Rice Unwelcome in Morocco

American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was met by a large official welcoming committee in Rabat, which described relations between the two nations as excellent. In opposition, the city’s civil society outright rejected her visit and protested against it by organizing a demonstration in front of Parliament yesterday.

Popular Rejection

Participating in the protest were representatives from legal organizations, unions, leftists, Islamists, and media, holding up slogans that rejected the visit to the city as well as America’s policies throughout the world and particularly in the Arab and Islamic world. They also raised signs praising Moroccans martyred in Palestine, some of whose remains have been returned to Morocco.

Abdel Rahim al-Shaykhi, a member of the National Association in Support of Iraq and Palestine, explained to Al Jazeera Net that this was a symbolic protest but that it had representatives from a number of organizations who wanted to express the popular Moroccan rejection of American imperialism and of America’s being outright bias against the interests of the Arab and Muslim people. During the protest, words were recited referring to American injustices towards Arabs and Muslims and declaring “rejection of the visit which is welcomed by Moroccan functionaries against the nation’s interests.”

Previously, the executive body had joined the Democratic left and entered into an alliance with the political left, bringing together those from the Democratic Way Party, the Democratic Socialist Youth Party, the United Socialist Party, and the National Unity Congress Party, declaring their “rejection of this visit and its expression of American imperialist policy in the world and in this region in particular.”

They claimed in a statement, a copy of which was obtained by Al Jazeera Net, that “the true result of this rejected visit is a demonstration of popular opinion.” The statement said “the visit works to establish and deepen the political and economic nature of American imperialism which has been anchored by the agreement of free exchange between Morocco and the United States of America.”

Elections and Security

For his part, Mustafa al-Khalifi, a researcher on American foreign policy, considers Rice’s visit to the Arab Maghreb region to be cannon fodder for the elections and other politics and security issues.

He explained in an interview with Al Jazeera Net that the Libya part of this historical visit to Tripoli can be profitably exploited by the administration of American President George Bush in the upcoming presidential elections.

As for the visit to Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco – the discussions held there were on political and security issues. According to al-Khalifi, Rice is striving to ensure the spreading of American hegemony in the region and consolidate its alliance with countries concerned with the war on terror.

He points to the American Intelligence’s confirmation of Moroccan combatants’ presence in Iraq for more than three years, which gave them reason to put pressure on Morocco to strengthen its pursuit against the network mobilizing Moroccans in Iraq, and against the cells that operate in Morocco, seeing how some have been discovered.

The Western Desert Problem

With regard to the position on the Western Desert, al-Khalifi thinks that Rice came to confirm her supportive position on the broken Moroccan proposal, giving the government ownership over the contested zone, after the Polisario Front had succeeded in pushing back the previous international median and then imposing a withdrawal.

At the end of her visit in Morocco Rice announced in a press conference that the United States of America will work to resume negotiations between the conflicting parties to arrive to a satisfactory resolution for all.

Rice’s Maghreb tour included a historical visit to Libya before turning to Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. She did not visit Mauritania, thus keeping with her position of rejection of the coup d’état in Nouakchott.