U.S. forces have "proved to be wrong." He pledged to "work very hard in order not to allow any sectarian behavior an opportunity to flourish."

He said that in addition to security issues, he and Obama had discussed Iraq's desire to "convene an investment conference" in October to bring together foreign investors and companies wishing to work in Iraq.

"Both we and the Americans emphasize that the nature of our relationship has changed," Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said in an interview this week. But without much useful precedent, both countries are still feeling their way. Maliki and President George W. Bush spoke weekly during the previous administration, via videoconference.

Before Wednesday's White House meeting, and other than during his April visit to Iraq, Obama had "spoken once or twice" to Maliki since taking office, Zebari said.

Despite what the commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad Tuesday called a few "hiccups" in their military relationship, both governments consider the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraqi urban centers last month a success-in-progress.

Maliki's description of the pullout as a "victory" for Iraq will allow him to lay a wreath at the U.S. military cemetery in Arlington on Thursday morning, an act that would have been politically impossible for the Iraqi leader just a few months ago.

As Maliki met with U.N. officials in New York on Tuesday, security remained precarious at home, with at least 18 people killed in attacks across Iraq. Blasts rocked Baghdad, Ramadi and Baaquba, underlining the threat that insurgents still pose to Maliki's government.

Iraqis continue to chew over the message imparted during a visit this month by Vice President Biden, who warned that the U.S. commitment to them could end if the country again descended into ethnic and sectarian violence.

"The United States doesn't want to be involved in a domestic conflict that might arise," said Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh. "This is natural. We understand that."

Of Iraq's numerous domestic disputes, the most volatile concern the future of the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk, claimed by both Iraqi Kurds and Arabs, and the related question of the broader internal boundary between Kurdish and Arab Iraq.

All attempts at resolution since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 have failed; the issues have impeded passage of laws regulating Iraq's oil income distribution and threaten to undermine national elections set for January.

For the Obama administration, the question is not whether to be involved, but how much involvement is useful and tolerable to the Iraqis. "It's something where we've got to be not too hot but not too cold," a senior administration official said. "If we don't get movement along these internal boundaries, something could flare up" and throw Iraq into chaos. Although U.N. negotiators are working on the issue, the official said, "I think we will have to be engaged."

A Maliki political opponent, who would speak only on the condition of anonymity, said the prime minister was concerned about his arms-length relationship with Obama and wanted to lobby U.S. officials to support his reelection.

"He is using the visit to make sure that the U.S. is not against his premiership," the opponent said.

An independent Shiite lawmaker had a different take on Maliki's goals in Washington, where the prime minister was also meeting with Defense, State, Treasury and Commerce Department officials as well as U.S. lawmakers. "He wants to see how accurate the information Biden relayed is and what U.S. policy will be over the next period," Wael Abdel Latif said.

"At least, he's going to get a sense of what the Americans want from Iraq and what support they can provide, especially with Chapter 7."

Iraqis use that term -- a reference to a U.N. Charter provision giving nations the right to intervene in another country, and in Iraq's case giving international approval to the now-defunct coalition occupation force that followed the overthrow of Saddam Hussein -- to refer to ongoing U.N. resolutions that, among other things, mandate reparations to Kuwait from Hussein's 1990 invasion of Iraq's neighbor.

Five percent of Iraqi oil income -- down from 30 percent immediately after Hussein's forces were driven out of Kuwait by the United States and others in 1991 -- goes directly into Kuwaiti coffers. There are indications that Kuwait is willing to eliminate or sharply reduce the remaining $25.2 billion it is owed, but only if the two countries settle a rancorous dispute over the demarcation of the Persian Gulf waterway between them.

The issue is a sensitive one in Iraq, and Maliki would like the United States to lean on Kuwait to resolve it.

"There is no love lost between" the Kuwaiti and Iraqi governments, another senior U.S. official said. Officials in Maliki's government "fear that if they make concessions, they'll be seen as weak in an election year."

At the same time, he said, "it's an emotional issue in Kuwait."

Rather than stepping into the middle of the dispute, the Obama administration is hoping that a U.N. commission, due to issue a report on the matter next week, will resolve it.

Asked about the issue by an Iraqi reporter Wednesday, Obama said the United States would "work with Iraq to get out of the Chapter 7 constraints." He said it "would be a mistake for Iraq to continue to be burdened by the sins of a deposed dictator."

But to resolve the issue, "we're going to have to obtain cooperation from various members of the United Nations," and "some specific disputes" between Iraq and its neighbors must be settled, he said.

Maliki said Obama and his administration "agree with us that Iraq is no longer representing a threat to international peace and security because there is a democracy in Iraq, not a dictatorship."