Casablanca attacks meant to undermine Morocco's democratization process, official says
Morocco, Politics, 5/27/2003

The terrorist attacks that hit Casablanca on May 16th meant to undermine the democratization and development process under way in the Kingdom, said Morocco's minister in charge of relations with the Parliament, Saad Alami, in an interview published on Monday by UAE-based paper "Al Khalij."

"Morocco will fight terrorism with more freedom, democracy, respect of human rights and the rule of law," stressed Alami, terming as "groundless anything suggesting that these terrorist attacks would challenge Morocco's firm commitment for democracy."

He further said that the authors of the bombings are part of "terrorist networks that have organized, funded and executed criminal acts in Casablanca," adding the terrorists were identified following the investigation led by the security services.

Touching on the measures by which to combat terrorism, the Moroccan official said "the government will take all measures geared to immunize the society against this scourge."

He noted that "this approach is not exclusively related to security, but is rather based on a more comprehensive scheme that also takes into account economic, social, religious, cultural and educational aspects."

Responding to a question on the separation of religious and political prerogatives, as claimed by some as part of a strategy to fight terrorism, Alami stressed that "this option is ruled out, stressing that "the Moroccan monarchy is a regime that confers on the King the status of Commander of the Faithful and Head of State."

Previous Stories:
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