Morocco King Proposes Limited Steps to Democracy

 

But his plans fall considerably short of the constitutional monarchy that many protesters have demanded and leave the king with absolute control over the military and religious matters.

The proposals will be put to a national referendum on July 1 instead of in September as originally planned.

The prime minister, who would be formally called “president of the government,” would be able to appoint government officials and ministers and would have the power to dissolve Parliament. The judiciary would be an independent branch; the king has headed the council that approves all judges.

It would mean a “government emerging through direct universal suffrage,” the king said in an eagerly awaited speech on national television. The changes, he said, will “make Morocco a state that will distinguish itself by its democratic course.”

The king would remain head of the Islamic faith in Morocco and be called “commander of the faithful.” But a reference to the king in the current Constitution as “sacred” would be replaced by the expression: “The integrity of the person of the king should not be violated.” Islam would remain the state religion, but there would be a new guarantee of religious freedom.

The king, who is 47 and has been in power since 1999, has been facing growing pressure to respond to calls for democratic change and a constitutional monarchy from the February 20 Movement for Change, which began on Facebook and has carried out a series of rallies in major cities. While thousands attended the rallies, they did not compare in size to those elsewhere in the Arab world, and there has been relatively little violence or state repression of the demonstrators.

As the Arab Spring has rolled through the Middle East and North Africa, monarchies have withstood the demand for change better than secular autocrats. And Morocco, on the western edge of the region, has not escaped the demand for change. The king, who is considered a reformer and a more gentle ruler than his feared father, King Hassan II, has been criticized for stalling far-reaching reforms after terrorist bombings in Casablanca in 2003.

He has also been accused of allowing the advisers and former schoolmates around him to become wealthy from state contracts and monopolies, and of tolerating corruption.

But the proposals he unveiled on Friday were a considerable effort to try to get ahead of the calls for change.

In the last few months, he released some 200 Islamist prisoners who had been jailed in the roundups that followed the 2003 bombings.

The final draft of the reformed Constitution explicitly grants the government executive powers. Government ministers, ambassadors and provincial governors would be appointed by the prime minister, subject to the approval of the king. The prime minister could dissolve the lower house of Parliament after consulting the king, House speaker and head of the Constitutional Court.

And in another response to demands from protesters, Berber will be made an official language alongside Arabic.

The king said that the constitutional reform “confirms the features and mechanisms of the parliamentary nature of the Moroccan political system” and lays the foundation for an “efficient, rational constitutional system whose core elements are the balance, independence and separation of powers, and whose foremost goal is the freedom and dignity of citizens.”

The proposed changes did not satisfy all the protesters, who say they will continue to hold rallies pressing for more change, including one scheduled for Sunday.

Najib Chawki, an activist from the February 20 Movement, told Reuters that the reform “does not respond to the essence of our demands, which is establishing a parliamentary monarchy. We are basically moving from a de facto absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy.”

But many Moroccans will see the changes as a judicious effort by the king to promote a gradual move toward democratic accountability. Mohammed Nabil Benabdallah, secretary general of the small Party of Progress and Socialism, said they show Morocco is entering a new era.

“There will be a new balance of powers,” he told Bloomberg News. “It paves the way toward the establishment of a democratic state.”

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Fatal Bomb in Morocco Shows Signs of Al Qaeda

The bomb appeared to have all the hallmarks of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Interior Minister Taieb Cherkaoui said, briefing the government in Rabat. “The manner reminds us of the style used generally by Al Qaeda,” he said. “And this leads us to think that there is a possibility of more dangers to come.”

But there was no claim of responsibility on Friday by Al Qaeda or any other group.

“This was not a suicide attack,” Mr. Cherkaoui said, adding that “it appears the bomb was set off remotely,” in remarks carried by the official news agency, MAP. He said the bomb contained ammonium nitrate. A Moroccan security official, asking for anonymity, said the bomb also contained triacetone triperoxide, or TATP, an explosive easily made and popular among bombers in the Middle East, including those from Al Qaeda.

The bombing is a serious blow to Morocco’s tourism industry, already hurt by the economic crisis and anxieties about popular protests that are stirring much of the Arab world. The site — a popular cafe facing the historic Djemma el Fna square — is a regular tourist stop, and the bombing appeared aimed at foreigners.

Fourteen of the 16 dead were foreigners, mostly French citizens, as well as two Canadians, a Briton and a Dutch tourist, officials said. There were 25 people wounded, 14 of whom remained in hospitals, Mr. Cherkaoui said.

Morocco’s king, Mohammed VI, has tried to respond to popular demands for more democracy by beginning constitutional reforms and releasing or commuting the sentences of 190 radical Islamic prisoners arrested after the last big terrorist bombing, in Casablanca in 2003, when 45 people died, including 12 suicide bombers.

On May 1, protesters plan another rally in Moroccan cities to demand a faster transition to a constitutional monarchy, the third such protest since Feb. 20.

Mohamed Darif, a political scientist at King Hassan University in Casablanca, said, “The finger is pointed at Al Qaeda,” and suggested that Al Qaeda in the Islamic Mahgreb had singled out a cafe popular with French tourists. The same group holds four French hostages and demands that for their return, France pull its troops out of Afghanistan.

“They would find no better spot than Marrakesh, which has become a French village, with a strong French presence,” Mr. Darif said.

But he suggested other possible culprits, including radical Islamists who want all their colleagues released from prison — nearly 2,000 or so are detained — and those who do not favor the king’s recent movement toward democratic reform.

Jean-Yves Moisseron, editor in chief of the France-based magazine Maghreb-Machrek, said the way the bombing was carried out pointed to Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, “since Marrakesh is a very touristy place with a bad reputation, a spot for prostitution and sexual tourism, with international jet-setters” who own houses in the old city.

“There is a very clear will to target tourists; otherwise they would have bombed 50 meters away,” he said, adding that the bombers had to get through significant police controls to hit the square, which is well protected. “They were surely well organized and significantly trained.”

Two of the dead were Michal Zekry, 29, an Israeli-Canadian who was pregnant, and her husband, Messod Wizman, 30, a Moroccan-Canadian. They had come from Shanghai to visit Mr. Wizman’s parents, who live in Casablanca, for Passover, and then took a trip to see Marrakesh.

“They were lovely together, married for three years and have a boy, 2,” said Mr. Wizman’s aunt. “She was pregnant. What happened was that they went to the hotel in Marrakesh, but their room was not ready, so they thought, ‘Why not have a coffee?’ and went to the Argana.” She paused, then said: “There are no words for that.” The couple had left their son with his grandparents.

Mr. Wizman, she said, grew up in Casablanca, studied in Paris and then went to Montreal, where he met his wife.

On Friday evening, the square was packed with people, but the coffee shops and restaurants normally filled with tourists were nearly empty.

Around the corner, the Mabrouka cinema was open, showing “Femmes en Miroirs,” about a young Moroccan photographer living in Paris who returns home to see her sick mother. Rashiq Moulay Alarbi, a literature student, said: “We are not afraid, we are going out. I want these people who did this to us to know that they have not succeeded.”

His friend Abdellah al-Khalaoui, a driver, expressed sorrow for the deaths and concern for the city. “We fear that the tourism will drop; it has already started,” he said. “Already the coffee shops in which people used to sit are empty.”

Nearby, a Spanish couple ate with friends at a small restaurant, undeterred. They were near the square on Thursday but did not hear the explosion. “We’re very sad for the people, but something like this could have happened in Barcelona or Paris as well,” said Manuel Sanroma, a mathematics professor at the University of Barcelona who was making his second visit to Marrakesh.

“We love the Arab world,” he said. “Terrorists can attack you anywhere.”

Souad Mekhennet reported from Marrakesh, and Steven Erlanger from Washington. Ma?a de la Baume contributed reporting from Paris.