The Ailing Moroccan Security

 

The dismantlement by the Moroccan authorities of a homegrown terrorist group flauntingly calling itself “Fath Al Andalus” (Conquest of Andalusia) is laudable. Fifteen members of the group were arrested with chemicals, explosives, and a plan to conduct attacks in various cities in Morocco in the near future. According to reports from the Moroccan Territorial Security Department (TSD) and the National Security General Directorate (NSGD), the group is linked to Al Qaeda which according to the same sources provided financial and logistical support to the group’s operations. The Moroccan security elements, both at the strategic and tactical levels, are deft at following up on leads once they emerge;  their human and technical capabilities are impressive.  But the existence of such a group is one of many alarming indicators that disprove the government’s claim as echoed through its sanctioned and covert media outlets that the security situation in Morocco is secure.

The stark reality of national security is that it requires a consortium of all governmental and private constituents of the country; it is not a responsibility to be harnessed solely on the TSD and the NSGD whose gargantuan efforts are frequently felled by a myriad of stubborn national and local issues that demand protracted government policies and a resilient execution. One such issue is the porous Moroccan/Algerian border. An article in the daily newspaper Al Sabah reported that a recent Moroccan Ministry of Defense Inspector General visit to outposts along the security belt in the southern zone found that many of the inspected outposts were either undermanned or totally deserted. The inspection also determined that the soldiers assigned to those positions were complacent and poorly equipped. Numerous national newspapers and magazines described a sprawling black market offering everything from candy, biscuits, and cigarettes to clothing, electronic equipment, and fuel. Along with consumer goods locally and internationally produced drugs find their way to Moroccan, Algerian, and European users. Smugglers have been operating along the Algerian/Moroccan border for decades, but it’s only recently that they extended their services to support terrorist organizations such as “Fath Al Andalus.”Government officials from the low ranking border patrol guard to high ranking commanders and judges are complicit in the smuggling operations. In Moroccan cities and villages, local officials sell to high bidders residency certificates and other official documents necessary to obtain a Moroccan identification card; This week, a passport official in Mohamedia was arrested for selling a number of blank Moroccan passports. It is a known terrorist modus operandi to strive on such activity to establish operations support bases in different regions; one such cell was recently dismantled in the Souss region. Such lapses of government officials in different administrations, although they acutely impact the efforts of the thinly stretched TSD and NSGD, are never perpetrated to undermine an already floundering national security. They are driven by a frail national economy in which the poverty base exponentially increases by the day and the cost of living has grown unaffordable for the majority of the population.

Ahmed T. B. Copyright © 2008