Morocco: Current Issues
Carol Migdalovitz
Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs
February 3, 2010
Congressional Research Service
7-5700
www.crs.gov
RS21579
CRS Report for Congress
P
repared for Members and Committees of Congress

Morocco: Current Issues

Summary
The United States government views Morocco as a moderate Arab regime, an ally against
terrorism, and a free trade partner. King Mohammed VI retains supreme power but has taken
incremental liberalizing steps. Since 9/11, Moroccan expatriates have been implicated in
international terrorism, and Morocco has suffered terror attacks. Morocco takes a proactive
approach to countering terror, but some of its measures may be setting back progress in human
rights. Morocco’s foreign policy focuses largely on Europe, particularly France and Spain, and
the United States. In the Middle East, it supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict and has severed diplomatic relations with Iran for bilateral reasons. See also CRS Report
RS21464, Morocco-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, by Raymond J. Ahearn and CRS Report
RS20962, Western Sahara: Status of Settlement Efforts, by Carol Migdalovitz.
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Contents
Government and Politics ............................................................................................................. 1
Terrorism .................................................................................................................................... 2
Counterterrorism......................................................................................................................... 3
Human Rights ............................................................................................................................. 3
Economy .................................................................................................................................... 5
Foreign Policy............................................................................................................................. 6
Western Sahara ..................................................................................................................... 6
Algeria.................................................................................................................................. 6
Europe .................................................................................................................................. 7
Middle East........................................................................................................................... 8
Relations with the United States .................................................................................................. 9

Figures
Figure 1. Map of Morocco........................................................................................................... 7

Tables
Table 1. U.S. Foreign Assistance to Morocco............................................................................. 10
Table 2. U.S. Trade with Morocco ............................................................................................. 10

Contacts
Author Contact Information ...................................................................................................... 10

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Morocco: Current Issues

Government and Politics
The Moroccan royal dynasty has ruled the country since 1649. The reigning king, Mohammed VI,
ascended to the throne in 1999. He is committed to building a democracy, but he remains the pre-
eminent state authority. The king chairs the Council of State that endorses all legislation before it
goes to parliament, appoints the prime minister and ministers of foreign affairs, interior, defense,
and Islamic Affairs, and approves other ministers. He sets the agenda of parliament in an annual
Speech from the Throne, dissolves parliament, calls elections, and rules by decree. The king also
has a “shadow government” of royal advisors and is head of the military. Reforms depend on the
king’s will, and he has undertaken several hallmark liberalizing initiatives. The king also is said
to be tied to significant economic enterprises in the country.
The September 2002 election for the 325-seat Chamber of Representatives, a weak lower house
chosen by universal suffrage, was deemed the first free, fair, and transparent election ever held in
Morocco. The September 2007 election also met international standards, but only 37% of the
voters turned out and 19% cast blank ballots, reflecting widespread disillusionment with the
political process and popular understanding of the powerlessness of the legislature. The
nationalist Istiqlal (Independence) Party, Morocco’s oldest party, placed first. Its Secretary-
General, Abbas al Fassi, became Prime Minister and formed a four-party coalition government
with a 34-member cabinet, including an unprecedented five women ministers. The moderate and
well-organized Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD), also known as Al Misbah (the
beacon) Party, had expected to win the election; it placed second and charged irregularities, but
accepted the legitimacy of the outcome. Some 23 parties and blocs plus independents are
represented in the current legislature.
In August 2008, Fouad Ali al Himma established the Party for Authenticity and Modernity
(PAM). Al Himma is a former classmate of King Mohammed VI and former deputy interior
minister. He was elected to parliament as an independent in 2007 and became chairman of its
Committee on Foreign, Defense, and Islamic Affairs. Al Himma has not assumed the leadership
of PAM; he is deputy leader and considered the party’s de facto head. In September 2008, PAM
formed an parliamentary alliance with the National Rally of Independents (RNI) and it has sought
alliances with other parties known as recipients of royal patronage. PAM’s ideology is incoherent,
but its goals reportedly are to “rationalize” the political landscape by diminishing the number of
parties, encourage more participation in politics, and challenge or marginalize the PJD.1 In May
2009, PAM pulled out of the coalition government. The Movement Populaire (MP/Popular
Movement) joined the government and provided some stability as did some new appointments.
Few were surprised by PAM’s first place finish with 21.6% of the vote in elections for seats on
municipal councils on June 12, 2009, when PJD took sixth place. PAM also placed first in the
October 2, 2009 elections for one-third of the 270 seats in the Chamber of Counselors, the upper
house. PAM offers a sharp contrast to other parties, which are led by much older men who view
women with suspicion and probably put them on electoral lists mainly to meet official quotas, and
reach out to voters only before elections. Some politicians fear that PAM is a nascent state party

1 James Liddell, “Morocco: Modern Politics or Politics of Modernity?” Arab Reform Bulletin, Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace, December 2008.
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similar to those in Egypt and Tunisia that might be used to dominate politics.2 Moreover, some
observers predict that Al Himma will be the next prime minister.
The Islamist Al Adl wal Ihsan (Justice and Charity/JCO), officially banned as a political
movement, is the largest grassroots organization in the country and is led by Shaykh Abdessalem
Yassine. It is considered more closely attuned to constituents than political parties. JCO called for
a boycott of the 2007 national election, arguing that participation was pointless without
constitutional reform—ostensibly aimed at diminishing the role of the monarchy. It often conveys
its views in street demonstrations, e.g., against the Family Code, in support of the Palestinians
and against Israel, etc.
Terrorism
The monarchy often asserted that its claimed descent from the Prophet Mohammed was a shield
against Islamist militancy. This belief has been shattered since September 11, 2001, as expatriate
Moroccans have been implicated in terrorism abroad, and Morocco has suffered from terrorism at
home. Morocco has tried to distance itself from its expatriates, blaming their experiences in exile
for their radicalization. German courts tried two Moroccans for aiding the 9/11 terrorists. A
Moroccan imam was “the spiritual father of the Hamburg cell” that helped execute and support
the 9/11 attacks; he founded the Salafiya Jihadiya (Reformist Holy War/”Jihadists”) movement.3
A French-Moroccan, Zacarias Moussaoui, was tried in the United States as the 20th hijacker for
9/11. Eighteen Moroccans allegedly linked to Al Qaeda in Afghanistan were detained at the U.S.
Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; three remain there. Returnees have been convicted in
Moroccan courts.
Numerous small, isolated, tactically limited Salafi jihadist cells are the main threat to Morocco’s
domestic security. Such cells perpetrated their major attacks in 2002, with the murders of locals
who had committed “impure acts” such as drinking alcohol. In 2003, a jihadist spiritual leader,
who had fought in Afghanistan and praised the 9/11 attacks and Al Qaeda leader Osama bin
Laden, was convicted of inciting violence against Westerners.
In February 2003, Osama Bin Laden listed Morocco among the “oppressive, unjust, apostate
ruling governments,” which he characterized as “enslaved by America” and, therefore, “most
eligible for liberation.”4 To some observers, this fatwa or religious edict appeared to trigger
attacks in Morocco on May 16, 2003, in which 14 suicide bombers identified as Salafiya Jihadiya
adherents linked to the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM) and Al Qaeda attacked five
Western and Jewish targets in Casablanca, killing 45 and injuring more than 100. A large GICM
network later was implicated in the March 2004 Madrid train bombings, for which two
Moroccans were convicted. (A Moroccan court convicted one of their accomplices recently.)
Moroccans suspected of GICM affiliation were arrested in several European countries. In 2005,
the U.S. State Department designated GICM as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), but the
Department now states that “much of the GICM’s leadership in Morocco and Europe has been

2 Socialist Union of Popular Forces politician Idriss Lashgar, quoted in Africa Research Bulletin, October 1-21, 2008,
p. 17714.
3 “An Islamic Cleric Becomes the Focus of Madrid Inquiry,” Asian Wall Street Journal, March 18, 2004.
4 “Moroccans Say Al Qaeda Masterminded and Financed Casablanca Suicide Bombings,” New York Times, May 23,
2003.
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killed, imprisoned, or are awaiting trial.”5 The Moroccan government convicted the group’s
alleged leader in absentia for his role in the Casablanca attacks, but he remains free in exile in the
United Kingdom which found insufficient evidence against him.6
Moroccan and European authorities continue to disrupt cells that they say are linked to Al Qaeda
in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM/ also known as Al Qaeda in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb
(AQLIM)), formerly the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), a group originating in
Algeria with regional ambitions. AQIM has not perpetrated a successful terrorist attack in
Morocco, where its threat stems mainly from the potential transfer of operational capabilities to
inexperienced radicals and from its active efforts to recruit and incite Moroccans. In April 2007,
two suicide attacks occurred near the U.S. Consulate and the American Language Center in
Casablanca; the bombers killed only themselves. In September 2009, Moroccan security services
arrested 24 suspects who allegedly were linked to a terrorist network linked to Al Qaeda
specialized in recruiting volunteers for Iraq, Somalia, and Afghanistan. Moroccans have fought
with insurgents in Iraq.
Counterterrorism
Morocco is cooperating with U.S. and European agencies to counter terrorism at home and
abroad. The U.S. State Department recognized that in 2008:
The Moroccan government pursued a comprehensive counterterrorism approach that,
building on popular rejection of terrorism, emphasizes neutralizing existing terrorist cells
through traditional law enforcement and preemptive security measures, and prevented
terrorist recruitment through comprehensive counter-radicalization policies. Morocco
aggressively targeted and dismantled terrorist cells within the Kingdom by leveraging
policing techniques, coordinating and focusing the security services, and expanding and
bolstering regional partnerships. These efforts resulted in the neutralization of numerous
Salafi Jihadi-inspired terrorist groups....7
To counter radical Islamism, Morocco also has exerted greater control over religious leaders and
councils, created new theological councils, retrained imams, deployed supervisors to oversee their
sermons, closed unregulated mosques, retrained and rehabilitated some individuals convicted of
terror-related crimes to correct their understanding of Islam, and launched radio and television
stations and a website to transmit “Moroccan religious values” of tolerance. In 2005, the king
launched a $1.2 billion National Initiative for Human Development to redress socioeconomic
conditions extremists exploit for recruitment. Observers have questioned its effectiveness.
Human Rights
The U.S. State Department described human rights problems in Morocco in 2008 in the following
way:

5 U.S. State Department, Country Reports on Terrorism 2008, released on April 30, 2009.
6 Olivier Guitta, “Alive and Well and Living in London,” Weekly Standard, May 7, 2007.
7 Ibid.
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Citizens did not have the right to change the constitutional provisions establishing their
monarchical form of government or the establishment of the practice of Islam. Reports of
torture and other abuses by various branches of the security forces persisted, and prison
conditions remained below international standards. Reports of arbitrary arrests,
incommunicado detentions, and police and security force impunity continued. Politics, as
well as corruption and inefficiency, influenced the judiciary, which was not fully
independent. The government restricted freedoms of speech, religion, and the press.
Corruption was a serious problem in all branches of government. Trafficking in persons
continued, and child labor, particularly in the unregulated informal sector, remained a
problem.8
At the king’s initiative, parliament enacted revolutionary changes to the Family Code or
Moudawana in January 2004, making polygamy rare by requiring permission of a judge and the
man’s first wife, raising the legal age for marriage for girls to 18, and simplifying divorce
procedures for women, among other changes to improve the status of women. However, family
court judges have not applied the law strictly and women continue to suffer from inequality and
violence.9 The king also created an Equity and Reconciliation Commission to provide an
historical record of abuses before 1999, to account for the “disappeared,” and to compensate
victims. In 2001, he launched a dialogue on Berber culture, and the government has since
authorized the teaching of Berber dialects and issued a textbook in Berber.10
After the May 2003 terrorist attacks in Casablanca, parliament passed antiterrorism laws to define
terrorist crimes and establish procedures for tracking terrorist finances. Human rights activists
expressed concern about their legislative restrictions on the press, detention without charge, and
reduced requirements for the death penalty. Other observers questioned whether elements in the
regime were using the threat of Islamist terror to roll back reforms. Some worried that detention
may create radicals who will eventually be released into society.11
Problems with human rights practices in Morocco also involve the Western Sahara issue (see
Foreign Policy, below) as seen in the case of Aminatou Haidar, an advocate for Saharoui self-
determination. When she returned from receiving a human rights prize in the United States in
November 2009, Haidar wrote “Western Sahara” as her address on customs forms to re-enter
Laayoune (alt: El Ayoun), but the authorities rejected the forms, claimed that she had thereby
renounced her citizenship, confiscated her passport, and expelled her to the Spanish Canary
Islands. Haidar then went on a highly publicized 32-day hunger strike. After reported pressure
from the United States, Haidar was allowed into Laayoune in what Moroccan authorities
described as “a humanitarian gesture.”12

8 U.S. Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2008, Morocco, February 25, 2009.
9 “Morocco: New Law, Same Old Men,” Inter Press News Service, July 31, 2009, see also Steven Erlanger and Souad
Mekhennet, “Law Empowering Women Leaves Many Behind,” International Herald Tribune, August 20, 2009.
10 The Berbers are the original inhabitants of North Africa before the Arabs invaded in the 8th century.
11 Jill Carroll, “Morocco’s Harder Line on Security Challenges Reforms,” Christian Science Monitor, April 9, 2007.
12 “Saharan Activist’s Return to Morocco “Humanitarian” – Spokesman,” MAP News Agency (Rabat)) December 19,
2009, BBC Monitoring Middle East.
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Economy
Large portions of Morocco’s gross domestic product (18.8%) and labor force (44.6%) continue to
depend on agriculture and are vulnerable to rainfall fluctuations. Through internal and Western
Saharan mines, Morocco controls 75% of the world phosphate market and is the world’s leading
exporter of phosphates, which are used in fertilizers. The phosphate industry and much of the
economy are dominated by the royal family
and the so-called “500 families” who control
Morocco: Basic Facts
large, multi-sectoral holding companies and
Population: 31.3 million (July 2009 est.)
are close to the monarchy.
Gross Domestic Product growth rate: 4% (2009 est.)
Gross Domestic Product per capita: $4,600 (2009 est.)
Inflation: 2% (2009 est.)
Services and tourism are considered growth
Unemployment: 9.1% (2009 est.)
sectors, with tourism and remittances from
Exports:
abroad providing foreign exchange.
clothing, electronic components, inorganic chemicals,
Remittances from an estimated 3 million
transistors, crude minerals, fertilizers (including
expatriates, mainly in France, Spain, Italy, and
phosphates), petroleum products, fruit, and vegetables
Belgium, account for about 9% of the gross
Imports:
national product.
crude petroleum, textile fabric, telecommunications
equipment, wheat, gas and electricity
The public sector remains large, although
Major Trading Partners:
there is a successful, if erratic, privatization
France, Spain, Brazil, Italy, China, Germany, Saudi Arabia,
program. Foreign direct investment has grown
United States
despite the impediments of excessive red tape
Source: CIA, The World Factbook, January 15, 2010.
and corruption.13
Economic growth and reforms have been insufficient to reduce the unemployment, especially of
the young, and poverty which drive Moroccans abroad and produce terrorists. The current
government’s goals include achieving 6% gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate, creating
250,000 new jobs, and building 150,000 housing units a year until 2013. While perhaps
overambitious, these targets reflect the government’s intent to combat poverty and
unemployment. The government’s plans have been affected by the global financial
crisis/recession which has resulted in thousands of job losses in textiles and automotives, as well
as in decreases in tourist spending, expatriate remittances, and exports, especially phosphates. In
2009, however, a surge in farm yields offset these difficulties and helped produce positive growth.
Oil price increases have detrimental effects on the economy because imports supply 97% of the
country’s energy needs. This situation has prompted Morocco to adopt a more proactive approach
to diversity its energy sources. In November 2009, the government announced plans to invest
more than $9 billion to install 2,000 megawatts of solar power and have 42% of the country’s
electrical capacity rely on that source by 2020. It also has expressed interest in an ambitious
European plan, called Desertec, to draw solar power from the Sahara. Morocco’s reported plans
to pursue a domestic nuclear energy program have not advanced beyond the consideration and
planning phase.

13 The U.S. State Department reported that in 2008 “corruption was a serious problem in all branches of government.”
U.S. Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2008, Morocco, February 25, 2009. Morocco
is ranked 80 out of 180 countries on the Transparency International, Corruption Perceptions Index 2008, available at
http://www.transparency.org.
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Foreign Policy
Western Sahara
The dispute between Morocco and the independence-seeking Popular Front for the Liberation of
Saqiat al-Hamra and Rio de Oro (Polisario) over the former Spanish colony south of Morocco
remains unresolved. Morocco occupies 80% of the Western Sahara, considers the region its three
southern provinces, will only accept a solution that guarantees it sovereignty over “the whole of
its territories,” and will only negotiate on that basis. The king submitted an autonomy plan for the
region to the U.N. in April 2007, and Moroccan and Polisario negotiators met four times under
U.N. auspices in 2007 and 2008.14 In line with his autonomy initiative, King Mohammed VI has
pursued policies of decentralization or regionalization that he says are intended to empower
residents of his Saharan provinces. On April 10, 2007, then Under Secretary of State Nicholas
Burns stated that the United States considers the Moroccan autonomy plan for the Western Sahara
“serious and credible.” In 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said that U.S. policy
on the issue is unchanged and she called on Morocco and Algeria to engage in unconditional
negotiations.
The current Personal Envoy of the U.N. Secretary General for the Western Sahara, former U.S.
Ambassador Christopher Ross, was appointed in January 2009. He has made several visits to the
region and convened an “informal meeting” of the parties in Austria in August 2009. Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon has announced that the next set of informal talks will take place in
Westchester County, New York, on February 10-11, 2010.
In October 2001, Morocco had authorized French and U.S. oil companies to explore off the
Saharan coast, and the prospect of discoveries, as yet unrealized, may have hardened Morocco’s
resolve to retain the region.
Algeria
Morocco and Algeria have a longstanding regional rivalry. The Western Sahara is the main
impediment to improving their bilateral relations and to reviving the Arab Maghreb Union
(UMA), a loose organization of Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Mauritania, and Libya. Morocco
refuses to compromise on the Western Sahara issue for the sake of bilateral relations or the UMA.
Algeria hosts and backs the Polisario. Despite these disagreements, there is some cooperation to
counter terrorism and illegal immigration. In July 2004, the king abolished visa requirements for
Algerians entering Morocco; in April 2006, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika reciprocated
the gesture. Since March 2008, Morocco has repeatedly requested that Algeria reopen their land
border, but Algeria refuses to do so on the grounds that it would be detrimental to its national
security and benefit Morocco more than Algeria.

14 For text of plan, see http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/politics/sahara_issue__full_t/view.
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Europe
Morocco’s Association Agreement with the European Union (EU) came into force on March 1,
2000, and is supposed to lead to a free trade agreement by 2012. In October 2008, Morocco
became the first southern Mediterranean country to be granted “advanced status relations” by the
EU, opening up EU markets more for Moroccan products. Morocco participates in the EU’s Euro-
Mediterranean Partnership and its Neighborhood Policy Plan and receives considerable EU aid—
€190 million ($265 million ) annually. Illegal immigration of Moroccans and of sub-Saharan
Africans transiting Morocco to Europe and drug (cannabis)-trafficking have caused friction in
Moroccan-European relations. High unemployment drives Moroccan youths to Europe and EU-
funded programs to shift farmers in the underdeveloped Rif Mountains from cannabis cultivation
to alternative crops have not been successful.

Figure 1. Map of Morocco

Source: Map Resources. Adapted by CRS.
Morocco traditionally has had good relations with France and Spain, its former colonizers.
Relations with France, Morocco’s largest trading partner, are particularly close. Paris officially
supports U.N. efforts to resolve the Western Sahara dispute and Morocco’s autonomy proposal for
the region, and blocks Security Council initiatives on the matter that Morocco rejects.
Morocco’s relations with Spain have been intermittently discordant. Spain possesses two enclaves
on Morocco’s Mediterranean coast, Ceuta and Melilla, that are vestiges of colonialism and are
claimed by Morocco. In October 2001, Morocco recalled its ambassador from Madrid after pro-
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Saharan groups in Spain conducted a mock referendum on the fate of the region. In July 2002,
Spanish troops ejected Moroccan soldiers from the uninhabited Perejel/Parsley or Leila Island off
the Moroccan coast that Spain says it has controlled for centuries. Diplomatic ties were not
restored until January 2003. That July, Morocco complained that Spain lacked neutrality on the
Sahara issue when it chaired the Security Council and, in October, Spain suspended arms sales to
Morocco due to the Perejel crisis. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero visited
Morocco in April 2004, and King Juan Carlos I visited in January 2005; on both occasions, joint
statements called for a negotiated settlement to the Sahara issue—the Moroccan position.
Moroccan soldiers have served under Spanish command in the U.N. stabilization mission in Haiti
and Moroccan gendarmes have joined Spanish patrols to combat illegal immigration in the Strait
of Gibraltar. However, visits to Ceuta and Melilla by the Spanish prime minister in January 2006
and monarchs in November 2007 again set back relations. The two neighbors also have an
unresolved dispute concerning territorial waters between Morocco and the Spanish Canary
Islands in the Atlantic Ocean. Morocco’s “super port” at Tangiers will pose competition that
concerns Spanish ports. Financed by Gulf countries, its construction began in June 2009 and it is
expected to achieve full capacity in 2014. Nonetheless, territorial disputes appear secondary to
the two neighbors’ continuing and productive cooperation in countering terrorism and illegal
immigration. Morocco notably assisted Spanish authorities in the investigation of the March 2004
bombings in Madrid and this relationship continues.
Middle East
The king chairs the Jerusalem Committee of the Organization of the Islamic Conference and
supports international efforts to achieve a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
resulting in viable, contiguous, Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. He recognizes
President Mahmud Abbas as the legitimate leader of the Palestinian people in Abbas’s dispute
with Hamas and urges Palestinian national unity in order to achieve their rights.
Morocco closed Israel’s liaison bureau in Morocco and Morocco’s office in Tel Aviv in reaction
to Israel’s conduct during the first Palestinian intifadah (uprising) in 2001.The offices have not
reopened. Morocco condemned Israel’s conduct against Palestinian civilians during its December
2007/January 2008 military operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and Moroccan political
groups of all stripes held some of the largest rallies in the Arab world in protest. In October 2009,
Mohammed VI called on “the international community … to exert pressure on Israel to make it
cease its oppressive practices directed against the helpless Palestinian people, and to compel it to
return forthwith to the negotiating table, comply with UN resolutions….”15 In November, Foreign
Minister Fassi-Fihri said that normalization of relations with Israel was not on the table under
current conditions and that Morocco continued to support that Arab Peace Initiative – which
promised Israel full normalization of relations in exchange for its withdrawal from all Arab
territories.
However, the king and others keep up contacts with Israeli officials and, in August 2005, he
personally congratulated Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
The link may be unbreakable because some 600,000 Israelis are of Moroccan origin, and about
25,000 of them travel to Morocco yearly. (There are about 5,000 Moroccan Jews still in
Morocco.)

15 “King Calls for Pressure on Israel to Comply with UN Resolutions,” Maghreb Arabe Presse, October 28, 2009, Open
Source Center Document GMP20091028950071,
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In March 2009, Morocco severed diplomatic relations with Iran, blaming it for “intolerable
interference in the internal affairs of the Kingdom.” The Foreign Ministry accused the Iranian
Embassy in Rabat of seeking to spread Shi’a Islam in the 99% Sunni kingdom. It also charged
Iranian officials with making unacceptable remarks following Morocco’s expression of solidarity
with Bahrain in the face of Iran’s claim to Bahrain.16 The situation rapidly deteriorated. Tehran
charged that Morocco’s decision harmed “the unity of the Islamic world” and the solidarity
needed to support the Palestinian people. Rabat rejected the allegation and argued that, “Iran is
not qualified to speak for the Islamic world.... Morocco does not need lessons from Iran or
anybody else to show solidarity with the Palestinian people....”17 Shortly after the dispute began,
King Mohammed VI acknowledged the Holocaust in a speech read in his name at a ceremony in
Paris, thereby indirectly answering Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad’s Holocaust denials.
It was said that the speech was the first time an Arab leader took such a stand on the Holocaust.18
Relations with the United States
The United States and Morocco have long-term, good relations. Successive Administrations, of
both political parties, have viewed Morocco as a steady and close ally and as a moderate Arab
state that supports the Arab-Israeli peace process. In January 2009, King Mohammed VI
congratulated President Obama on his election and seized the opportunity “to say how satisfied I
am with the special strategic partnership between the Kingdom of Morocco and the United States
of America.”19 On April 8, after meeting Moroccan Foreign Minister Fassi-Fihri, Secretary of
State Clinton said, “We are so committed to our relationship and have a very high regard for the
extraordinary progress that has taken place in Morocco ... and we look forward to deepening and
strengthening our relationship.”
In 2004, President Bush designated Morocco a major non-NATO ally. Morocco is part of NATO’s
Mediterranean Dialogue, has hosted and participated in NATO military exercises, and has joined
NATO’s Operation Active Endeavor, monitoring the Mediterranean Sea for terrorists. In addition,
bilateral U.S.-Moroccan military exercises are held regularly. Morocco also is cooperating in the
U.S. Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership (TSCTP). In December 2007, the Defense
Department announced an Foreign Military Financing (FMF) sale to Morocco of 24 F-16 aircraft
and associated equipment and services for up to $2.4 billion. They will be delivered in 2011-
2015.
Bilateral ties have been strengthened by cooperation in the fight against terrorism and improving
trade relations. An FBI team helped investigate the Casablanca bombings, and the FBI and CIA
Directors have visited Rabat for consultations. A free trade agreement (FTA) with Morocco, P.L.
108-302, August 17, 2004, came into effect on January 1, 2006. The United States has increased
aid to Morocco to assist with countering terrorism, democratization, fighting poverty, and the
FTA. In August 2007, the Millennium Challenge Corporation Board approved a five-year, $697.5
million grant for Morocco.

16 Statement of Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, MAP News Agency, March 6, 2009, BBC
Monitoring Newsfile.
17 “Moroccan Government Spokesman on Reasons Behind Severing Ties with Iran,” Al-Quds al-Arabi, March 9, 2009,
BBC Monitoring Middle East.
18 Alfred de Montesquiou, “Morocco Challenges Middle East’s Holocaust Mindset,” Associated Press, July 27, 2009.
19 “King Congratulates Barack Obama on Investiture, MAP news Agency, January 20, 2009, BBC Monitoring Middle
East.
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Table 1. U.S. Foreign Assistance to Morocco
(in thousands of dollars)

FY2008 Actual
FY2009 Actual
FY2010 Estimated
FY2011 Request
ESF 15,374
0

3,000
3,000
FMF
3,625
3,655
9,000
9,000
IMET
1,713
1,916
1,800
1,900
INCLE
496
1,000
750
3,000
NADR
1,119
625
1,200
Not Available
DA
4,136
18,000
19,546
24,500
1207 5,080


Notes: FMF=Foreign Military Financing, ESF=Economic Support Funds, IMET=International Military Education
and Training, INCLE=International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, NADR=Non-Proliferation, Antiterrorism,
Demining, and Related Activities, DA=Development Assistance. 1207 funds are appropriated for the Department
of Defense and transferred to the State Department for “Stabilization and Security.”20
Table 2. U.S. Trade with Morocco
(in millions of dollars)
2007
2008
2009
Exports
to
Morocco
1,181.7 1,297.55 1,457.3
Imports from Morocco
586.6
812.0
425.9
Source: World Trade Atlas database.

Author Contact Information

Carol Migdalovitz

Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs
cmigdalovitz@crs.loc.gov, 7-2667



20 For more on this program, see CRS Report RS22871, Department of Defense “Section 1207” Security and
Stabilization Assistance: Background and Congressional Concerns
, by Nina M. Serafino.
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