On a swing through Rwanda and Tanzania late last month King Mohammed VI used the trip to promote his main causes: getting back into the African Union and outflanking the Western Sahara; promoting Morocco as a continental business leader and pushing the global climate agenda to which he is personally committed (AC Vol 56 No 10 Outward bound)...
These policies come mainly from the Makhzen (establishment) technocrats the most senior appointed by arch-moderniser King Mohammed VI ('M6')...
Last month's visit to Moscow by King Mohammed VI had echoes of the political manoeuvres favoured by his late father King Hassan II who liked to play both sides in the Cold War against each other to stop them from taking him for granted...
King Mohammed VI ('M6') has demanded a more active foreign policy from his diplomats and more aggressive marketing of Morocco Inc...
The effort by King Mohammed VI to extend Moroccan influence in West Africa depends in part on the country's historic Sufi ties with turuq (brotherhoods or orders) across the region...
Vol 56 No 6 |
- NORTH AFRICA
One possible reason is that all Moroccans must pledge bayah to King Mohammed VI himself...
The PJD made sweeping electoral gains in the wake of King Mohammed VI's 'Arab Spring' reforms in 2011 and has been building on them ever since (AC Vol 52 No 25 The King's own Islamists)...
Securing Morocco's hold over the territory remains key to maintaining King Mohammed VI's personal prestige and in the long term to the Alaouite family staying on the throne...
'If things don't change we are going to see another explosion and this time I'm not sure that he [King Mohammed VI] can handle it' a well-connected entrepreneur told Africa Confidential over Ramadan coffee...
King Mohammed VI was one of the star guests at last September's celebration of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta's accession to office in Mali and this year he returned to Bamako for a major official visit...