The Moroccan Monarchy Launches Plan ‘B’ to Counter Multi-Front Turbulence
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The King of Morocco, Mohammed VI has ordered a reshuffle of the executive branch with focus on security, justice and economic development. The reshuffle is substantial in that it involves very critical posts but is also a culmination of many years of unfulfilled social, political and economic promises.
The changes in the cabinet are motivated by various ongoing issues and problems facing Morocco, with the most important one being the continued lack of support for Morocco from African nations on the Western Sahara conflict. The sacking of the Interior Minister has something to do with that. The lack of progress in democratization, the chaos affecting the parliament, and the troubled tourism industry that has suffered not from a lack of performance but because of the global economic crisis also played a key role in the decision.Our take:
The North Africa Journal thinks while the Palace’s focus on a decentralization approach to governance is meant to gather the support of reluctant Africans on the Western Sahara front, we believe such support may be very hard to obtain afterward given Africa’s overall concepts of centralized governing. Yet Morocco could get some support by leveraging the economic gains it has made in some Francophone Africa nations, if aided by French diplomacy, which is an unlikely scenario at this stage.
The change in leadership in the government may do a little to change the way parliament functions. Corruption is widespread and MPs find it more lucrative to change allegiances to parties as it suits them. Instead, Morocco needs a substantial overhaul of its political system above and beyond personnel appointments and the new men in charge are not necessarily risk takers themselves. They are still highly linked to the Monarchy to assume that they will be able to influence the political agenda on their own.
On the positive side, recent movements in the military world hint on greater collaboration between the US and Moroccan military. Such collaboration means that the US may be working to force a rapprochement between Algeria and Morocco on security matters as the threat of Al Qaeda in the Sahel continues to loom. A military rapprochement between these long standing foes is better than nothing and could create an environment that could foster improvements in diplomatic relations. Continue here to read the analysis.
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Comments (1 posted):
Usually, I don't care about people who write rubbish, but honestly, your piece on "The Moroccan Monarchy Launches Plan "B" to Counter Multi-Front Turbulence" by Paul Wilson is totally non-sense and not a serious writing about Morocco.
For example, Morocco has more African support on Western Sahara than you think.
Also, Morocco does not a "troubled tourism industry". In fact, more people visited last year than Spain and Tunisia.
Finally, of course, you are free to publish whatever you think is best for you but I am sure that people who visit often will not take seriously.
A reader from the United Kingdom
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