Concerns Over Situation in Mali ~ Morocco Increases Security

The deteriorating situation in Mali and the latest incursion into Algeria has caused an increase in security in Morocco and in France. In Paris 700 troops have been deployed around sensitive areas. In Morocco a noticeable increase in security has also taken place with a visible presence of security forces on the streets. This follows an extended telephone discussion on January 14 between King Mohammed VI and the French President, Francois Hollande. According to a statement from the Royal Cabinet the two leaders assessed and exchanged views on the situation in Mali

French troops arrive in Bamako

Alarm bells began ringing in Morocco over a year ago when the Malian Islamist rebels began to destroy shrines of Muslim saints in the Northern Malian city of Timbuktu. At the time Morocco called on the international community to intervene to save Mali's rich cultural heritage, describing the destruction as “a breach of cultural and civilizational heritage of the Malian people and sites listed since 1988 on the World Heritage List of UNESCO.” Since then the situation has deteriorated.

When the Malian President, Dioncounda Traoré, called on France for military aid in the fight against "terrorist elements", François Hollande was quick to react, announcing on Friday a commitment of troops to assist the Malian army. Since then other strategic towns such as Konna have fallen to the Islamists.

In an opionion piece in the Eurasia Review, Said Temsamani, a Moroccan political commentator, observes that Morocco has never ceased calling for a “decisive action and serious cooperation on regional and international levels ... the international community have for some time ignored Morocco’s persistent warning that sub Saharan Africa is starting to transform into a safe haven for terrorist groups. Plagued by systematic state failure, sub-Saharan Africa’s failed states have helped facilitate internationally sponsored terrorist networks and operations. Huge quantities of arms, money were smuggled into radical extremist jihadist camps. Radical movements of internationally sponsored terrorist such as al Qaeda. With the continuous abduction of European humanitarian workers in the region, it is becoming increasingly obvious that internationally sponsored terrorist networks have found a permanent home in sub-Saharan Africa and even within the hearts and minds of its people."

Police patrol the Gare du Nord station in Paris because of security concerns

The situation escalates

According to the latest reports, French special forces were reported to be fighting house-to-house in the small town of Diabaly, north of the capital Bamako, which was captured on Monday.

The French Defence Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, said the town was held by 1,300 fighters from the multinational Al-Qa’ida in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqim) faction. He said they were “the toughest, the most fanatical, the best organised, the most determined and best armed” of the three, loosely allied Islamist groups which overran Mali’s vast, northern desert region last year.

For a sixth day, French warplanes and helicopters pounded the rebels, who attempted last week to break through the relatively narrow “waist” of Mali into the fertile and populous south, where 90 per cent of the population of 14.5 million lives.

Today, a column of 30 French armoured trucks and light tanks moved into holding positions protecting Niger river crossings south of Diabaly. This freed special forces units to move forward to test Islamist resistance in the town itself.


The conflict spreads to Algeria

The French military assault on Islamist extremists in Mali escalated into a potentially much broader North African conflict yesterday when armed attackers in unmarked trucks seized an internationally managed natural gas field in neighboring Algeria and took possibly as many as 41 hostages, including 13 Norwegians, seven Americans, several Japanese and British nationals. Other reports suggest that the number of hostages may only be 20. More than 300 Algerian workers were also captured but later released unharmed.

The attackers are demanding a halt of French attacks in northern Mali and the release of 100 militants being held in Algeria in exchange for the safety of kidnapped hostages. Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has long been active in Algeria, though it has never attacked the country's oil and gas facilities.

The Amenas natural gas field in Algeria, where Islamist militants took hostages

Algerian officials said at least two people, including a Briton, were killed in the assault, which began with a predawn ambush on a bus trying to ferry gas-field workers to an airport. Hundreds of Algerian security forces were sent to surround the gas-field compound, creating a tense standoff, and the country’s interior minister said there would be no negotiations.

Algeria’s official news agency said at least 20 fighters had carried out the attack and mass abduction. There were unconfirmed reports late yesterday that the security forces had tried to storm the compound and had retreated under gunfire from the hostage takers. Other reports say that the hostages have been forced to wear bomb belts.

According to Reuters, Algeria’s interior minister, Daho Ould Kablia, said that the raid was led by Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who fought Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the 1980s and recently set up his own group in the Sahara after falling out with other local Qaeda leaders.

Mr. Belmokhtar is known to French intelligence officials as “the Uncatchable” and to some locals as “Mister Marlboro” for his illicit cigarette-running business, the news agency said. His ties to Islamist extremists who seized towns across northern Mali last year are unclear.

The gas-field attack coincided with an escalation of the fight inside Mali, according to Western and Malian officials, as French ground troops, joined by soldiers of the Malian Army, engaged in combat with Islamist fighters. The officials said the French-Malian units had begun to beat back the Islamist militant advance southward from northern Mali.

Eurasia Review's Said Temsamani says "...his new reality poses significant challenge for the international community, given the region’s patchwork of failed states, where terrorists can easily hide and strive. Moroccan authorities have given threat alarm for many years and have even urged strongly neighboring countries to coordinate their efforts to fight terrorism in the region. Now France has taken the leading role to fight extremism and terrorism in that region. The international community should follow France’s suit and act quickly to put once and for all an end to the prevailing terrorist danger in Sub-Saharan Africa".

UPDATE:

At least 34 hostages and 14 Qaeda-linked Islamist kidnapers were killed on Thursday in an air strike by the Algerian armed forces, Mauritania's ANI news agency reported, citing one of the kidnappers holding captives at a desert gas field. It is not immediately possible to independently verify the information. The agency does have close contact with the group which claimed responsibility for the mass kidnapping.

ANI news has also reported seven foreign hostages are still alive, citing one of the al Qaeda-linked abductors. The agency claims a spokesman for the kidnappers said those hostages were three Belgians, two Americans, a Japanese and a Briton. No details were given for the Algerians who were also captured.

A local source has told reporters that six hostages were killed when a vehicle was fired upon by the military.


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Salafist rethink - are they coming in from the cold?

Imrane Binoual, for the online journal Magharebia in Casablanca, has written a very interesting article about the fundamentalist Salafist movement in Morocco. Salafism has, in contemporary times, become associated with literalist and puritanical approaches to Islamic theology. In the West the term "Salafi" has become particularly associated with the small minority of Muslims that espouse violent jihad against civilians as a legitimate expression of Islam, the so-called Salafi Jihadis constitute less than 1 percent of the world's 1.9 billion Muslims.

Moroccan Salafists marched for the first time with February 20th Movement protestors on March 17th

In his article in Magharebia, Imrane Binoual argues that Moroccan Salafists have embarked on a total rethink about their role in Morocco and are looking for ways to assist the Arab Spring reforms. It is a difficult task as they have so little support among the general population. In Fez, for example, they are referred to by the derogatory term "the bearded ones". Another factor that is an obstacle to their wider acceptance is their active dislike of all Sufi movements. As Sufism has such wide support in Morocco, it is hard to see how they can overcome this obstacle.

Imrane Binoual writes that the Arab Spring reform movements are prompting Salafist jihadists to join in the sweeping changes. He says that many of those now voicing loyalty to the monarch and commitment to dialogue are also the most notorious terrorists.

"Jihadist Salafist current has realised the clear mistakes and deviations that it has been involved in as a result of lack of knowledge" - Salafist, Hassan Khattab

Hassan Khattab is among the prisoners and freed Salafist inmates at the heart of the movement. He is serving a 30-year prison term for leading the "Ansar al-Mahdi" terror cell, which included security officials, an imam, and two wives of Royal Air Maroc pilots. The cell members were convicted in 2008 of funding terrorist operations and planning a terror campaign against the Moroccan regime.

In an online letter to King Mohammed VI published in early September, the Salafist presented his renunciation of violence as part of what he described as a "re-evaluation". Hassan Khattab issued "revisions", in which he said that he adopted an initiative entitled "Munasaha and Reconciliation."

Moroccan writer Mountassir Hamada

A highly-anticipated new book by Moroccan writer Mountassir Hamada, the author of "Nous et l'organisation d'Al Qaida" (al-Qaeda and Us) and "De la critique de l'organisation al-Qaida" (A Critique of al-Qaeda) looks at the trend. In "Salafia Al Wahabiya in Morocco", which will be published within the next few weeks, Hamada explains that signatories to Khattab's proposal vowed not to "accuse society or Muslims of kufr without a Sharia-sanctioned basis".

"The purpose of this letter is to brief you on the shifts that have taken place within the Jihadist Salafist current in Morocco, which is now going through a stage of evaluation and revision that would produce elites of preachers, scholars and science-seekers capable of keeping pace with political developments in our beloved country under your wise leadership," Khattab wrote to the Moroccan monarch.

Khattab praised the constitutional reforms proposed by King Mohammed VI and said that he and his fellow prisoners in Morocco were willing to take part in social movements.

"We are with the monarchy institution and its rulers. We're prepared to help build a new Morocco that would be run with multiple visions and creative Islamic and political identities that would promote national constants to the level of creative and effective citizenship."

The imprisoned extremist also voiced his rejection of the movement's extremist tendencies. "The Jihadist Salafist current today truly believes in the importance of realising dialogue and debate with open-mindedness and an understanding of other cultures.  It also believes in the need…to combat the wrong habits and concepts, extremism, and close-mindedness that have been practised within the current for decades," Khattab wrote and concluded by saying that the "Jihadist Salafist current has realised the clear mistakes and deviations that it has been involved in as a result of lack of knowledge.It was so swept away with its whims that some of its members failed to deepen our constants; something that would totally undermine our nation's values."

Within a week of Khattab's letter to the king, another move to re-evaluate Salafist ideas was embarked upon by repentant Salafist Sheikh Mohamed Fizazi. Known for his adherence to takfirist ideology, Fizazi blessed the September 11th attacks on the United States. He was arrested after the 2003 Casablanca bombings and received a royal pardon at the start of the Arab Spring.

Salafist Sheikh Mohamed Fizazi

Fizazi and other members of the "Moroccan Salafist Movement for Reform" have been trying to ally themselves with the youth-led February 20th Movement, and have actively joined protests since the end of Ramadan.

In his letter to King Mohammed VI, the man considered the leader of jihadist Salafism in Morocco called for the release of inmates who had been "unjustly imprisoned".

"This long period time I spent in prison enabled me to mix with the prisoners of the so-called Jihadist Salafist current and to have full knowledge of all ideas that are prevailing among those prisoners," Fizazi wrote on August 10th. "I became fully sure that injustice was done to many of them and they now implore you to rescue them from prison, given that they long to return to their community which they have missed."

Fizazi in his letter points to "the conviction of many of those prisoners in the rejection of violence, recognition of the components of Moroccan nation, and actual willingness to take part in reconciliation project…especially as our nation now needs more than ever every and each member of its people".

Meanwhile the "Mountada Al Karama" ("Forum for Dignity") association is campaigning for reconciliation with imprisoned Salafists. Ever since March, when the National Human Rights Advisory Council (CNDH) was formed from what had been the Advisory Council on Human Rights (CCDH), the body has been pursuing a dialogue with inmates in the jails of Kenitra, El Jadida, Tangier, Agadir and other locations.

Together, the groups are seeing success in the prisoner outreach initiative.

"There is a category of Salafist prisoners who are being held because of their views and are not involved in terrorist affairs. This category should benefit from a dialogue process to lead them to change their views. As part of the mediation we have conducted in partnership with the CNDH, many have changed their ideas and written letters in which they seek forgiveness," points out Mountada Al Karama Vice-Chairman Abdellali Hamiddine.

Hamiddine says these "repentants" have clearly written "that they are in favour of the monarchy, the Malekite rite, that they are against violence and against excommunication from society".

According to Abdellali Hamiddine, prisoners' families have played an important role in convincing many to change their ideas, as has the ongoing dialogue. But "there are still prisoners who will not budge from their positions and defend their violence-based ideas", he adds.

You can view the original article on Maghrebia.com.

Although not mentioned in the article, it should be pointed out that a majority of Salafi scholars stand firmly against the present-day manifestations of jihad, particularly as it relates to terrorism and the killing of civilians and innocents. They hold their opinion as: No individual has the right to take the law into his own hands on any account. Even the closest of Prophet Muhammad's companions never killed a single of his opponents even when invectives were hurled at him day and night in the first thirteen years of his Da'wah at Makkah. Nor did they kill anyone in retaliation when he was pelted with stones at Ta'if. 

The Expanding Jihadi Nexus

The Jamestown Foundation often has very fine analysis and this piece by Stephen Ulf is no exception.

Arrests in Morocco Highlight the Expanding Jihadi Nexus -By Stephen Ulph

A wave of arrests that took place in early November in Morocco is illuminating for two reasons: the expansion of al-Zarqawi's influence outside Iraq, and the interconnection between jihadist activities on both shores of the Mediterranean. The series of arrests, beginning on November 11 in the cities of Rabat and Casablanca, has netted 17 Islamists suspected of links to al-Qaeda. Official sources claim that they have "dismantled a terrorist structure as it was being formed."

According to the Moroccan Arabic daily al-Alam, the terrorist network uncovered by the 17 arrests, Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad fil-Maghrib (‘the Monotheism and Jihad group in Morocco'), has connections with small groups operating near the Iraqi border that maintain close ties with senior members of the al-Qaeda. A security source quoted by the paper indicated the existence of a secret organization outside Morocco headed by an Iraqi and made up of 20 members, which entertained a plan to attack a Dutch intelligence HQ. Their plans were subsequently altered by the addition of a new Mor

occan member to the group who planned a larger operation in his home country: the targeting of a casino in Tangiers, the U.S. consulate in Casablanca and a number of Jewish synagogues. Others arrestees spoke of the production of poisons and explosives for subsequent use in Morocco. An interesting detail from the arrests was the indication of the al-Qaeda "radicalization course" undertaken by the new members, which included viewing jihadi films such as Jahim al-Rus, Badr al-Riyadh and Jahim al-Murtaddeen ("The Russian Inferno" the "Battle of Badr at Riyadh" and "the Apostates' Inferno"), as well as the productions of Iraqi networks on the Internet, such as Ansar al-Sunna, the Islamic Army and (al-Zarqawi's) al-Tawhid wal-Jihad (www.alalam.ma).

One of the fundamental activists behind the group's planned campaign in Morocco, according to al-Alam, is an Algerian national named Abu Baseer. He is considered to be an ‘emir' (commander) of al-Qaeda in Europe working under the authority of al-Zarqawi. One of the 17 arrestees is believed to have handed over letters addressed to Osama bin Laden "focusing on the mujahideen in Saudi Arabia and Algeria and on the creation of an al-Qaeda organization in the North African states." (www.alalam.ma).

In this sense, the pattern follows closely what is known from strategy documents concerning the next stages of the development of jihad: the preparation of support bases for al-Qaeda in Algeria and Morocco through the joining of forces of the mujahideen following their recruitment. Following this is their dispatch to military camps run by the Algerian Groupe Salafiste pour la Prédication et le Combat (GSPC), and then their training in the first phase for jihad in Iraq (or Syria in the event of American strikes). The second phase consists of their repatriation to Morocco in order to create sleeper cells, "to await the formation of a strong base from which to strike at economic and tourism targets, and Western institutions" (www.alalam.ma).

Funding and logistical support comes from Europe, as the Moroccan arrests demonstrated, mostly from channels in Spain and the United Kingdom, which funnel money acquired through voluntary contributions or petty crime. The current Moroccan investigations focused in particular on the role of Belgium. One of the leaders of the arrested group is considered to be Mohamed R'ha, a Belgian national of Moroccan ancestry, one of the operatives who had returned from ideological training in Syria to recruit members. On November 17 the trial in Brussels opened of Belgian and Moroccan nationals accused of belonging to a terrorist organization and providing logistical support to the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (Groupe islamique combattant marocain—GICM). This group was founded in 1997 by Moroccan veterans of the jihad training camps in Afghanistan and is held responsible for recruiting the dozen suicide bombers who carried out the multiple bombings at Casablanca in May 2003, which left 44 dead. The GICM is also suspected of carrying out the Madrid train explosions that killed 191 people in March 2004.

This second atrocity prompted Belgian police to close in on a GICM network based in the provincial town of Maaseik, which served as a logistics center and meeting place for the group's European leadership, where, according to the Flemish daily Het Nieuwsblad, discussions on the GICM organization took place on three occasions [www.nieuwsblad.be]. According to the prosecution case, as reported by De Standaard, one of the prominent members of this group, the Moroccan Abdelkader Hakimi, was designated by a fellow member imprisoned in France as the leader of the GICM. The 19-year old Hakimi is believed to have spent half his life on the run, spending ten years in Algeria, journeying with false papers to Libya, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, producing false identity papers for himself and for Afghan militant veterans and to have fought in Bosnia during the civil war [www.standaard.be].

The activities of Hakimi illustrate the skills and strengths of North African militant groups in Europe. The GICM is believed to number some few hundred committed radicals, supported by 1,000 to 2,000 sympathizers operating on both shores of the Mediterranean. Cells have operated in Italy, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Spain, the last of which announced on November 23 the arrest of 10 Moroccans and Algerians suspected of financing and giving logistical support to counterparts from the Algerian GSPC resident in Germany, the Netherlands, Britain, Belgium and Denmark.

The revelation of the ideological training of Moroccans taking place on the borders with Iraq has added urgency to Moroccan security concerns since the November 9 bombings in the Jordanian capital Amman. Following the arrests of the 17 Moroccans, one Abu Mus'ab al-Iraqi (styling himself as the "al-Qaeda correspondent") denounced on November 23 the events on the al-Firdaws jihadi forum and at the same time deplored the activities of Morocco's "secular" Channel Two TV broadcaster. His objection was to the vox pop interviews in the wake of the Amman bombings, addressed to "the ignorant, weak and base people … who spoke of Zarqawi inventing a new religion, and referred to his ‘bankrupt mind' " [http://alfirdaws.org/forums]. According to al-Alam, Moroccan intelligence is convinced that their country lies third on al-Qaeda's list of targets, after Saudi Arabia and Jordan, and remain on the lookout for al-Qaeda operatives crossing over from Algeria, and for senior members entering the country from Belgium [www.alalam.ma].

The Jamestown Foundation

Tags: Morocco, Fes, Jihad, Terrorism,

Call for Dialogue with Political Islam

"Terrorism must end for peace to reign worlwide" - Director of Al-Andalus Studies Center

According to Abdeluajed Akmir after the attacks happened in Casablanca in May 16th 2003 Moroccans realized that the only way to finish with religious fanaticism is through a responsible dialogue among all those engaged in political Islam.

Abdeluajed Akmir, History professor at Mohammed V University in Rabat, who will be one of the participants at the forthcoming International Congress on Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue in Bilbao, affirms that government, civil society and intellectual reformers in Morocco are aware that peace cannot reign worldwide unless terrorism is finished as well as without assuring a good communication with the West.

In related news: Euromed: Agreement in Barcelona on an Anti-Terrorist Code of Conduct

"Inequality is greater between the two shores of the Mediterranean than anywhere else in the world,” so said Josep Borrell, President of the European Parliament, who did not hide his disappointment when making a critical assessment of 10 years of the Barcelona Process. Monday’s mixed outcome of the Euro-Mediterranean Summit, held in the Catalan capital, means that there is still some limited hope for closing the economic and social divide between both sides.

Ten years after its launch as the Barcelona Process, co-operation between the EU and its Mediterranean partners needed a new impetus. The Euromed discussions, held between the 24 and 28 November, should have marked the relaunch of the partnership which brings together EU member states and 10 Mediterranean countries (Algeria, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey).

Josep Borrell, who took part in the Summit of Heads of State and Government in his role as both President of the European Parliament and of the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly (EMPA), acknowledged the lack of “any significant progress on the road to shared peace and prosperity.” The priority of the co-operation process remains the strengthening of trade relations and the gradual levelling of social inequalities between partners. However, if it is to succeed, both parties need to show real commitment. Political conditions, in the form of stability and democracy, also have to be present so that economic co-operation can bear fruit. The President of the Parliament emphasised that “economic and political objectives are indivisible.”

Euromed is one of the few forums for potential dialogue for some of the Middle Eastern countries involved in Euro-Mediterranean co-operation. However, several Mediterranean countries attending the Barcelona Summit were not represented at the highest level (namely Head of State or Head of Government). Nevertheless, the two meetings of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership in Rabat and Barcelona enabled bilateral talks and exchanges of views on partnership relations to take place. The issue of immigration was also an important part of the discussions.

But it was concerted action against terrorism which occupied participants during Sunday and Monday. It was particularly difficult to reach agreement on the anti-terrorist “code of conduct” which formed an important part of the final agreement. In the end, a solution was found that was acceptable to all parties. It can only be hoped that this conclusion to the Summit augurs well for continued Euro-Mediterranean co-operation.


Tags: Morocco, Maghreb, Terrorism,

Terror cell was to target American, Jewish interests in Morocco

The seventeen islamists that were arrested mid-November were planning to bomb American and Jewish interests in Morocco, according to police sources.


Mohamed Mazouz and Brahim Benchekroun while leaving the prison of Salé in March.

One of the main suspects, Moroccan-born Belgian national, Mohamed Reha, 18, told the police that some Moroccans and Algerians, linked to al Qaeda, were planning to "bomb American and Jewish interests especially in Tangier (northern Morocco) and south-west city of Essaouira," as well as "representatives of the impious and infidel Moroccan authorities," said the same source.

He revealed that the group had intentions to "lead the jihad war against the regime in order to establish the Islamic Caliphate" in Morocco.

Police said the group, “shouldered by Algerian nationals who sneaked into Morocco,” was planning to perpetrate bombings “against hotels especially in Essaouira, where there is a big flow of Jewish tourists, and in Agadir (south-west), as well as against the casino in Tangier and the parliament in Rabat.”

Ships that transport Americans were also listed as targets, said the same source.

The police said Reha also revealed during the interrogation that some young people were being recruited to be sent to Algeria to be trained on “handling weapons and manufacturing explosives,” as a “first step” in the “Jihad project in Morocco and in the region.”

The suspect has also confessed he had come to Morocco “to conduct the terror operations” and admitted having “recruited some young people, who were arrested at the same time as himself, in Tangier, Agadir and Casablanca.”

Mohamed Reha, considered as one of the “masterminds of the terrorist cell,” told authorities he had discussed with his uncle, Ahmed Zemmouri, also a Moroccan-born Belgian islamist who was arrested, the need to “create a secret organisation.”

According to him, Algerian Khalid Abou Bassir, one of al Qaeda leaders in Europe, was to “contact our brothers of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (SGPC) to take charge of the training the Moroccan recruits.”

According to the police, Abou Bassir would have revealed to Reha his intention to create a “jihadist movement in the Arab Maghreb under the management of al Qaeda with a joint organization for Morocco and Algeria.” The group was to be named “al Qaeda Organisation in Arab Maghreb Countries.”

Tags: Morocco, Fes, Jihad, Terrorism,

Morocco's rising Islamist challenge

This is an interesting article from Geoff Pingree and Lisa Abend, correspondents of The Christian Science Monitor.

They claim that reforms by the Moroccan King are being tested by moderate and radical Islamist groups.




Photo Geoff Pingree

A law allows Morocco to monitor some mosques.
Men entered this one in Rabat in July.



Like the US after 9/11, Morocco has waged a war on terror ever since bombers struck the city of Casablanca in May 2003.

On Sunday, the country appeared to have won a minor battle: Its official press agency reported that Moroccan police arrested 17 men on Nov. 11 who may belong to Al Qaeda, including two who were previously imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay.

The arrests coincided with reports published in the newspaper Al Ahdath Almaghribia that Morocco's intelligence services were concerned about a serious threat of new attacks.

But in its struggle against Islamic extremism, Morocco faces challenges unknown in the US.

To combat terrorism, the country not only risks endangering the fragile civil rights its government has begun to encourage, but it must contend with the uncertain effects of emerging moderate Islamist movements. Indeed, the rise of Islamism in politics and Moroccan society will be a difficult test of the nation's proclaimed dedication to democratic reform.

For decades, Morocco has taken pride in its relatively liberal brand of Islam. Rather than an imam, King Mohammed VI is the chief spiritual leader here, and state law is influenced but not rooted in sharia, the Islamic code.

Diversity characterizes Moroccan Islam. Women's fashions, for example, range from head scarves to miniskirts. According to a recent Pew Research Center global survey, 79 percent of Moroccans - compared with 11 percent of Jordanians and 43 percent of Pakistanis - believe violence against civilians in support of Islam is never justified.

In the late 1990s, however, reports began to appear of Salafist radicals - many of them newly returned from the Afghan war - imposing a vigilante form of Islamic law in Morocco's shantytowns, stoning women who were "inappropriately" dressed, and throwing suspected drinkers and prostitutes into wells. The Casablanca bombings, which killed 45, awakened the country to an extremism within its own borders.

"We had always told ourselves that Morocco's Islam was tolerant," says Fatiha Ladayi, Morocco's director of communications. "I was aware that fundamentalism existed here. But I didn't think that our fundamentalists were violent."

The Casablanca attacks provoked fear among Moroccans that their homeland might succumb to the rigid Islamism that had overtaken neighboring Algeria. And the world at large noted the prominent role Moroccan-born men played in terrorist strikes in Madrid, Iraq, and elsewhere.

For Mohammed Darif, a political scientist at Mohammedia's Hassan II University, the connection is clear. "There are strong ties between the attacks in Casablanca and Madrid," he writes. "They were carried out by the same organization, the [Al Qaeda-linked] Moroccan Islamic Combat Group."

Radical Islam represents a double threat to the Moroccan state - undermining the government's image of moderation and challenging its control over the faith. In response, parliament approved in May 2003 the Ministry of Interior's wide-ranging Antiterrorism Law, which in its first five months permitted the arrests of 4,000 suspected extremists.

Some believe Morocco is exploiting the terrorist threat to justify its increasing control of moderate Islamic parties. When first proposed in 2001, the antiterrorism legislation - which allows the government to monitor imams, mosques, and the religious content of textbooks, and which defines even "apologizing for terrorism" as a crime - was opposed by the Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD). After the Casablanca bombings, however, the party backed away from its stance and the law passed.

Such acquiescence, coupled with the PJD's agreement to run in just 20 percent of 2003's local electoral contests, prompted suspicion that the party is giving in to government pressure to protect its position as Morocco's only legal Islamist party. Tremendously popular, Justice and Development won 42 seats in 2002's parliamentary elections, and because all other major parties joined Prime Minister Driss Jettou's coalition government, the PJD now functions as the opposition. Yet as the government has cracked down on Islamist extremism, the party's moderate brand of religion-based politics has come under heavy scrutiny.

In March, the government drafted a bill, the Law of Political Parties, that would ban religious (as well as regional and ethnic) references from party platforms. If it passes, the law will effectively dissolve the PJD and all other meaningful Islamist opposition.

In June, the state arrested Nadia Yassine, spokeswoman for Islamic movement Al Adl Wal Ihsan, or Justice and Charity, when she expressed her belief that Morocco would be healthier as a republic than a monarchy. In many ways Yassine symbolizes the state's Islamist dilemma: while she's a devout Muslim, married with four children, she is also a highly educated women's rights advocate who once told the BBC she believed the Prophet Muhammad was a de facto feminist.

If antagonism between the government and Islamist moderates continues, it may well cultivate further Islamic extremism. Increased political participation by moderate Islamist groups is the best way to curb the growth of extremism in Morocco, says Haizem Amirah, the senior North Africa analyst at the Royal Elcano Institute in Madrid.

"The moderate Islamists need to compete more in the political game, and form alliances with the secular groups," he explains. "That would check the radical sectors, because they would start to feel that they had less popular support, less a sense of a mission."

At PJD headquarters, vice-secretary Abdelah Baha maintains that his party can work within the existing system. "Islam and democracy can go together as global principle," he says. "Our party bases its objectives on religious principles, and then adapts them to political ends. We're like the American evangelicals."

Tags: Morocco, Fes, Jihad, Terrorism,

Jihadist video issues warning for its supporters in Morocco.

A message posted to jihadist websites on Wednesday warned its members that Morocco's intelligence services are carrying out a major crackdown against suspected Islamic militants. Headed 'Latest News from Morocco' it tells the "mujahadeen" to be "very careful".

According to the message, "The biggest US secret services operation in Africa has long been stationed in the city of Tangiers. In Morocco, people are happy to accept religious observance, especially young men and women, who have recently begun to wear the veil. Victory is close at hand if God wills it."

The message, signed by a certain Abu Musab al-Iraqi, is apparently targeted at jihadists abroad who may be planning terrorist attacks in Morocco - a NATO partner country and one of the United States' allies in its war on terror, as well as an exponent of moderate Islam.

According to Abu Musab al-Iraqi, young Moroccans are favourably disposed to radical Islam and al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's jihadist message. The message is likely to increase Moroccan intelligence services' already heightened state of alert.

Analysts believe Morocco is third on al-Qaeda's list of target countries, after Saudi Arabia and Jordan, according to Moroccan daily al-Alam, which quotes unnamed Moroccan secret service sources.

Since last week's triple hotel bombings in the Jordanian capital, Amman, which killed at least 57 people and injured nearly 100, intelligence services have warned that al-Qaeda operatives in Europe, may reach Morocco via Algeria, and that a senior al-Qaeda member in Belgium may enter the country using a false passport and carry out attacks.

Earlier this month, immediately after the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, a number of messages, signed by the Moroccan Armed Islamic group, which threatened the 'apostate' government of Morocco, appeared on Islamist websites.

It is also interesting to note that Jihad Unspun website has announced its closing.

Tags: Morocco, Fes, Jihad, Terrorism,

Samir Azzouz acquited in Dutch court

Samir Azzouz, a young Dutch-Moroccan accused of plotting attacks on government buildings, Amsterdam's Schiphol airport and a nuclear reactor was acquitted by the Dutch court of appeals on Friday

Rene van Boven, the magistrate in charge of the case said, "The court does not doubt the terrorist intentions of the defendant but that that does pose a real threat of an attack."

Azzouz, 19, was arrested last year. He was accused of for illegal possession of weapons, namely machine-gun ammunition, a bullet-proof vest, two mock explosive devices, a silencer, maps and sketches of prominent buildings at his home.

Azzouz' arrest - and particularly the discovery at his house of plans, maps and other detailed information of concrete targets, including the nuclear reactor at the south-western town of Borssele, Parliament House, and the headquarters of the AIVD secret service at Leidschendam - prompted the Dutch government to issue a heightened security alert.

In detail he was found with:• Maps and/or pictures and/or drawings of several government buildings, including Parliament, nuclear power plant Borssele, the ministry of Defence, Schiphol Airport, Dutch Intelligence Agency (AIVD), Dutch Special Forces HQ
• Notes describing necessities which would be needed to carry out these (terrorist attacks, AD) crime/crimes
• Notes describing routes to these buildings and/or circumvention of the security facilities around these buildings.
• Document entitled 'Advice for those who refrain from strife on the way to Allah', encompassing an explanation of the call for Jihad and martyrhood
• A memorandum containing the address of a website, namely www.geocities.com/m_13dad, which contained a 'Manual for preparation' for the Jihadi ranks, illustrating the use of (amongst others) weapons and/or night vision goggles and/or silencers and/or the fabrication of such and/or guerrila warfare and/or military operations.
• A diary containing the address of a website, www.geocities.com/sluitjeaan (sluitjeaan is Dutch for 'join up with us', AD)
• Notes describing the chemical formula of RDX, an explosive compound
• Discs containing 'video testaments' which rally for the Jihad, the murder of Americans, Jews and non-Arabs
• Files explaing how a Muslim should enter the battlefield
• Two clip holders for automatic firearms
• A silencer for an automatic firearm
• One or more soldered electrical circuits
• A bulletproof vest
• Night vision goggles
• Ammonia
• Hydrochloric acid

Also, Azzouz had travelled to Chechnya before to join up with Islamic militants there. On top of that, the judges were presented with loads of phone taps in which Azzouz spouted Jihadi texts. Nevertheless, the court concluded that 'apparently was more interested in religous extremism' than most people.

Azzouz was jailed for three months, but on April 6, he was acquitted. Rotterdam court said there was not enough evidence to convict him.

However, he was rearrested in October, along with six other suspected Islamic militants. They were suspected of planning to attack politicians and government buildings. Samir Azzouz appeared to be only a cog in the wheel of a much larger international terrorist ring, which includes the names of key figures of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM) and its off-shoot Martyrs for Morocco, both affiliated with al-Qaeda.

In related news: The trial of 13 Belgian terror suspects linked to bomb attacks in Morocco and Madrid officially started in Brussels Court on Wednesday.

The men were accused of links to the terror network Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM) which is suspected of being responsible for the Casablanca bomb attacks in Morocco in May 2003 and the Madrid train bombings in Spain in March 2004. The suspects were arrested in Maaseik and Brussels between March and July last year on allegations they provided logistical support to the GICM.

One of the Belgian suspects is accused of assisting the Casablanca bombers, while the group is accused of providing logistical support for the Madrid bombings.

Some 17 suspects faced legal proceedings in August, 13 of whom were ordered to stand trial. A total of 11 suspects appeared at the procedural hearing at the start of this month.

Defense lawyers claimed two weeks ago that while the men sympathize with the GICM, they are not active members of the organization and are certainly not terrorists.

The trial represents the first time that a special terrorism law enacted in 2003 will be applied. The new law could result in the men being jailed for up to 10 years if convicted of belonging to a terrorist organization. Tight security will be in force around Brussels Court for the duration of proceedings. The trial will involve four days of hearings each week, with a fifth day reserved to clarify matters if needed.

The trial is scheduled to continue until 13 December, but may extend beyond that date.

Tags: Morocco, Fes, Jihad, Terrorism,

Al-Salafiyah al-Jihadiyah

Al-Salafiyah al-Jihadiyah in Morocco issued a statement on October 25, 2005, declaring that the time has come to announce the “jihad on the government of disbelieving and oppression,” for the heads of government have allegedly “sold the country to the infidels after they cleared the area from the real Muslims who care about the religion.” The group claims that even before the “happenings” on May 16, referring to the bombings in Casablanca on May 16, 2003, the Moroccan government had arrested Muslims “who like jihad” and knowledgeable scholars on the subject. The bombings then exacerbated the alleged government policy, as they are charged with arresting all Sunni Muslim people.

The group asks for the support of Muslims and calls upon all Moroccan mujahideen to concentrate on jihad in Morocco. Further, they state that though they support al-Qaeda, they prefer to go “in our way of jihad”.

Morocco has long been one of the most reliable U.S. allies in North Africa and the Islamic world. It was one of the first nations to recognize the United States, formalizing diplomatic relations in 1787. Before his death in 1999, King Hassan II played a key role in U.S. efforts to negotiate peace deals involving Israel.

Since the Sept. 11 hijackings, Morocco's intelligence and security services have cooperated closely with the CIA in tracking and interrogating suspected Islamic militants. The United States, in turn, rewarded Morocco with a free-trade agreement.

The alliance is a sore point in some corners of Moroccan society, where there is a running conflict over Western influences. Vandalism is not uncommon at restaurants that serve alcohol or at hotels that cater to foreigners. In 1994, Muslim militants attacked a hotel in Marrakech, killing two Spanish tourists.

Islamic political parties and organizations are also becoming increasingly influential. While King Mohammed VI retains absolute authority and only government-endorsed parties are allowed to field candidates, Islamic movements retain broad public support and have gained power in recent elections. They have also established social welfare programs that in some cases are seen as more effective than those administered by the government.

The mainstream Muslim parties all strongly condemned the May 2003 bombings and espouse nonviolence. But they have clashed with the government over its response to the attacks, criticizing authorities for arresting hundreds of people just because they had ties to Islamic groups and for trying to turn public sentiment against religious parties.

Al-Salafiyah al-Jihadiyah, is believed to have been founded in the early 1990s by Mohamed Fizazi, a leader of the Salafist movement in Morocco, and alleged to be led by Mohamed Abdelouahab Rafiki, AKA Abu Hafs. The group is banned in Morocco and believed to be responsible for a number of criminal acts throughout the country.

Salafism is an ideology that posits that Islam has strayed from its origins. The word "salaf" is Arabic for "ancient one" and refers to the companions of the Prophet Mohammed. Arguing that the faith has become decadent over the centuries, Salafists call for the restoration of authentic Islam as expressed by an adherence to its original teachings and texts. According to Gilles Kepel, professor and chair of Middle East Studies at the Institute of Political Studies in Paris, and the author of The War for Muslim Minds: Islam and the West; and Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam "Salafists originally are supposedly not violent They are not advocating the revolt against one who holds power, against the powers that be. They are calling for re-Islamization at the daily level."

Tags: Morocco, Fes, Jihad, Terrorism,