Morocco celebrates 38th anniversary of King Hassan II's enthronement
Morocco, Local, 3/3/1999

The Moroccan people celebrates this Wednesday the Throne Day, which marks this year the 38th anniversary of King Hassan II's accession to the Alawite throne.

The Throne Day is an occasion to celebrate the achievements and gains reached during the prosperous reign of King Hassan II, marked by noteworthy progress at political, economic, social and cultural levels. These achievements and progress paved the way for the Kingdom of Morocco to emerge as a heaven of stability and tolerance where the rule of the law prevails.

The Throne Day -- whose celebration was imposed on the French colonial authority which occupied Morocco between 1912 and 1956 -- reflects the everlasting solid bonds and symbiosis existing between the Throne and the people. It is also the embodiment of the King and the people's unshakable determination to go ahead on the path towards emancipation, development and perfection of the Kingdom's territorial integrity.

King Hassan II, who accessed the Throne after the demise of his august father in 1961, continued the blessed struggle initiated by the late King Mohammed V.

The task was not easy in view of the challenges that Morocco had to take up for the edification of a modern state, based on firm democratic foundations. The King's efforts to endow the country with modern structures and to lead it towards progress and prosperity were, however, crowned with success. Throughout this struggle, the centuries old symbiosis between the King and the people and the mobilization of all the components of the society were the driving force of these endeavors.

"This national anniversary (Throne Day) is celebrated each year to bring you, dear people, more achievements, materialize your aspirations and enrich your gains," King Hassan II pertinently said in his Throne Day speech of March 3, 1998.

The perfection of Morocco's territorial integrity with the recovery of the southern provinces in 1975 is by far the brightest epic in the prestigious register of the modern history of the Kingdom of Morocco.

Since its independence from France in 1956, Morocco started a determined struggle to perfect its territorial integrity and liberate its southern provinces in accordance with the principles of international legality. The glorious Green March, which helped Morocco to peacefully retrieve its spoiled provinces, was organized following the ruling of the Hague-based International Court of Justice which recognized the existence of allegiance bonds between the Alawite Throne and the Sahrawi population.

The Green March, a genuine epic of the century, which earned Morocco the admiration of the whole world, was followed by other equally important initiatives geared towards a final settlement of the so called Sahara issue.

Morocco's proposal to hold a self-determination referendum in the southern provinces to definitively do away with the maneuvers of its enemies, is part of this logic.

Morocco's approach proved to be pertinent in view of the stages covered so far to shelve once and for all this dossier.

The democratic option is another landmark in the Kingdom's History and a lighthouse that may prompt other countries to follow the Moroccan model.

Alternation, bi-cameral parliament and change have been throughout 1998 the mottos for the political dynamism, and were crowned by the formation of a center-left coalition government in Morocco in March 1998.

The change over of political power in the country was made possible thanks to a process of reforms that resulted in the holding of free, transparent and honest elections at local, regional and national levels and the setting up of a bi-cameral parliament, comprising a House of Representatives (lower house) --elected at the direct universal suffrage-- and a Chamber of Advisors (upper house) --elected at indirect polls.

The appointment by King Hassan II of Abderrahmane Youssoufi, leader of the Socialist Union of Popular Forces, as Prime Minister, was welcomed as a historic event and a materialization of the democratic process.

Previous Stories:
  King Hassan II amnesties 1,043 detainees   (1/11/1999)
  King Hassan determined to make alternation succeed, Youssoufi says   (12/11/1998)
  King Hassan calls for consolidation of decentralization, creation of audit courts   (10/20/1998)
  King Hassan II: Morocco determined to clear human rights record   (10/10/1998)
  King Hassan II to open parliament fall session on Friday   (10/8/1998)
  King Hassan's determination for change gave us courage, said Youssoufi   (6/25/1998)

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