Mawazine 2009: Festival L’Fouda

An investigation has been initiated to determine the causes of the human maelstrom that left the stadium littered with shoes and tattered clothes and led to the dramatic death of eleven people and the injury of over forty others in Hay Nahda stadium in Rabat. The tragedy struck when spectators attending the gratis Setati concert were exiting the stadium. The head shaking, sexdactyl Setati, being one of the most popular singers of Aita and cha’bi (Moroccan country music if you will) to come from ouled Hriz, drew, by official account, over seventy-thousand people to Hay Nahda stadium.

The concert was one of many organized within the framework of Mawazin, a music festival organized by the Moroccan government. The festival serves to put the country in an international spotlight by inviting iconic performers such as Alicia Keys, Kylie Minogue, Steve Wonder, Sergio Mendes, and others, and as a diversionary tactic by entertaining the Moroccan masses at a time when our national soccer and athletic teams, subsequent to an ongoing losing streak, failed to do the bidding of the leadership. Mawazine, to quote Marquis de Sade’s “L’Histoire de Juliette,” is this “opium you feed your people, so that, drugged, they do not feel their hurts, inflicted by you.”

The Mawazin organizers and government officials must have assessed that the residents of Hay Nahda, one of the most densely populated and impoverished neighborhoods in Rabat, would come in droves to enjoy the complementary popular singer’s concert. The officials who failed to control the flow of spectators into the stadium and allowed the total capacity of the venue to be exceeded need to be held accountable. The capacity of the Hay Nahda stadium is far less than the seventy-thousand people allowed in. Morocco’s largest sports complex, Mohamed V stadium in Casablanca, has a total capacity of sixty-seven thousand.

The Hay Nahda stadium has seven exits. Eyewitnesses interviewed by the local media lamented that only one was opened to allow people to depart the premises at the conclusion of the concert. Some even stated that people, spurred on by police and Mawazine security, rushed toward the sole exit like frantic cattle.

One can not discount Moroccan’s collective propensity to push and shove when in cramped and crowded quarters. Our streets are a constant stochastic flow of unyielding vehicles and pedestrians. We experience it everyday in our public transportation, government administrations, hospitals, and entertainment venues; standing in an orderly and disciplined line is an indicator of a lowly social status in Morocco. Affluent Moroccans, those one often hears saying “kulshi Dyalna” – “it’s all ours,” never stand in line. We laugh about it with family and friends; we complain about it much like we complain about the weather, matter-of-factly, without as much as an expectation that anything should be done to change it. Sadly, we’ve become inured to it. Every now and then, it leads to a tragedy solemnly reminding us that our primeval selves smolder just beneath the surface.

A. T. B. Copyright © 2009

Child Sexual Abuse On The Rise In Morocco

The Moroccan NGO “Touche Pas à Mon Enfant” made public, on Tuesday 19, 2009, its 2008 report on child sexual abuse in Morocco; the organization documented 306 cases of sexual abuse against minors in 2008, an alarming and shocking increase from the previous year. The number of cases reported by the “coalition against sexual abuses on minors” in 2007 was six times less. The dramatic jump is attributed to the increased accessibility to the internet, child labor, and sexual tourism. The study also showed that children eight years old and younger whose families are impoverished are the most victimized.

The NGO recognized the fact that a great number of committed abuses go unreported and pedophiles carry on their ignominious perversion unhindered. The conservative nature of the Moroccan society stymies efforts by different organizations and the government to address the issue. The families of abused children most often are reluctant to seek the support of the authorities and specialized foundations lest they’d be stigmatized by their neighbors and friends. Most often, the lack of education and awareness is the driving cause families of sexually abused children fail to recognize the distressing telltale signs of the psychological trauma victimized children silently endure.

Najat Anwar, the president and founder of “Touche Pas à Mon Enfant,” in what seems to me a flagrant attempt at auto-censorship, insisted the report does not represent the reality of the Moroccan society, and amounts to nothing more than the subjective assessment of her organization.

Nouzha Skalli, Minister of Social Development, Family and Solidarity, commented that pedophilia has been a perennial crime in the Moroccan society. She rationalized that an increase in the number of reported sexual abuse offenses against minors in Morocco does not necessarily constitute an increase in the number of victims, but is a good indicator that Moroccans are transcending the irrational fear of shame and dishonor – h’shuma and ‘aar – imposed by societal dogma.

Morocco’s lenient penal sanctions vis-à-vis pedophiles exacerbate the issue. The organization calls for an active combined involvement of all competent authorities to eradicate the problem.

The latest high profile case of pedophilia in Morocco happened in the northern city of Larache last October, but did not become public until April of this year. The incident involved an official in the Istiqlal Party. The complaint was initially lodged by the victim’s father who claimed his thirteen-year-old son was attacked by a cadre of the Istiqlal Party who attempted to rape him. The claim was substantiated by a medical report from a physician and a psychologist who examined the child. The alleged assault happened in the party’s offices in Larache. According to news reports, the father was visited in multiple occasions by a parade of local high ranking officials of the Istiqlal party led by its regional inspector Hassan Amer in an attempt to mitigate the accusation. The father was offered compensation then browbeaten to drop the charge, which he did. The case was reopened by the King’s prosecutor who insisted on seeing the case through the judicial process. The police arrested the perpetrator, Yassin Ait Tamelhit, who confessed to the crime. Yassin’s line of work is a pedophile’s dream come true; it involves constant contact with children; he is the local delegate of the Moroccan boy scout association; he also oversees the youth programs of the Istiqlal Party. His pedophilic proclivity was an open secret not only within the Istiqlal Party, but in the city of Larache.

In a preposterous judicial travesty, Yassin was ordered released on a 2000 MAD ($240.00) cash bail and allowed to return to his functions. Talk about sending the fox into the hen house. I wouldn’t be surprised if, on his way out of the courthouse, yassin was handed a tube of K-Y jelly by the bailiff.

A. T. B. Copyright © 2009

U.S. Report on Morocco’s Counterterrorism Strategy

The U.S. Department of State lauded the government of Morocco in its annual report on terrorism published by the Office of the coordinator for terrorism. The strategic report, titled “Country Reports on Terrorism 2008,” was submitted to congress on April 30, 2009.

The Moroccan government made significant progress in the past few years and succeeded in reversing an emerging fundamentalist Islamist trend that was taking hold in the country. It demonstrated a very granular understanding of the asymmetric nature of the terrorist threat undermining the country’s national security. However, AQIM and its regional proxies, albeit decentralized and operating with reduced capabilities, remain highly symbiotic and capable of sensational attacks.

The report assesses the threat of terrorist attacks against Morocco as arising mainly from “grassroots” groups associated with Salafia Jihadiya, a terrorist group founded by Mohamed Fizazi, who is currently serving a 30-year sentence in connection with the 2003 terrorist bombings and other terrorist activity, in 1992 after his return from Saudi Arabia. The group preaches an extreme interpretation of Islam impregnated with Wahabi fundamentalist precepts and strives in poverty-stricken shanty towns across Morocco. The U.S. State Department report indicated that the government of Morocco’s proactive counterterrorism operations greatly contributed to the derailment of the terrorist group, and thus lessening from its tactical effectiveness.

The State Department document pointed out that numerous intelligence assessments reported on an increased number of Moroccans traveling to northern Mali and Algeria to receive Al Qa’ida oriented indoctrination and training in Al-Qa’ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) camps. I have previously reported – here - that some of these Moroccans travel to Iraq through Europe and Syria to engage in terrorist activity. The tactical combat experience and terrorist material application expertise – small arms manual, IED/VBIED fabrication and use, mortar and missile attacks – these individuals gain constitute a nascent strategic threat to Morocco.

Morocco ’strategy in countering the asymmetric threat of terrorism required doctrinal and structural adjustments and a shift from the unilateralism of action and compartmentalization of services previously imposed to preclude a coup d’état. Morocco’s current strategy combines the skills and capabilities of the counterintelligence, human intelligence, and signal intelligence fields supported by a well-rounded analysis platform; the mobilization and sensitization of conventional military and law enforcement assets increased their responsiveness to terrorist indicators and turned a previously ad-hoc and burst reaction into an orchestrated and integral operation. The creation in 2008 of the Financial Intelligence Unit enhanced Morocco’s capability to restrict terrorists’ access to funds drastically limiting their effectiveness. Additionally, The Moroccan society’s natural propensity to reject terrorist acts is a decisive element in the government’s counter-terrorism strategy; leads provided by citizens resulted in the successful neutralization of many terrorist cells and the thwarting of their destabilizing operations.

Morocco’s anti-terrorism efforts, through the King’s “proximity strategy,” also focused on mosques and Islamic teaching facilities that lacked oversight and were at one time financially neglected by the ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs. Such places were a safe haven to radical Islamic fomenters, such as Sheikh Mohamed Ben Abderrahman Al Maghraoui, who used them to impress upon their fellowship a retrograde interpretation of Islam.

Addressing the socio-economic factors terrorist organizations feed on in their recruitment campaigns, the Moroccan government has launched in 2005 the National Initiative for Human Development, a $1.2 billion program focused on creating employment opportunities, improving infrastructure in rural areas, and alleviating poverty.
The report also highlighted Morocco’s continuous focus on international cooperation in combating terrorism. The government is constantly coordinating and deconflicting operations with European, U.S., African and Arab partners. High level Anti-terrorism executors ensure a rapid exchange of information and an expeditious approval authority channel that is not entangled in bureaucracy.

The counter-terrorism measures the government of Morocco implemented and the constant vigilance of its security officials yielded notable results. The report lists a number of counter-terrorism achievements prominent among them are the arrest, in February 2008, of a 36-person strong terrorist network in the cities of Nador, Rabat, Marakesh, and Casablanca, the apprehension of 35 members of a terrorist network specializing in the recruitment of volunteers for Iraq, the disbanding of a 15-person network calling itself Fath al-Andalus in Laayoune, and various cities in Morocco.

The Moroccan government made significant progress in the past few years and succeeded in reversing an emerging fundamentalist Islamist trend that was taking hold in the country. It demonstrated a very granular understanding of the asymmetric nature of the terrorist threat undermining the country’s national security. However, AQIM and its regional proxies, albeit decentralized and operating with reduced capabilities, remain highly symbiotic and capable of sensational attacks.

A. T. B. Copyright © 2009