Morocco Today
TAS, SAL
Newly independent state beginning to overcome problems MOROCCO TODAY By Sal Tas Rabat Revisiting Morocco after three years, I found it in a grave crisis. Independence was won; Sultan...
...A decade ago, the militant, well-organized Istiqlal was the real leader of the people...
...But when the French colonial clique stupidly concentrated its fire on the Sultan and finally deposed him...
...The Sultan and his son have strongly emphasized their desire for close ties with France...
...I have already seen the tide begin to turn perceptibly...
...The Moroccans particularly resent French use of their country as a base for military action against the Algerian rebels...
...Compare that with the magnificent equipment the French gave us...
...Government leaders, aware of the danger, have reacted vigorously...
...The Government included representatives of other parties (at French urging), but the Istiqlal controlled most of the posts...
...The latter worked out an agreement with Moulay Hassan whereby the royal army took over a number of points from the French...
...Sultan Mohammed V had returned victorious from French-imposed exile...
...There has been some improvement since Paris (under pressure from de Savary) replaced General Burgun, the colonialist-minded commanderin-chief in Morocco, by General Cogny...
...The results were particularly grave in the higher administrative echelons and the police...
...There have already been a number of clashes between French troops and the Liberation Army, and further tension is inevitable...
...But that should pose no major problem in the long run...
...only a swift change of personnel could dispel the prevailing atmosphere and restore peace...
...Presumably, it was now to disband, but liquidating an organization fresh from battle and flushed with victory was no easy matter...
...On this basis, negotiations were opened to integrate the Liberation Army into the newly formed national or "royal" army...
...The French contributed to it by releasing thousands of Moroccan professional soldiers from their own army and even offering a number of their officers...
...But it has had to compromise, and so has the Sultan...
...The Sultan had his eldest son, the clever, energetic and ambitious Moulay Hassan, named Army Chief of Staff, and the new organization swore allegiance to the Sultan in an impressive ceremony...
...The Government has shown itself willing to utilize competent French personnel...
...Look at what they are carrying: hunting rifles a hundred years old...
...Some of the inhabitants reverted to their migratory ways and even turned to banditry...
...The Sultan will certainly wield executive authority...
...It has asked for wage increases and improvement in working conditions wherever feasible but has avoided sweeping demands that might upset the national economy...
...They need foreign capital and, in their negotiations with the French, have set reasonable, realistic conditions for economic cooperation...
...They are more realistic, sober and Western-minded than any of the new nations I saw in Asia...
...and many French bureaucrats, resentful at their sudden change of fortune, simply folded their arms and refused to help...
...Throughout the Moroccan countryside, Liberation Army units in effect took over the duties of the former French administration and police...
...the Moroccans have no intention of becoming satellites of Nasser...
...They therefore ordered a halt to all such activities and committed themselves to a largely successful effort to maintain law and order...
...Thus, for a time, there seemed every prospect that the young Moroccan state would collapse into total anarchy...
...Many villages, only recently converted from old nomadic ways, promptly stopped paying taxes to the central authorities...
...Actually, the French army is primarily a diplomatic power factor, being used to exert pressure on the Moroccan Government during negotiations...
...in particular, it did not like the appointment of Prince Moulay Hassan to head the Army...
...Nevertheless, the question of the Sahara, with its reputedly vast mineral wealth, remains to vex relations...
...The inevitable adjustment process was shortened in large measure by Alain de Savary, Secretary of State for Tunisia and Morocco, a staunch Socialist who...
...The Istiqlal is clearly chafing at this situation...
...in a rapid-fire series of negotiations, succeeded in bridging the gap between the French and Arab communities...
...Sultan Mohammed's position today is immensely powerful...
...The leaders, somewhat bewildered, stood pat and kept their arms...
...Most important, they turned over some of their best military equipment...
...The initial result was a tremendous surge of insecurity...
...And, with a great deal of French capital fleeing to the mainland, that economy is in a highly precarious state...
...But this made it difficult to break Moroccan administrators in gradually...
...The Istiqlal has no real competitor...
...Administrative authority was weak, and Morocco sometimes appeared to be heading toward chaos...
...since the Liberation Army is intensely loyal to the Sultan...
...He picked the first Moroccan government, and his influence is felt everywhere...
...Indeed, whereas the TUC wields predominant power in the Labor party, here the Istiqlal has the final say in the unions...
...Since then, the Sultan has acceded to every Istiqlal demand for greater influence in the Cabinet...
...The Spanish in what was once Spanish Morocco were, of course, forced to follow suit: but those who attended the new army's first parade were struck by the contrast...
...Moreover, negotiations have been inaugurated with the Army of Liberation...
...the Istiqlal will be the dominant party...
...The enthusiasm shown at the parade by the people of Rabat was indescribable...
...But this is a dangerous role...
...What of the French army in Morocco- Its nominal function is to protect the French civilians, but of this it is clearly incapable...
...A central authority capable of imposing law and order has not yet been fully established, but the nation's initial liberation crisis seems definitely surmounted...
...The region is now part of French West Africa, but Moroccan spokesmen have begun to lay the basis for claims to it...
...Where the troops were disciplined, the result was reasonable stability...
...In addition, there were still French troops in Morocco whose status was unclear...
...Before the return of the Sultan, even high French officers were occasionally kidnaped by the Army of Liberation...
...The Army leaders had come to realize that the spread of banditry, rule by local groups, and local taxcollecting (often taking the form of kidnaping for ransom) was weakening their prestige...
...Thus Morocco appears headed toward a constitutional monarchy along somewhat Prussian lines and a one-party system...
...With the termination of French rule, the Liberation Army became a problem...
...And yet...
...In view of the enormous capital required for any prospective exploitation of its resources, France would be wise to work out a partnership with both Morocco and Tunisia which could attract foreign investors...
...Mohammed V is well aware that the Istiqlal is the country's only solidly organized political force and will emerge overwhelmingly victorious when elections are held...
...It could not compete politically with the Istiqlal any more than the British Trades Union Congress could compete with the Labor party...
...A new administrative setup, modeled on the French prefect system, has been created to replace the outworn, feudalistic caid system...
...In spite of the poverty of the Moroccan masses and their soaring hopes after liberation, the UMT has followed a wise and responsible policy...
...This army had originally been founded by Istiqlal leaders, but, since it recruited most of its members in the countryside where the Istiqlal had never been strong, its character gradually changed...
...The transfer of authority from Frenchmen to Moroccans was unavoidably sudden...
...The Moroccan people are proud of their new royal troops, but they have not forgotten that the Liberation Army carried on the struggle for independence...
...The other major force in Morocco is the trade-union movement...
...Here the so-called UMT has achieved a dominant position, battering its Communist rival nearly out of existence...
...The Moroccan Army of Liberation, which had borne the brunt of the battle against France, moved into the breach...
...Though it is weak in the countryside, where a number of local parties have been hastily organized by the caids and landowners, it holds unchallenged control in the cities...
...The Spanish-trained infantry marched as well as their French counterparts, but, as one Moroccan official remarked to me...
...More recently, Cairo and the Arab League had supported it and spread a racial-religious ideology which contrasted with the more progressive Istiqlal spirit...
...Morocco's major long-term problems are economic development and the lack of trained technicians...
...After an initial difficult period, the French in Morocco also began to cooperate with the new government...
...Locals of the UMT and the Istiqlal are often led by the very same men...
...These talks seem to be succeeding, and the Liberation Army can be expected to disappear shortly...
...Many diehard former colonial officials will have to leave—especially among the police, many of whom persecuted the nationalists viciouslybut one does not find the indiscriminate animus toward Frenchmen that one finds toward the Dutch in Indonesia...
...and the French population was striving to adjust to the post-colonial era...
...The latter will introduce a certain ideological and to some extent revolutionary element into the national army...
...Where individual Army groups were not subject to their leaders' control, however, chaos and banditry resulted...
...But the UMT is not a possible independent political force...
...Moreover, many present soldiers of the royal army, then members of the French colonial forces, were fighting against the Liberation Army at that time...
...the Istiqlal (Independence) party, no longer hunted, dominated the new Moroccan Government...
...during my short stay...
...The problem of integrating the old Liberation forces must be approached cautiously...
...The most spectacular result was the formation of the Moroccan royal army...
...One could almost feel the concept of state, nation and authority taking a giant stride forward...
...Since his return, the Sultan, an intelligent, hard-working man with a strong sense of mission, has taken full advantage of this situation...
...he became a martyr and symbol of the nation...
...What followed was a virtual rebellion against the fledgling Moroccan Government...
...The granting of independence had climaxed a long period of bitterness and bloodshed...
...They had some justification: War was raging in Algeria, and the Liberation Army felt great sympathy for their embattled Moslem neighbors, while distrusting the French army operating so close to Morocco's frontiers...
Vol. 39 • August 1956 • No. 32
