US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Morocco on Feb. 26 for Groundbreaking of New Embassy in Rabat

US State Department, Press Statement (Washington, DC, Feb. 21) — February 23, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton will begin a four-nation trip to London and North Africa. In London, the Secretary will attend a conference hosted by Prime Minister David Cameron, dedicated to building stability and peace in Somalia. Heads of state and foreign ministers from over 50 countries as well as representatives of the United Nations and the African Union will attend. The timing of the conference is significant as it convenes six months prior to the end of Somalia’s political transition which is set to take place by August 20, 2012.

Secretary Clinton will then travel to North Africa. In Tunisia on February 24 and 25, she will participate in the first meeting of the “Friends of Syria” group as part of our ongoing efforts with our friends, allies, and the Syrian opposition to crystallize next steps to halt the slaughter of the Syrian people and pursue a transition to democracy in Syria. She will also meet with Prime Minister Jebali, President Marzouki, and members of civil society to discuss bilateral cooperation and Tunisia’s progress in its democratic transition.

In Algeria on February 25, Secretary Clinton will meet with President Bouteflika to discuss domestic developments, preparations for the May 10 parliamentary elections, and challenges facing the region.

In Morocco on February 26, she will meet with Foreign Minister El Othmani, before presiding over a groundbreaking for the new U.S. Embassy in Rabat.

Morocco World News, by Leila Hanafi (Rabat, February 9, 20120 — It has been twelve years since Morocco became a signatory to the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court (ICC) —the world’s first permanent international court to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. During this time, Morocco has continued to move forward in its commitment to upholding the rule of law and universal human rights, but to date it has not completed procedures necessary to become a state party to the Court.

Each month, as part of its Universal Ratification Campaign, the Coalition for the International Criminal Court calls upon certain countries to ratify the Rome Statute and become members of the Court. Morocco is one of the countries selected as a focus for the start of 2012.

Drawing upon the tolerant precepts of Islam, national cultural values, and international commitments, Morocco has made clear its commitment to the primacy of law and good governance. Justice reforms currently underway are slowly bringing national legislation in line with the Rome Statute. Recent amendments to the constitution and penal code underline Morocco’s ambition to ratify the Statute and are preparing the ground to ensure universal acceptance of the ICC.

Furthermore, the newly-adopted constitution marks an unprecedented change by declaring the country’s adherence to universal human rights as well as by affirming the preeminence of international law over national legislation, as outlined in the Preamble of the new text. Although the term “impunity” is not mentioned, crimes against humanity, genocide and violations of human rights are poignantly condemned.  [Continue Reading...]

Forbes, by Christopher Coats (Feb. 21, 2012) — Midway through a conversation with Saïd Mouline last week, the director of Morocco’s Agency for the Development of Renewable Energy, it became clear that building the region’s alternative capacity meant much more than just cleaner energy. Faced with a dramatically different economic and political landscape than just a year ago, Mouline and the Moroccan government in Rabat have set out to not only establish themselves as green energy leaders in the Mediterranean, but possibly even use that new focus to shift the balance of influence in the region.

To be clear, the country’s initial embrace of renewable energy is rooted firmly in the country’s lopsided dependence on foreign energy. While sharing the North African coast with some of the continent’s largest oil and gas producers, Morocco is left to import 95 percent of its energy needs, putting it in a precarious situation where energy prices can, and have, skyrocketed overnight.

Starting a few years ago, the Moroccan government got serious about building the country’s renewable capacity to help meet domestic demand and tap into growing interest from Europe for new energy sources. Frustrated with space constraints and resource uncertainty, Europe had begun exploring the idea of tapping into North Africa’s solar and wind potential with proposals for sprawling projects meant to cushion EU demand and help countries reach 20 percent by 2020 renewable goals. In Morocco, this was followed by government energy efficiency campaigns and funding for renewable projects, setting a 42 percent renewable goal by 2020.

Anchored by a $9 billion solar plan announced in 2009, the country’s renewable path was meant to both establish the country as a green leader in North Africa and remove the threat of price fluctuations brought on by its dependence on imports. And until recently, that was limit of the country’s energy outlook. Hardly modest, but that was where it seemed to end. However, as Rabat watched North Africa undergo the deep political and economic evolution of last year, Morocco’s renewable energy potential took on a new importance. With new governments in place in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, long-delayed partnerships in the region seemed suddenly possible. Proposed trading blocs that had sat in limbo for decades were brought up for discussion again. In late January, Algeria even welcomed their first official visitor from Rabat since 2003 with the arrival of Morocco’s foreign minister.

For energy purposes – both traditional and otherwise – an economically unified North Africa would give them a stronger hand to play when it came to producing and exporting energy to the European market. Planning and investment efforts could focus on local priorities, like domestic job creation and energy needs in Fez, not just Madrid. By offering up a more cohesive energy production effort in the Maghreb, energy actors like Mouline reasoned, the area could have more say about funding, revenue sharing and sustainability. The shift would, they hoped, give North Mediterranean energy consumers more of a stake in the South’s overall wellbeing, moving away from the long-standing focus on security and oil.

“By developing green energy, we are creating solutions for Europe – not just economic but social solutions for the future,” he told me last week.  [Continue Reading...]

Ambassadors Perspective, by Ambassador Edward M. Gabriel  (Washington, Feb. 21, 2012) — I would like to think, as the Russians and Chinese seem to believe, that Bashar Assad can end the carnage in Syria and still remain a viable leader for his country…but that time has passed. I met with President Assad five times between 2001 and 2005 as a private citizen, representative of the think tank community or as part of the American Task Force for Lebanon. At that time, he still had the chance to make his presidency a force for progress and stability.

During these meetings, Assad emphasized that he had made a strategic choice on peace with Israel, and furthermore was ready to secure the border with Iraq during a time of the Iraqi war when it was disruptive to US interests.  He noted the need to stop the transit of terrorist forces through his territory, including Hamas and Hezbollah. He even occasionally mentioned reforms, but indicated that, like his father, the survival of Syria was paramount, meaning the Assad regime.

At the time, Assad preferred a comprehensive agreement with the US that addressed both sides’ needs, so that any and all problems between us would be put on the table for resolution before tackling preferred options or individual confidence building measures by either party. In one conversation he said, “We are not your soldiers,” explaining that rather than small-tit for tat-confidence building measures demanded by the US, he preferred to have agreement on the overall package first.  [Continue Reading...]

Edward M. Gabriel  is former US Ambassador to Morocco, 1997-2001.

Meeting of Maghreb Union Foreign Ministers in Rabat, Morocco first in 18 years

Al Akhbar, by Othman Tazghart, Mourad Traboulsi (Algiers and Paris, Feb. 20, 2012) – Since it was founded, the Arab Maghreb Union has not been able to regularly convene or carry out its duties due to a number of regional events, particularly those in Algeria.  Last weekend’s meeting in the Moroccan capital of the council of foreign ministers, the AMU’s second-highest level body, was its first in 18 years. Hopes are high of renewing a regional association rendered obsolete by political and national security disputes…

It is no coincidence that efforts to reactivate the AMU should be back at the forefront today, following the radical political changes that have swept the Maghreb region in the wake of the so-called Arab Spring.

One particular outcome has been a marked increase in Algeria’s enthusiasm for the AMU. Recently, Algeria has stressed the need to develop the union on the basis of the five member-states’ shared interests, and not to let contentious issues get in the way.

A steady rapprochement with Morocco has been underway for months. Relations have improved remarkably, and late last year, working groups were set up to discuss joint development projects that would benefit both countries.

The claim that Algeria would be disadvantaged economically if the border with Morocco was reopened – which has been reiterated incessantly in recent years – is barely to be heard these days. Instead, Algerian media have taken to discussing the potential benefits in terms of boosting bilateral investment and trade and giving the economies of both countries a lift. [Continue Reading...]

Cache of smuggled Libyan surface-to-air missiles found in desert near Libya-Algeria border / AFP

ABC News - Associated Press (Algiers, Algeria, Feb. 2012) – Algerian security services have found two cache of weapons, including 43 anti-aircraft missiles, hidden in the sand near the Libyan border, a local newspaper reported Monday.

The French-language daily El Watan quoted unidentified security officials as saying the missiles were discovered recently in the town of In Amenas in southern Algeria. Government officials would not confirm the report.

One cache included Russian designed SA-24 anti-aircraft missiles and the shoulder-fired SAM-7 from the arsenal of the late Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi. According to the U.S., Libya amassed some 20,000 shoulder-fired anti-aircraft weapons, the largest such stockpile in a non-producing country.

to do all they could from keeping their enormous stockpile of shoulder-fired missiles from falling into terrorist hands. It is feared that terrorist groups might use the missiles to attack civil aviation. Thousands of the weapons are believed to have gone missing when militias overthrew the Gadhafi and helped themselves to government stockpiles.

Algerian authorities have long warned that weapons from Libya’s civil war could call into terrorist hands, including the local branch of al-Qaida, which is active in northern Algeria as well as in the desert wastes straddling the borders to the south. According to El Watan, authorities discovered the caches near In Amenas, thanks to information from smugglers working in the remote region.

Signs are growing that Europe’s engagement with post-Arab Spring North Africa may be bringing it influence. It has been a struggle. Early European rapture at the movements that swept aside Middle Eastern dictatorships turned to concern amid renewed bloodshed in the streets of Cairo and despair in the face of growing brutality in Syria.

Meanwhile, the cogs of policy change turned slowly in Brussels. With its own economic crisis ravaging EU member states’ budgets, the admirable principle of “more for more”–more assistance for more democratic changes–yielded little immediate result.  Old concerns of southern EU nations about their farmers, and delays in the European Parliament meant that tangible trade deals barely emerged. Yet the persistent–often low-profile–visits by European officials and contacts with their North African counterparts have shown signs of paying off in recent weeks.

Early February, Tunisia’s newly elected Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali chose Brussels as his first official foreign trip and was welcomed here as a democratic vanguard. The two sides launched intensified talks on trade, travel and visas. Mr. Jebali urged Europe to convert moral support into real assistance but stressed the “great importance of this alliance with Europe.”

Meanwhile, Morocco’s monarchy has pushed various democratic reforms, writing a new constitution and inviting a moderate Islamist party to lead the government. Europe reacted: Last Wednesday, the European parliament finally approved a trade deal, which slashes tariffs on more than half of Moroccan agricultural exports to the EU.  [Continue Reading...]

Whereas a popular revolution produced regime change in Tunisia, Morocco underwent a peaceful transformation that left the monarchy in place. Last July, Moroccans voted overwhelmingly to approve a new constitution that shifts executive power from the king to the prime minister, who will now be fully responsible for the cabinet, the civil service, and the implementation of government policies.

The king retains some prerogatives, such as the authority to select the prime minister (from the parliament’s majority party) and the head of the army. Furthermore, like heads of state in other parliamentary systems, he has the right to appoint the government ministers and ambassadors, dissolve the parliament, and dismiss the cabinet. While the PJD’s success was based on institution-building within a constitutional monarchy, Al-Nahda has revolutionized the Tunisian system. But both parties won after running on a moderate platform of constitutionalism, separation of powers, civil liberties, and women’s rights.

This new political reality in the Maghreb will bring Europe — particularly France, the region’s old colonial master — face-to-face with Islamist governments determined to promote a new type of relationship. But these governments have much work to do at home first. Currently, the Maghreb countries suffer from soaring unemployment, poverty, and high prices for basic commodities. In response, both Al-Nahda and the PJD are emphasizing job creation, free trade, foreign investment, and a crackdown on the corruption that has plagued their countries’ economies. [Continue Reading...]

Morocco Foreign Minister Saad Eddine Otmani (right) with Algerian counterpart Mourad Mdelci

Morocco World News/MAP (Rabat, Feb. 18, 2012) — Morocco and Algeria signed on Friday in Rabat a memorandum of understanding for the setting up of a political consultation mechanism. It was signed by Moroccan Foreign Minister Saad Dine El Otmani and his Algerian counterpart Mourad Medelci.

At a joint press briefing after talks with Medelci, El Otmani stressed that this protocol is a link in the process of developing cooperation between the two countries, started in Algeria. Under this protocol, he said, there will be the establishment of mechanisms at the ministerial and experts of foreign affairs departments of both countries in order to maintain and deepen political dialogue and promote the continuous exchange of information on foreign policy, as well as regional and international issues of common interest.

It was agreed, in this regard, to hold twice a year the committee for political consultations, alternately between Rabat and Algiers, with the possibility of holding special meetings when it is necessary, both at the levels of Ministers and senior officials of the ministries, said the minister. [Continue Reading...]