The Moroccan and US senior delegations meet at the Second Session of the Morocco-US Strategic Dialogue , chaired by Moroccan Foreign Minister Mezouar and US Secretary of State John Kerry, in Rabat, Morocco on April 4, 2014. Photo: MAP

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* At the second session of the United States-Morocco Strategic Dialogue today at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Foreign Minister Dr. Salaheddine Mezouar and Secretary of State John Kerry built on the substantial and ambitious roadmap agreed to by His Majesty the King Mohammed VI and President Obama in Washington in November 2013, pledging to use our strong strategic partnership to advance shared priorities of a stable, democratic, and prosperous Maghreb, Africa, and Middle East. *

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US State Department, Office of the Spokesperson (Washington, DC, April 4, 2014) — At the second session of the United States-Morocco Strategic Dialogue today at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Foreign Minister Dr. Salaheddine Mezouar and Secretary of State John Kerry built on the substantial and ambitious roadmap agreed to by His Majesty the King Mohammed VI and President Obama in Washington in November 2013, pledging to use our strong strategic partnership to advance shared priorities of a stable, democratic, and prosperous Maghreb, Africa, and Middle East.

Support for Democratic Reforms

The Secretary reiterated the United States’ appreciation for the action and the leadership of His Majesty the King in deepening democracy and promoting economic progress and human development during the last decade. In this context, the Minister and the Secretary discussed the ongoing implementation of Morocco’s 2011 constitution and how the United States can support the strengthening of Morocco’s democratic institutions, civil society, and a culture of human rights. The Secretary welcomed the Government’s endorsement of a law eliminating military tribunals for civilians, another important step in implementing His Majesty the King’s vision of Morocco that conforms to international norms and best practices with regards to human rights. The Secretary also noted the United States’ Government’s continuing interest in the outcome of Morocco’s National Dialogue on Civil Society and the development of an enabling environment for dialogue between government and citizen. The Secretary commended the Minister for Morocco’s continuing efforts to implement sweeping changes to its asylum and immigration system, with positive implications for legal and illegal migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. The two parties reaffirmed their intent to work together to promote human rights globally at the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Economic Cooperation

The Minister and the Secretary discussed the benefits of maintaining an attractive business climate for investment in Morocco. They acknowledged the concrete measures undertaken by Morocco to become eligible to join the Open Government Partnership, the importance of Morocco as a trade and investment platform for North and Sub-Saharan Africa, and United States’ support to improve the quality and relevance of Morocco’s basic education. They lauded the signing of a $38 million agreement to provide Moroccan youth with the workforce development tools for a better transition from education to employment. They discussed the recently concluded Second United States-Morocco Business Development Conference, which strengthened business-to-business ties in the service of expanding trade and capitalizing on the United States-Morocco Free Trade Agreement, promoting investment, collaborating on energy issues, and encouraging regional economic integration through the establishment of effective partnerships. Both parties look forward to Morocco’s hosting the 2014 Global Entrepreneurship Summit before the end of this year and the important opportunity that represents to build a culture of entrepreneurship to create employment opportunities for youth across the region. They welcomed the positive preparatory work for a 2^nd Millennium Challenge Corporation compact.

Engagement within Africa

The Secretary underlined the leadership of His Majesty the King to promote social development and economic prosperity within Africa, reaffirmed our desire to work jointly to ensure stability and human development in Africa through a comprehensive and coordinated approach including food security, access to energy, and trade promotion. In this context, the United States Administration looks forward to Morocco’s active participation in the United States-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington, DC in August.

Educational and Cultural Cooperation

The Minister and the Secretary discussed further cooperation to promote mutual understanding and dialogue in Morocco and throughout the region. They commended the work of the Moroccan American Commission for Educational and Cultural Exchange (MACECE), and expressed enthusiasm for the contribution that the J. Christopher Stevens Virtual Exchange Initiative will make. The Secretary noted that he will be swearing in over 100 new Peace Corps volunteers today, in the latest renewal of a historic and fruitful partnership bringing American youth together with Moroccan citizens in the service of socioeconomic development and mutual understanding. The Minister and the Secretary of State confirmed that strong interfaith cooperation, the promotion of values of moderation and tolerance are key for stability and development in the region. They welcomed the dynamism of the inter-university cooperation and research programs in that field. Both parties encouraged the MACECE to widen its activities and expressed enthusiasm for the contribution that the J. Christopher Stevens Virtual Exchange Initiative will make.

Security Cooperation

The Minister and the Secretary noted our shared goal of stability and security throughout Africa. They remarked on today’s conclusion of the joint exercise African Lion with the participation of 18 countries, reflecting a vision of strengthened cooperation and capacity to provide security to the people of the region. They discussed efforts to find new avenues for civilian security cooperation, including in criminal justice cooperation and efforts to promote the rule of law. The two parties also discussed a joint proposal that would couple United States’ and Moroccan counterterrorism expertise in such a way that would facilitate Morocco supporting regional security efforts. They noted Rabat’s hosting of the Fifth Global Counterterrorism Forum Coordinating Committee this week as a symbol of that ongoing cooperation.

The Issue of the Western Sahara

The Secretary reaffirmed our commitment to a peaceful, sustainable, mutually agreed-upon solution to the Western Sahara question. The United States’ policy toward the Western Sahara has remained consistent for many years. The United States has made clear that Morocco’s autonomy plan is serious, realistic, and credible, and that it represents a potential approach that could satisfy the aspirations of the people in the Western Sahara to run their own affairs in peace and dignity. The United States supports the negotiations carried out by the United Nations, including the work of the UN Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General Ambassador Christopher Ross, and urges the parties to work toward a just, lasting and mutually agreed political solution. The two parties affirmed their shared commitment to the improvement of the lives of the people of the Western Sahara. In this regard, Morocco presented the report on the new economic model prepared by the Economic, Social and Environmental Council. The Secretary welcomed the recent actions and initiatives taken by Morocco to continue to protect and promote human rights in the territory, including the growing and important role of the National Council for Human Rights.

Middle East Peace

Secretary Kerry commended the commitment of Morocco to the shared goal of a comprehensive settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He welcomed the contribution of His Majesty the King, including through his chairmanship of the Al-Quds Committee, and the recommendations made by the Committee’s 20^th Session held this past January.

Conclusion

The Minister and the Secretary closed by emphasizing the broad set of values shared by the United States and Morocco, providing the foundation for even wider cooperation in our strategic partnership. They expressed their intent to continuing following up on the joint agenda which grew out of last November’s successful visit of His Majesty the King to Washington. The Secretary thanked the Minister for his invitation to visit Morocco and looks forward to the next session of the Strategic Dialogue in Washington.

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Sec. of State John Kerry shakes hands with Moroccan Foreign Minister Salaheddine Mezouar on arriving for Morocco-US Strategic Dialogue talks in Rabat, April 4, 2014. Photo: AFP, Jacquelyn Martin

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* Kerry, Moroccan FM Mezouar co-chair second meeting of Morocco-US Strategic Dialogue *

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MACP (Washington, DC,  April 4, 2014) — Concluding a tour of Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa, Secretary of State John Kerry today joined his Moroccan counterpart, Foreign Minister Salaheddine Mezouar, in Rabat to co-chair the second meeting of the Morocco-US Strategic Dialogue. In opening remarks for the meeting, Kerry hailed Morocco’s leadership on reforms as well as security and stability in the region, and pledged continued US support for its long-time strategic partner.

Moroccan & US delegations meet at Morocco-US Strategic Dialogue in Rabat. Photo: MAP

“Morocco is playing an essential leadership role,” said Kerry. “The United States stands by and will stand by this relationship every step of the way.” He said, “The 18 different agreements that Morocco signed with Mali show that Morocco is driving greater security and greater prosperity in the region,” referring to King Mohammed VI’s recent four-nation Africa tour, which resulted in more than 80 agreements between Morocco and Mali, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, and Gabon on issues ranging from food security to job training and combating religious extremism.

The Joint Statement released after the second meeting of the Morocco-US Strategic Dialogue reiterated the “ambitious roadmap” agreed to when King Mohammed VI met President Obama at the White House in November 2013. The statement commended the King’s leadership in “deepening democracy and promoting economic progress and human development.”

King Mohammed VI receives Sec. of State Kerry in Casablanca, April 4, 2014. Photo: MAP

It also reiterated long-held US support for Morocco’s autonomy plan in its Sahara provinces as “serious, realistic, and credible,” and affirmed a “shared commitment to the improvement of the lives of the people of the Western Sahara.” The joint statement also “welcomed the recent actions and initiatives taken by Morocco to continue to protect and promote human rights in the territory, including the growing and important role of the National Council for Human Rights.”

Launched in September 2012, the Morocco-US Strategic Dialogue underscores America’s “close cooperation with Morocco,” focusing on shared values and common interests in four areas—political affairs, economic cooperation, security, and educational and cultural issues—formally recognizing the historic strategic partnership between the two countries. It builds on progress over the past decade, including the Morocco-US Free Trade Agreement, Millennium Challenge Compact, and Morocco’s designation as a major non-NATO ally.

* For full remarks by Moroccan Foreign Minister Mezouar and US Secretary of State Kerry at US-Morocco Strategic Dialogue:

http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2014/04/224411.htm

* For the “Joint Statement of the Second Session of the United States-Kingdom of Morocco Strategic Dialogue:”

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2014/04/224399.htm

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King Mohammed VI receives Secretary of State John Kerry in Casablanca on Friday, April 4, 2014, on the final stop of Kerry’s visit to Morocco before flying back to Washington, DC. Kerry praised the King and Morocco’s leadership, as a longtime ally, on advancing reforms as well as security and stability in the region. Photo: MAP

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“Morocco is playing an important leadership role, and the United States will stand by this relationship every step of the way.”

 —US Secretary of State John Kerry in Rabat, Morocco

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AFP (Rabat, Morocco, April 4, 2014)  — Secretary of State John Kerry Friday pledged US support for Moroccan reforms and efforts to promote regional stability, while highlighting social challenges faced by Rabat.  “Morocco is playing an important leadership role, and the United States will stand by this relationship every step of the way,” he said at the end of a North African tour.

Sec. of State Kerry and Moroccan Foreign Minister Salaheddine Mezouar in Rabat chair the 2nd meeting of Morocco-US Strategic Dialogue, launched Sept. 2012. Photo: MAP

“The 18 different agreements that Morocco signed with Mali show that Morocco is driving greater security and greater prosperity in the region,” Kerry added, speaking in Rabat alongside his Moroccan counterpart, Salaheddine Mezouar. Those accords, signed in February during a tour of West Africa by King Mohammed VI, included an agreement to train hundreds of imams in Morocco. Rabat is considered an important US ally in combating radical Islamist ideology, which has enjoyed a revival elsewhere in North Africa since the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings that swept away decades-old dictatorships.

Morocco’s agreement to train imams from nearby countries afflicted by jihadist violence, such as Mali, Tunisia and Libya, forms part of its strategy of promoting a more tolerant version of Islam. Kerry met Moroccan Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane after flying to Rabat from Algiers on Thursday evening. He was to meet King Mohammed VI in Casablanca later on Friday before returning to Washington. He cited joint military exercises being conducted by Moroccan armed forces and US Africa Command (AFRICOM) in the southern city of Agadir as an aspect of the two countries’ strategic cooperation between.

[Continue Reading story by AFP…]

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Moroccan baked fish with onions. Credit Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

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* “The first step in nearly every Moroccan fish recipe requires the fish to be slathered, anointed or rubbed with a mixture of herbs, spices and olive oil.” *

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The New York Times, by David Tanis, City Kitchen (April 4, 2014) — In Morocco, fish is fried, grilled or simmered, just as it is everywhere else, but there is this essential difference: The first step in nearly every Moroccan fish recipe requires the fish to be slathered, anointed or rubbed with a mixture of herbs, spices and olive oil. Cilantro and garlic must be part of the mix, along with hot pepper and cumin. Some cooks are inclined to add paprika, and lots of cooks add tomato. Nearly everyone adds lemon juice or vinegar, but ingredient quantities are vague, varying with each cook’s personal whim.

The mixture is known as chermoula, or in some circles, Moroccan pesto. It’s a versatile, zesty condiment that is no trouble to make. I prefer to chop everything finely with a sharp knife, so there’s a little texture. A blender or food processor work well, too, though resulting in a smoother, greener version. Use a mortar and pestle for a small batch. Thin with more oil, or keep it on the thick side.

Now catch your fish (or your fish fillets), smear with chermoula and marinate for at least an hour. Then you can roast it on a bed of onions — an easy technique — or grill the fish and serve the onions alongside. The onions in question are a kind of delicious confit, in which sliced onions are slowly stewed in butter until they are a sweet, melting mass stained yellow with turmeric. The seasoning is high, with cayenne and black pepper, bits of chopped preserved lemon and whole briny olives stirred through to add flavor and a little saltiness. You can make the onions a day in advance, or keep a supply on hand in the fridge. Good hot or cold, they have lots of uses.

[Continue Reading at The New York Times…]

Recipe: Moroccan Baked Fish With Onions

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US Secretary of State John Kerry thanks more than 100 incoming Peace Corps volunteers for their service to the country and the world before swearing them in during a ceremony in Rabat, Morocco, on April 4, 2014. Photo: State Dept.

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* “You’re going to strengthen the friendship between Morocco and the United States, a friendship that is older than the Constitution of the United States of America. I remind you that Morocco was the first country in the world to recognize the United States in 1777…This journey means as much to you as it will mean to the people and the communities that you’re going to serve. It goes both ways. That’s the beauty of it…Sargent Shriver [said] when he came back from Africa… ‘Go in a spirit of humility, seeking to learn as much as to teach.’” *

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US State Department (Rabat, Morocco, April 4, 2014) — Secretary of State John Kerry delivered the oath on Friday in Rabat to a group of 101 new US Peace Corps Volunteers beginning their two years of service in Morocco, where they will work in locations such as youth homes, community-based social centers, and women’s homes.

Kerry was joined at the official swearing-in ceremony by Moroccan Minister of Youth and Sports, Mohamed Ouzzine, whose ministry oversees the 80 different volunteer programs and projects.

In his remarks, Kerry told the new volunteers that they would all be acting as ambassadors for the US in Morocco.

He urged them to “Go in a spirit of humility, seeking to learn as much as to teach,” recalling the words of Sargent Shriver upon his return from Africa as the Peace Corps’ first Administrator, appointed by President John F. Kennedy on founding the volunteer program in 1963.

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Full Text of Secretary Kerry’s Remarks:

Chris, thank you very much. Thanks for your service, and thank you for the introduction. And Minister Ouzzine, it’s a great pleasure to be here with you. Thank you very, very much for being part of this. And all of our guests, distinguished guests – oh, there’s President Kennedy over here. I’m just looking over there. (laughter)

This is really cool. I want you to know I’m really excited about this. I’m thrilled that somehow it coincided and we were able to work out that I have the privilege of swearing you in. And when I heard I was swearing in 101 Peace Corps volunteers, I immediately thought of 101 Dalmatians. (laughter) I couldn’t help it. Sorry about that. That has nothing to do with anything, all right? (laughter) And you certainly don’t think of yourselves that way.

Sec. of State Kerry addresses incoming Peace Corps volunteers before swearing-in ceremony in Rabat, Morocco, on April 4, 2014. Photo: State Dept.

There are a lot of reasons why this is special. I am old enough to have been old enough at the time that it meant something to me when President Kennedy made the announcement about the Peace Corps and appointed his brother-in-law Sargent Shriver to be the first head of it. And I remember that very distinctly, the sense of excitement. I had the privilege of meeting President Kennedy, because I was then 18 years old and just out of high school, working full time for somebody who was to become my colleague, Senator Ted Kennedy, then a candidate for senator in Massachusetts. And I was just a kid in the summer, and I happened to be in a place where the President was during that period of time. And we chatted a bit, and he chastised me for my choice of college, but – (laughter) – he was very funny about sort of the commonality of some of the interests at any rate.  And he made an impression on me – a lifetime-lasting impression.

And the Peace Corps itself has always embodied really the best aspirations of America in terms of our reach in the world – our efforts to help people to do better in life, our efforts to try to create stability and opportunity and prosperity, our efforts to give people a sense of what makes a difference in terms of the values which will guide them as they grow and become, hopefully, public citizens themselves at some point in time. And so your willingness to stand up and say, “I’m going to serve,” in this capacity is really, really special, particularly at a time when so many people are sort of pressured and enticed towards a more lucrative undertaking, particularly in their immediate post-college years, where you’re saddled with college debt and other career pressures and choices.

You’re joining one of the proudest traditions that there is. As Chris mentioned, the 5,000-some people who have served here, it includes Ambassador Chris Stevens, whom we lost, as you all know, in Benghazi. It includes a fellow by the name of Ambassador Robert Ford, who has been our special – really, he’s been the ambassador to Syria, but because he hasn’t been in Syria, he’s been our special envoy, so to speak, to the Syrian opposition, and has worked diligently these past years to be able to help the people of Syria do better. But his commitment began right here, like yours. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, one of our distinguished diplomats, a man who went on to help broker peace accords at Dayton and dealt with so many difficult issues, began as a Peace Corps volunteer.

So you’re following in the footsteps of accomplished, distinguished diplomats who made a difference as they went on in life, and I’m confident that you will, those of you who choose to go on in that way. And I have no doubt that perhaps sometime in the future, when a next secretary is standing up and swearing people, one or more of your names will be the examples that will then be given to people.

You’re joining the Peace Corps at a very, very important time. I can’t emphasize enough to you how critical it is. And obviously, it has its challenges. The world is changing unbelievably rapidly. And to some degree, that’s creating the counterforce that we see in certain places. It’s a reaction against modernity, against change, against the invasion of the rest of the world into people’s lives because of the media and because of communication that’s sometimes unwanted and unwitting.

Sec. of State Kerry leads swearing-in ceremony for incoming Peace Corps volunteers in Rabat, Morocco, on April 4, 2014. Photo: State Dept.

And so whether you like it or not – and we talked about this in our security dialogue a few moments ago with our Moroccan friends – that everything that’s happening everywhere invades everywhere all the time. And the result of this is a sense of invasion, really, of sometimes unwanted values, unwanted principles. And it forces a transition, no matter what. So in places that are particularly tribal or particularly insular, and where there’s a more conservative strain, that can be difficult. And we have to acknowledge that. We have to honor that. People need to be able to do things at their pace and in their way, but still, we have to remain committed to fundamental values – freedom, human rights, democracy, and tolerance, things that you will be practicing and teaching every day in your efforts as Peace Corps volunteers.

And when you look at the population of Morocco, it’s really a reflection of what is happening in the rest of the world – 60 percent of a population under the age of 30, and 50 percent of the population under the age of 25 – 50 percent. That’s a lot of jobs to find and create. That’s a lot of educating to do. That’s a lot of opportunity to create. So it’s a big task. It’s a complicated world. And I admire enormously those who have chosen to go out into this world and help to make a difference.

Now, I will tell you that what you do could help shape the economy of this country in the future. It will certainly shape lives. Individual lives will be touched by the multiples for those people that you come into contact with and make a difference for. And it seems to me that this is what makes this adventure you’re about to embark on so meaningful, is that when you help a young Moroccan develop a skill to be able to build their community or to build their own career, when you help somebody to learn English or help somebody to start a business or to learn some valuable lesson as simple as playing sports and being a part of a team, you are investing in a safer region and a stronger world.

So the 101 of you are going to match your diverse talents with your expertise, and you’re going to go out there and have an opportunity to be able to learn a lot about the perspectives of the young men and women that you’re going to meet. And as you do, you’re going to strengthen the friendship between Morocco and the United States, a friendship that is older than the Constitution of the United States of America. I remind you that Morocco was the first country in the world to recognize the United States in 1777.

So before I ask you to join me up here on the stage to take the oath, I just want to leave you with one reminder and perhaps one prediction. The reminder is this: In every intersection that you have with any individual Moroccan, anyone you meet, you may be the only American that that person has met that day, that week, that year, perhaps, or that lifetime. So you represent the United States in every single thing that you do. And I ask you to remember that the ambassador who is presenting his credentials today may have the fancy title of ambassador, but every single one of you is an ambassador. And that was something that Sargent Shriver said more than 50 years ago when he returned from Africa at the beginning of this journey. He said that the manner in which volunteers carry out their work is just as important as the quality of their work. And believe me, that is still true today.

So that’s my reminder. My prediction is this: You’re going to find that this journey means as much to you as it will mean to the people and the communities that you’re going to serve. It goes both ways. That’s the beauty of it. And in the same message that I just mentioned Sargent Shriver gave when he came back from Africa, you know what he said? He said, “Go in a spirit of humility, seeking to learn as much as to teach.”

So I’ve got every bit of confidence that you all are going to do that. It’s my honor now to administer to you the very same oath that I took, the very same oath that the President takes and that all of us have taken since the time of George Washington. So please, if you will join me up here on the stage, I will deliver your oath that will make you official Peace Corps volunteers.

(The oath was administered.)

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Secretary of State John Kerry stopped by Rick’s Café in Casablanca after meeting with Morocco’s king, Mohammed VI, the last official meeting on his two-week trip. Kerry chats here with proprietor Kathy Kriger—a former State Department Foreign Service Officer—while visiting the main dining room in Rick’s American Cafe, April 4, 2014. Photo: State Dept.

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* “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, John Kerry walks into this one. Not a gin joint actually, Rick’s Cafe in Casablanca, Morocco… Kerry stopped by after meeting with Morocco’s king, Mohammed VI, the last official meeting on his two-week trip.” *

—Bloomberg News

Bloomberg/Businessweek, by Terry Atlas (Casablanca, Morocco, April 4, 2014) — Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, John Kerry walks into this one. Not a gin joint actually, Rick’s Cafe in Casablanca is a movie-themed restaurant (very) loosely inspired by the wartime bar and casino conceived by Hollywood in the 1942 romantic film “Casablanca” starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.  .

Humphrey Bogart, Claude Rains, Paul Henreid, and Ingrid Bergman in “Casablanca.” Photo: Everett Collection

This Rick’s is the creation of former US foreign service officer Kathy Kriger, 67, pictured here, who found an entrepreneurial opportunity in what is now Morocco’s modern commercial capital, of course nothing like the movie’s intrigue-filled wartime refuge. Kerry, coming off a grand tour of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, dropped in to Rick’s Friday before heading to the airport for the flight home to Boston.

Kerry spoke with Kriger while a pianist named Issam played “As Time Goes By.”  The Secretary of State shared some pastries with his staff and some US consulate personnel. Needless to say, Kerry didn’t have to worry about running into the sort of characters in the movie — ex-pats, war refugees, German soldiers, French police, gamblers and a long-lost love. The 1930s-vintage building, which Kriger renovated in traditional Moroccan “Riad” style a decade ago, mostly draws tourists, including the occasional VIP.

[Continue Reading at Bloomberg News…]

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Kerry chats with Kriger while a piano player named Sam plays during a visit to Rick’s American Cafe in Casablanca, Morocco, on April 4, 2014. Photo: State Dept.

Additional photos courtesy US State Department and MOTM

“As Time Goes By”

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Supporters of Maghreb co-operation met April 5th in Nouakchott. Photo: Jemal Oumar

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* “We need to build horizons. We have an opportunity that we must not miss, when we open the door for young people and encourage scientific and technical partnerships.” *

—Forum of Islamic Thought head Ahmed Elfaziqi *

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Magharebia, by Jemal Oumar (Nouakchott, Mauritania, April 8, 2014) — Maghreb integration is the best way to improve security and boost economic opportunities for youth, regional experts agreed last week in Nouakchott. Terrorism, cross-border crime, and illegal immigration threaten security, while the lack of regional integration contributes to unemployment and economic losses, said Didi Ould Salek, the president of the Maghreb Centre for Strategic Studies (CMESMR).

His group hosted the April 5th conference in the Mauritanian capital, along with Tunisia’s Maghreb Forum for International Cooperation. Decision-makers are “are required to think about the need to build a Maghreb Union; otherwise, their countries will continue to face the threat of the Sahel-Sahara region crisis,” he said. Ould Salek called on Maghreb countries to bypass their political differences in order to improve security co-ordination.

Maghreb Forum head Mohamed El Adel looked at the issue from an economic angle. Integration can be achieved through “economic and cultural development,” he said. “That is why most of our activities consist of stimulating partnerships between businesses and culture,” he added.

The region is burdened by the “flight of Maghreb capital to other countries, the brain drain and the inability of local governments to benefit from their ethnic and cultural diversity,” El-Adel said. “When we realize unity at the grassroots level and… activate civil society, we will achieve the most important step,” he noted. “We also need to promote the Maghreb idea at the international level.”

Omar Bachir Ben Hammou of Algeria’s Abou al-Houda Foundation spoke about the role of young people. Having spent twenty years as an official in the Algerian Ministry of Youth and Sports, he offered unique insight. “It is essential that Maghreb youth contribute to cultural mobility… and gain distance from destructive ideas,” he said.

“Maghreb countries have a uniform popular culture, but the cause of youth delinquency is the lack of clear programs concerned with youth that stimulate their underlying strength,” the Algerian expert added.

Nouakchott professor Mohamed Ould Amin blamed political regimes for the failure of Maghreb integration. Political leaders did not formulate unity in “concrete steps,” he said—the reason why the process was idle for 20 years. He called on intellectuals to help enlighten public opinion. He also noted the need to abolish visas and unify educational curricula.

“Just two days ago, about 50 countries signed a treaty of economic partnership. Why can’t we do the same?” Forum of Islamic Thought head Ahmed Elfaziqi asked. “We need to build horizons,” he told Magharebia. “We have an opportunity that we must not miss, when we open the door for young people and encourage scientific and technical partnerships.”

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Secretary of State John Kerry meets with King Mohammed VI in Casablanca Friday, April 4 following Kerry’s co-chairing of the second session of the US-Morocco Strategic Dialogue in Rabat. Medafrica Times, Photo: MAP

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* “Morocco is clearly a country that is open for business and open to the world. And this has never been clearer than in recent months during King Mohammed VI’s recent outreach to the region.” *

— US Secretary of State John Kerry

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Medafrica Times, by Steven Addamah (April 8, 2014) — The United States has commended Morocco’s incredible potential for growth and its growing role as a vital gateway to Africa, underlining that the North African country is already among the top African nations investing in African countries. This came in the remarks made by Secretary of State John Kerry at the opening of the plenary of the second session of the U.S.-Morocco Strategic Dialogue, held last Friday, April 4 in Rabat. Morocco’s incredible potential for growth and its growing role in Africa make it even more vital for the United States to boost its relationship with Morocco which is increasingly attracting investors from around the world, and which is one of fewer than 20 countries in the world, and the only country in Africa where the United States has a free trade agreement, Kerry said.

“Morocco is clearly a country that is open for business and open to the world. And this has never been clearer than in recent months during King Mohammed VI’s recent outreach to the region,” he said, underlining that the United States is deeply committed to the incredibly vibrant and extraordinary capacity that Morocco has and is already exhibiting, is already engaged in. Referring to King Mohammed VI’s latest four-nation Africa trip earlier this year, during which more than 80 agreements were signed to advance economic development, food security, trade, and religious cooperation to limit the spread of Islamic extremism in the region, Kerry said “Morocco is driving both greater security and greater prosperity in the region, in the Maghreb.” The King’s African tour took him to Mali, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, and Gabon.

The U.S. Secretary of State who hailed Morocco’s leadership to promote social development and economic prosperity within Africa reaffirmed his country’s desire to work jointly with the Kingdom to ensure stability and human development in the continent through a comprehensive and coordinated approach including food security, access to energy, and trade promotion. “So whether in Morocco’s support for Mali’s new government or its continued efforts to counter violent extremism, in its robust economic outreach in the region and commitment to fostering religious tolerance, Morocco is playing an essential leadership role and we come here today to show our understanding of and respect for that role,” Kerry said.  He also said that that the U.S. administration expects Morocco to actively participate in the United States-Africa Leaders Summit, which will take place next August in Washington.

[Continue Reading at Medafrica Times…]

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From left: Villa K’s infinity pool stretches out to nature; a clean, carved-out interior, accessorized with traditional Moroccan textiles by Brigitte Perkins. A cornerstone of the duo’s work in Morocco is the partnership they have developed with highly trained local artisans, called malhems. Photographs by Dan Glasser

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* “Fervently followed architects Karl Fournier and Olivier Marty of Studio KO imbue their rigorous modernism with a subtle blend of history and culture… In Morocco, this means building a house of clean lines and pure geometric shapes and then covering it up with warm red clay, so it blends in with the foothills of the Atlas Mountains.” *

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The New York Times Magazine, Design by Stephen Heyman (April 9, 2014) — In everything they design, Karl Fournier and Olivier Marty strive for a kind of culturally rooted modernism. In Morocco, this means building a house of clean lines and pure geometric shapes and then covering it up with warm red clay, so it blends in with the foothills of the Atlas Mountains. In Paris, it means restoring an old apartment to the Platonic ideal of Haussmannian grandeur and then bringing in contemporary furniture that somehow throws the plaster cornices and marble fireplaces into sharper relief.

Olivier Marty (left) and Karl Fournier, in their Paris office, create spaces that enhance the old and allude to the new. Photo: Thibault Montamat

Fournier and Marty subscribe to Daniel Libeskind’s idea that architects should articulate history, not parody it. So if you’re looking for a chateau or casbah kitsch, go elsewhere. Their firm, Studio KO, is highly sought-after, especially in North Africa, where they’ve built vacation homes for the fashion mogul Pierre Bergé, the Fiat heiress Marella Agnelli, the billionaire Patrick Guerrand-Hermès and a smattering of Qatari royals. Studio KO’s most prominent project to date happens to be the buzziest address in London at the moment, the Chiltern Firehouse, a new hotel from André Balazs. Fournier and Marty are partners in every sense of the word. They live together in a converted factory on the outskirts of the French capital. They both come from middle-class backgrounds; their parents were teachers and scientists.

“We weren’t born into this milieu. When we met we were coming from nowhere, we didn’t have style, we just had an attitude,” Marty said. In 2000, Fournier and Marty opened a small office in Paris, immediately after graduating from the École des Beaux-Arts, the fine-arts school that trained generations of French architects, including Charles Garnier, who designed the Paris Opera House. In 2001, they added a satellite location in a 1930s building in Marrakesh. The timing was perfect: A raft of rich Europeans with a taste for Moorish costumes and mint tea were just at that moment rounding Gibraltar in search of vacation homes. If they weren’t restoring some gorgeously decayed riad, they were building something new, which usually meant something old.

[Continue Reading at The New York Times Magazine…]

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From left: Villa K in Tagadert, Morocco, seamlessly blends a modern aesthetic with Old World design; rotating window panels inside Villa E in Ourika, Morocco; the linear dining room with a Studio KO-designed table and ceiling light at Villa E. Photos: Dan Glasser

The post Architecture: Striking a Balance – New York Times Magazine appeared first on Morocco On The Move.

At a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing today on US policy toward Morocco, key Members of Congress reiterated the United States’ commitment to supportin.g Morocco through its ongoing democratization and praised the North African country as a model for moderation and a strategic ally.

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* House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen says “Morocco has stood up as a model of moderation and the hope for a democratic future in the Middle East and North Africa,” a region that has seen rising threats of terrorism and extremism.  Hearing cites “longstanding US policy” on Western Sahara that advocates “autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty.” *

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MACP (Washington, DC, April 9, 2014) — At a House hearing today on US policy toward Morocco, key members of the Foreign Affairs Committee reiterated the United States’ commitment to supporting Morocco through its ongoing democratization and praised the North African country as a model for moderation and a strategic ally.

US House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen

“Since becoming the first nation to formally recognize the newly independent United States, Morocco and the US have shared a strategic and bilateral relationship,” said Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL). “It is one that has continued to strengthen in recent years.”

In her statement announcing the hearing, Ros-Lehtinen said that “Morocco has stood up as a model of moderation and the hope for a democratic future in the Middle East and North Africa,” a region that has seen rising threats of terrorism and extremism.

She said “It’s important that the US continue to assist Morocco in countering these threats.”

On the Western Sahara, the Chairwoman, Ranking Member Ted Deutch (D-FL), and Chairman of the Morocco Caucus Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY) reiterated their support for longstanding US policy on the Western Sahara that advocates for a solution based on a formula of autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Egypt and Maghreb Affairs William Roebuck, who testified at the hearing, noted that “US policy toward the Western Sahara has remained consistent for many years.”

Subcommittee Ranking Member Ted Deutch

The hearing comes less than a week after Secretary of State John Kerry joined Moroccan Foreign Minister Salaheddine Mezouar in Rabat to co-chair the 2nd meeting of the Morocco-US Strategic Dialogue.

Kerry hailed Morocco’s leadership on reforms as well as security and stability in the region, pledging continued US support.

Roebuck and Alina Romanowski, USAID Middle East bureau, also testifying at the hearing, echoed Kerry’s words.

“The United States and Morocco enjoy a very strong bilateral relationship,” said Roebuck in opening remarks, “focused on promoting regional stability, supporting democratic reform efforts, countering violent extremism, and strengthening trade and cultural ties.”

He remarked on “the growing role” of Morocco’s National Council for Human Rights “as a credible and proactive defender of human rights,” and cited the country’s “important steps forward in strengthening the protection of human rights.”

The hearing also discussed the 2014 Appropriations Bill passed by Congress and signed by President Obama earlier this year that included for the first time a law instructing that US assistance designated for Morocco be used in the Western Sahara.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Egypt and Maghreb Affairs William Roebuck testifies at House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing about US policy on Morocco.

While Congress has expressed strong bipartisan support for such a measure in the past—in the forms of letters, reports, and a voice vote in July—the bill represented a significant reinforcement of US policy supporting a solution to the Western Sahara conflict based on autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty and recognizing the Moroccan Autonomy initiative as “serious, realistic, and credible.”

The report accompanying the Appropriations Bill requires the State Department to work with USAID to write a report to Congress by mid-April that identifies development programs in Morocco—including in Western Sahara—that are eligible to receive Title III funding as well as the steps taken to resolve the longstanding dispute over the Western Sahara, based on autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty.

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* For remarks by Members of Congress at House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing (video), go to: http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/hearing/subcommittee-hearing-us-policy-towards-morocco

* For full statement by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Egypt and Maghreb Affairs William Roebuck: http://docs.house.gov/meetings/FA/FA13/20140409/102114/HHRG-113-FA13-Wstate-RoebuckW-20140409.pdf

* For full statement by the Alina Romanowski of USAID’s Bureau for the Middle East: http://docs.house.gov/meetings/FA/FA13/20140409/102114/HHRG-113-FA13-Wstate-RomanowskiA-20140409.pdf

The post Congress praises Morocco reforms, urges State to strengthen US-Morocco strategic partnership appeared first on Morocco On The Move.

Maghreb Arabe Presse journalists on TRF Parliamentary Reporting course, visiting Moroccan parliament. Photo by Mathieu Robbins

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Thomson Reuters Foundation, by Mathieu Robbins/Nicholas Phythian (Rabat, Morocco, April 10, 2014) — A journalist is as good as his or her contact book, as goes the saying. The best ones don’t work from behind a desk but get out, get to know people, find out what their readers want to know, talk around and chase new stories. Don’t they? This, at least, was one of the ideas at the heart of a Thomson Reuters Foundation workshop for Moroccan reporters on the parliamentary reporting in Rabat in late February.

As part of a project to help build up the coverage of Morocco’s state-owned Maghreb Arabe Presse (MAP) news agency, Nicholas Phythian and I joined six of their journalists, whose current beats range from parliament to other areas like social affairs. On the first morning, we asked, as always, what each of them wanted from the workshop. When a request came through to get out and see parliament, we put this back in their hands and said we’d love to all go if they could use their contacts to organize it.

This came together nicely when one of the attendees – who already reports from parliament – organized a visit for us on the last day. Key questions raised during the week included “How do I get stories?” and “How do I meet people?” The answer? “Put the work in, build your network, talk around to pick up bits of information, then call around and talk to other people to verify, test what you’ve heard and then write your story.” Had anyone been listening? Well yes, as we found out during a presentation throughout the parliamentary visit from El Mustapha Nassiri, Head of the National Assembly’s media relations department in the parliament. In his conversation with the journalists, the question of the use of Amazigh – the Berber language spoken in the country’s Rif valley – came up, and the fact it had recently been used on the floor of parliament in an official exchange for the first time.

[Continue Reading at Thomson Reuters…]

The post Reporting on Parliament in Morocco – Thomson Reuters appeared first on Morocco On The Move.

“It is a city where men and women come to be the people they once only imagined. That is why artists, designers and decorators love it: not just for the light, the colors and the fabrics, but for the ethos. Tangier remains the world capital of self-invention.” Top row, from left: Umberto Pasti, Mickey Raymond, Laure Welfing, “Gipi” de Richemont Salvy, Jonathan Dawson. Bottom row, from left: Lawrence Mynott, Anthea Mynott, Christopher Gibbs, Francisco de Corcuera Gandarillas, Blanca Hamri. Photos: Will Sanders

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* For the legendary expats of Tangier, a life devoted to beauty reaches full flower in this North African hothouse of history and hedonism. — THE AESTHETES (VIDEO)| Tangier’s colorful expats open their extraordinary homes and share what lured them to the city. *

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Lawrence and Anthea Mynott | Artist and graphic designer in their “little chinoiserie salon,” with an opaline glass lotus lamp on the ceiling, circa 1840; wallpaper from Madeleine Castaing, circa 1835; a Regency-style convex mirror; Rococo-style gilded plastic sconces; locally made wooden chest of drawers; and Tibetan rug. Photo: Will Sanders

New York Times Magazine, by Andrew O’Hagan (Tangier, Morocco, April 13, 2014) — In a shrinking world, Tangier is a place where eccentricity is celebrated, where fiscal nomads and expatriates thrive in the midday sun, where light filters through the palms and makes an atmosphere of dreaming. With its bright colors and whiff of old scandal, it is a place of the mind, stranded perfectly at a gathering point of sweet-scented opposites. It is a high meeting place of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, Europe and Africa, sanctity and sin, where men and women have long set out to find themselves between the devil and the deep blue sea.

It’s an old story — as old as sailing and sex — yet there is always something new coming over the strait. Indeed, it may be the hunt for newness in an old port that brought them here, adventurers and outsiders — from Mark Twain and Delacroix to Yves Saint Laurent and Tennessee Williams — who merely broke the path for the uprooted of today. Deep in the Casbah and high on the slopes of Vieille Montagne, you find these people, these elegant, exotic plants who fill their days with lunch parties and gossip. They may be the harmless denizens of an old idea, doing it with style, living beyond their means but strictly within their taste. It is a painted city where ripe vegetables and aged spies litter the souks, where men of hidden consequence can always find a drink. Most of all, Tangier is a city where attention to detail is undivided, a place where you meet people just crazy for beauty.

VIDEO | Tangier’s colorful expats open their extraordinary homes & share what lured them to city. Click photo to play

“It is alarming,” Truman Capote wrote, “the number of travelers who have landed here on a brief holiday, then settled down and let the years go by. Because Tangier is a basin that holds you, a timeless place; the days slide by less noticed than foam in a waterfall.” When Matisse came to the city in the winter of 1912, he was faced with another sort of deluge — the rain. He checked into the Hotel Villa de France and waited for it to stop. It took weeks. He was astonished by the colors and the “decorative force” that came out with the sun, painting a picture from a window at the hotel, the famous “La Fenêtre à Tanger,” which shows St. Andrew’s Church in a field of blue. I went to the church one Sunday morning. I knew it would provide a vantage point on other, more recent aesthetes who also believed in decorative force. Buried next to the church is David Herbert, who was in many ways the doyen of the foreign eccentrics in Tangier, a man of ludicrously good taste and fierce snobbery. Lying near him, surrounded by olive trees and hibiscus, and with a pair of cats sunbathing on the warm stone carrying his legend and his dates, is Walter Harris, a former correspondent for The London Times who loved, it is said, the Moroccan people, and who found Matisse a beautiful villa where he could work.

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“It is a city where men and women come to be the people they once only imagined. That is why artists, designers and decorators love it: not just for the light, the colors and the fabrics, but for the ethos. Tangier remains the world capital of self-invention.”

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[Continue Reading at The New York Times Magazine…]

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Blanca Hamri | The legendary muse in her salon. The philodendron is nearly 60 years old and came with the house. She picked up the Moroccan lantern at a market in Marrakesh. Photo: Will Sanders

The post The Aesthetes: Expats of Tangier, Morocco – New York Times Magazine appeared first on Morocco On The Move.

Art galleries are springing up in both the new and old parts of the city. Photo: Fabienne Dupuis

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* Photo Essay — Forget party-spoilers, blasé gangs and other grumpy groups who say Marrakech has lost authenticity and spark. Whether in interior design, design products, new gastronomy, fashion or modern art, Marrakech shows that it is still at the top of timeless inspiration. *

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Fabienne Dupuis  travel journalist

Fabienne Dupuis
Your Middle East
April 12, 2014

There was a time when a trip to northern Africa was the promise of perfect exoticism, the answer to the everlasting quest of elsewhere. This was when only the privileged could toy with airplanes, when its journey took hours, sometimes even days and when the entire world was not roaming the planet like electrons on speed. Today a trip to Morocco and more particularly to the iconic city of Marrakech might still leave a first time-comer all happily baffled. Undeniably, souk lanes and roads are still overflowing with shambolic chariots pulled by tired donkeys, most men and women are wearing long-established outfits  while traditional houses (Dars, riads or others) are still predominant in the old part of town. For the ones not paying attention, Marrakech could look the same as ever, as if somewhat frozen in a distant past. And yet, after a few days in the city, anyone will surely realize that beyond the obvious chaos, the palpable pandemonium, ancestral know-how and dust, which products have haunted our lounges for decades, lays a genuine modernity. Yes, Marrakech is full of modern creativity and it’s probably never been so obvious than it is today.

“Marrakech is full of modern creativity”

Take food for a start.

Uber trendy 33 Majorelle. Photo: Fabienne Dupuis

No doubt you will find a large amount of places serving typical Moroccan cuisine such as couscous, tagine, pastillas or hariras or the more casual kebab in honourable fashion, like they do in pretty much every single snack place around town. And yet, if some places, Dar Moha or La Mamounia Moroccan restaurant among others, have for years excelled in mastering ancestral recipes, using the most refined ingredients to exquisitely further-develop texture and balance (La Mamounia is just about to produce and sell their own olive oil), others have followed in their footsteps to push the trend forward using home-grown vegetables, organically-produced olive oil or organically-fed cattle… A true commitment of impeccable quality, like, at Riad 72 restaurant where fruits, vegetables and spices (and soon beef) are (and will be) purchased through specific suppliers who are organic and quality conscious. Just try their green peas and beef to taste the difference!

Riads, fashion, and style.

If Marrakech was for a long time a true style inspiration – putting a bit of Moorish and Arabic twists in our lounges – it has nowadays overgrown its own approach to clothing and home decoration. Akbar Delights boutique was probably one of the first to pretend to such exquisiteness by providing our wardrobes with Arabic gowns with a slight twist; colours were new, finishes faultless, cuts sharper than gowns found in the souks where sophistication was not always – and still isn’t – the first prerogative. Evidently Akbar Delights, among some others, has nourished creative minds and new shops have popped up in both the old and new areas of the town. Go to Max & Jan or Salima Abdel Wahab shop or to the uber trendy 33 Majorelle and Hadaya next door, everything is here at reach, ready to be introduced into our homes whether that’d be in New York, Hong Kong, Mexico City or Paris. Not like in the old days when Moroccan objects were stamped with their original place of fabrication as a true evidence of their origin, but rather, as an object with a more refined and universal design – with Moroccan expertise and twist.

[Continue Reading at Your Middle East…]

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Uber trendy 33 Majorelle, Marrakech street scene, Akbar Delights, the exquisite Riad Due, and David Bloch Gallery. Photos: Fabienne Dupuis

The post Creative Marrakech is Still at The Top of its Game – Your Middle East, Fabienne Dupuis appeared first on Morocco On The Move.

Hassan Hakmoun. Credit: Hassan Hajjaj

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* Hassan Hakmoun grew up in the world of gnawa — a people and culture that came to Morocco by way of West Africa. *

Listen to story on PRI’s The World

Watch video Gnawa Soutinbi (Makkah) Hassan Hakmoun ’Unity’

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PRI’s The World, by Bruce Wallace (April 11, 2014) — Gnawa music and dance are often used in long, trance-healing ceremonies — ceremonies Hakmoun’s mother and grandfather used to perform in their home in Marrakesh. So Hakmoun became quite the dancer. When a group of international break dancers, visiting Morocco, saw him dance, they were impressed. “After we danced, they all came to me with a translator to talk to me,” Hakmoun says. When they asked how he danced like that, “I said, ‘when we meet in the states, I’m gonna show you.”

That chance encounter led to a dance tour that took him to the United States. In New York City, he found like-minded musicians, eager to explore new sounds. He developed a style that layers rock, jazz and blues on top of the gnawa rhythms and melodies laid down by a three-stringed sintir — a skin-covered bass. In the early 1990s, he recorded an album of his songs with some similarly expansive musicians, including legendary jazz trumpeter Don Cherry.

Soon after, he got a call form England. It was Peter Gabriel — the legendary English singer-songwriter, musician and humanitarian activist who is known for his performance with rock band Genesis — and he wanted to sign Hakmoun. Although Hakmoun had never heard of Gabriel, his roommate had, and encouraged him to collaborate with him. Hakmoun put an album out on Gabriel’s global music label Real World, and spent months touring with him. Today, though, Hakmoun sees little use for record labels. He self-released his new album, “Unity,” his first in 12 years. The album has all of the rock but less of the polish of some of his earlier albums. That’s intentional — he and the producer wanted it to sound more African. In Morocco, sometimes instead of having fancy amplifiers and speakers, the band will be playing through what looks like a huge megaphone.

 [Continue Reading at PRI’s The World…]

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Fresh off performing at this year’s globalFEST in NYC, the ‘Godfather of Gnawa’ is back with a video for the first single from his latest album, Unity. Hassan Hakmoun continues his signature approach to the Moroccan genre, updating and transforming the traditional elements of gnawa style by adding American rock’n’roll, funk and blues elements. Afropop

The post Hassan Hakmoun’s New Album Evokes the Sounds of Morocco – PRI’s The World appeared first on Morocco On The Move.

In the mountains outside Marrakesh, a Berber town called Douar Anzal, is a women’s sewing school, where much of the embroidery for the company’s bags is done, giving these women a chance to earn their own living. The school is also used to teach reading and writing, 3 hours in the morning to children and 3 hours in the afternoon to local women. Ventures Africa

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* One day in Marrakesh, still learning to get lost, she turned down a side street and saw a beautiful handbag. Stepping off a plane in cold Berlin, Kolb carried the bag. And that bag would change everything…It inspired that familiar question asked by women all over the world: “Where did you get that bag?” It was a beautiful bag but even better, it had a story. It was a story of Marrakesh; of the medina, the winding streets, the ancient Moroccan crafts. *

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Abury sells luxury bags from its Berlin boutique and in  fashionable shops everywhere but its success results from a business model designed to strengthen relationships with small communities of craftsmen across the developing world.

Ventures Africa (April 13, 2014) — On a popular shopping street in Berlin, the Kastanienallee, between the neighbourhoods of Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg, a boutique is selling luxury bags to a discerning clientele. That comes as no surprise. For years the luxury accessory market in cosmopolitan cities such as Berlin has been booming, and Abury is now just another destination for tuned-in fashionistas. The real surprise is in the company’s unique business model, which creatively incorporates new concepts of profit-sharing and micro-lending to create beautiful objects, earn increasing profits, and form deep and lasting working relationships with communities all over the world. And in a business climate where companies are increasing looking to go local in order to set themselves apart, a little school in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains has given Abury a distinctive and lasting advantage.

Learning to Get Lost

Andrea Kolb, founder of Abury, first came to Marrakesh, Morocco in 2007. Methodical by nature, accustomed to giving presentations filled with pie charts and Venn diagrams (she founded her own communications company in 1999), she came to Morocco with a very specific plan. And as anyone who has ever come to Morocco with a plan has learnt, plans – especially specific ones – always change. The plan was to create a workshop space close to Europe where businesses and non-profits could come to think creatively – out of the European box – about their work. Having written her university thesis on evolving strategies for sponsoring culture and art, Kolb was excited about the possibilities of getting smart people together to come up with new answers to existing questions, as well as new questions that hadn’t yet been asked. She and her partner consulted with psychologists and neurologists for advice on how to create the optimal conditions for this sort of creative thinking. The answers they got tended to emphasize one major point: their space should challenge visitors in unexpected ways but give them a “safe haven” to explore those challenges. “So we wanted to create what you could call a ‘guided insecurity’,” says Kolb.

With this goal in mind, Marrakesh, with its combination of traditional medina streets and modern tourism, its mythical name, its mix of cultures, and its proximity to Europe, seemed like the perfect place to execute the plan. Almost immediately they found a beautiful, 300-year-old riad, or courtyard house, called Anayela deep in the medina and began renovating it using traditional Moroccan techniques. Marrakesh presented plenty of challenges, especially for a young German woman overseeing a team of Moroccan men on a construction site, but then challenge had been an integral part of Kolb’s plan all along. The renovations took about a year, during which time Kolb slowly became friends with the craftsmen working in the house, principally by talking to them about their work, which she found increasingly fascinating. Carpenters, ironmongers, plasterers and tile workers – these men were capable of creating work of astonishing beauty using techniques that had long been lost in Europe.

[Continue Reading at Ventures Africa…]

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Kolb travels to Marrakesh at least once every two or three months to oversee production but also to reconnect with local craftsmen and to check in on the school in the mountains. It is a long way from the boutique on Kastanienallee but thanks to her history there, Douar Anzal feels like home. Ventures Africa.

The post Discovering Africa: Berbers, Bags and Business – Ventures Africa appeared first on Morocco On The Move.

Morocco’s King Mohammed VI, left, with Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara in March. Photo: Reuters

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* King Mohammed VI’s recent tour of several African countries reflects Morocco’s drive to boost economic influence in the region… The King underscored Rabat’s outreach campaign as a model for south-south cooperation. As he told a business conference in Cote D’Ivoire: “Africa is a huge continent with its vital forces, its resources and potentialities. It must take charge of itself; it is no longer a continent colonized. This is why Africa should trust Africa.” *

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Al Jazeera, by Paul Adrian Raymond (Marrakech, Morocco, April 15, 2014) — The recent tour of King Mohamed VI of Morocco of a number of African countries was packed with symbolism. It was a reflection of the kingdom’s recent drive to expand its economic and political influence across sub-Saharan Africa, and it showed how Morocco makes use of both historic ties in the region and the kingdom’s trump card — the spiritual authority of the Moroccan throne.  “Morocco has strategic depth in West Africa, built on historical, cultural and religious relations,” Mohammed Benhammou, president of the Moroccan Centre for Strategic Studies, told Al Jazeera. “There’s a strong religious link through the Tijaniyyah order of Sufism, which has a long presence in the area. The order originated in Fes, which still welcomes many pilgrims from West Africa, so there’s a link between the king and residents of those countries.”

For many Muslims across West Africa, influenced by Sufi strands of Islam, the Moroccan monarch is more than just another head of state. He is the Commander of the Faithful (Amir Al Mu’mineen), an Islamic title for a ruler with spiritual as well as political authority. As such, he commands respect: when Malian rebel leader Bilal Ag Acherif visited Marrakech in January, he did not stand directly next to his host, but kissed the king’s hand and then took a deferential step back to pray slightly behind him. The monarch’s religious credentials have played a key role in Morocco’s recent push to expand its regional clout. In February, King Mohammad set off on a tour of Mali, Ivory Coast, Guinea and Gabon, his second regional trip in less than five months. He took with him a delegation of advisors and company CEOs who negotiated a raft of agreements covering everything from training imams in Ivory Coast to agriculture and mining projects.

There is sound economic logic to the way Morocco is pushing to expand its commercial ties in the south and east. As France and Spain struggle to recover from the eurozone crisis, Moroccan companies that have traditionally looked north are seeking new opportunities in the fast-growing economies of West Africa. “Southern Europe is in the doldrums, so Morocco is looking for new markets and also opportunities for its banking sector,” Michael Willis, a lecturer on Maghreb politics at Oxford University, told Al Jazeera. One place the country is looking is in Gabon, a tiny West African nation whose economy has grown at about six percent a year since 2010. In March, Morocco signed a $2.3bn deal to produce fertilizer using Moroccan phosphate and natural gas from Gabon. The deal was followed up by a draft law in the Moroccan parliament that would allow visa-free travel between the two countries. Countries like Gabon are particularly attractive to Morocco’s growing financial sector. In 2013, two Moroccan banks, Attijariwafa Bank and Groupe BCP, ranked among the continent’s top 10 biggest financial institutions, and their influence looks set to spread. Another Moroccan bank, Banque Populaire, recently opened a branch in Mali, and some Moroccan banks are now investing in mining projects as distant as the Congo, competing with the five big South African banks that dominate the continent.

[Continue Reading at Al Jazeera…]

The post Morocco Expands Clout in Sub-Saharan Africa – Al Jazeera appeared first on Morocco On The Move.

Photo by Miguel Chevalier

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*”Like an ever-changing textile unfurled amongst the columns and stained glass in the magnificent building, the light installation is an ode to traditional Moroccan craftsmanship.”*

The Huffington Post, by Katherine Brooks (April 15, 2014) This week in stunning ephemeral artworks, we bring you the digital designs of French artist Miguel Chevalier. Working in the Sacré Coeur church in Casablanca, Morocco, he’s created a pixel masterpiece called “Magic Carpets 2014″ projected onto the floor of the cavernous space. Like an ever-changing textile unfurled amongst the columns and stained glass in the magnificent building, the light installation is an ode to traditional Moroccan craftsmanship.

Thanks to a video uploaded by independent filmmaker Claude Mossessian, those of us not lucky enough to bask in the glory of this artwork in person can still experience its pixellated beauty. The three-minute clip shows how the white-washed church exterior opens up into a kaleidoscope of color, design and shape-shifting splendor that references everything from microorganisms to embroidery.

“Magic Carpets” revisits the tradition of Islamic art, in particular the mosaic and the carpets,” Chevalier explains in his artist statement. “This world of colors and forms in movement, invites us into the magic universe of the ‘Arabian Nights’ and the flying carpets.” Check out a preview of some of the stunning displays on view during the “Magic Carpets” exhibition below and let us know your thoughts on the mesmerizing video in the comments.

[Continue Reading at Designboom.com...]

The post The Floor Of This Old Church Has Never Looked So Magical – The Huffington Post appeared first on Morocco On The Move.

The Mimouna Club during Second Annual General Assembly meeting in front of the Jewish Museum of Casablanca.  Photo: Courtesy Mimouna Club

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* Members of the Mimouna Club have made it their mission to learn about Jews and Jewish life as a way of learning about themselves *

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Aomar Boum, Cultural Anthropologist – Asst. Professor, University of Arizona, Tucson

Aomar Boum
Tablet Magazine
April 18, 2014

Ifrane is a small resort town tucked into Morocco’s Middle Atlas Mountains about two hours north of the capital, Rabat. It is known as the place where the late King Hassan II hosted Shimon Peres, then Israel’s prime minister, in 1986—a move that earned Hassan II condemnation from his Arab League allies and prompted Syria, under the leadership of Hafez al Assad, to break off relations altogether. Ifrane is also the place where, less than a decade later—in January 1995, to be exact—Yasser Arafat, the former head of the PLO, helped the king inaugurate the Al-Akhawayn University, on the heels of the fifteenth session of the Al-Quds Committee, which took place at the university’s new library.

It is a mere historical coincidence that Ifrane witnessed both events. But Hassan II envisioned Al-Akhawayn—where I happen to have graduated in 1997—as an institution devoted to introducing Moroccan students to diverse religious traditions, cultures, and civilizations through exposure to global humanities and social sciences. So, it is perhaps no coincidence that, in 2007, the university became home to Morocco’s first student club devoted to celebrating the country’s Jewish history and heritage.

The club is called Mimouna, after the traditional Moroccan Jewish post-Passover celebration welcoming the return of leavened bread. For Moroccan Jews, Mimouna signifies the promise of redemption and the hopeful return of the messiah. Israel recognized it as a national holiday in 1966; the Mimouna Club contends that the observance deserves a place in Moroccan culture and society, as a celebration of ethnic diversity. Today, it has foundation status and chapters in Fès, Rabat, Tetouan, and Marrakech. In December, I met a few members of the foundation in Rabat, where they were preparing to launch a cultural caravan, a 300-mile traveling roadshow about Moroccan Judaism. I asked them why they care about a topic that could potentially bring them nothing but stigma and social rejection. Almost all of them highlighted how little Moroccan youth know about their history and how significant it is for their compatriots beyond the walls of university campuses to embrace Morocco’s cultural diversity.

[Continue Reading at Tablet Magazine...]

Aomar Boum is a cultural anthropologist and assistant professor in the School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies and Religious Studies Program at the University of Arizona, Tucson. He is also affiliated with the University of Arizona Center for Judaic Studies. He is the author of Memories of Absence: How Muslims Remember Jews in Morocco, and is currently working on two ethnographic and historical projects: The Monarchy, Jews and Holocaust Politics, 1930s-Present and Virtual Jews: An Ethnography of Moroccan Jews Online.

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Sufi brotherhood Tariqa Boutchichiya, onstage at Fes festival, features a young generation of singers. Photo: AFP/Getty/Ammar Abd Rabbo

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Magharebia, by Siham Ali (Fes, Morocco, April 18, 2014) — The Fes Festival of Sufi Culture, which runs through Saturday, April 19th in Morocco’s spiritual capital, is more than just entertainment. At a time of growing fundamentalism and radicalism, Sufi Islam can combat backward ideology, participants and visitors agree.

The annual celebration “allows people to discover the spiritual heritage of Sufism in Morocco and the world in its various cultural, spiritual and social forms of expression,” festival director Faouzi Skalli explains. “Dozens of artists and visitors of various nationalities come every year to celebrate peace and tolerance,” says Curro Piñana, a performer from Spain.

The eighth edition of the week-long event is dedicated to Arab-Andalusian mystic and philosopher Muhyiddin Ibn Al Arabi. But the many Sufi brotherhoods, including the young singers from the Tariqa Boutchichiya, are the heart of the festival. The goal of all participants is to encourage peace and tolerance, says Abdelwahed Afilal, a member of the national Samaa ensemble. “Sufism is an experience that purifies the soul. Perfection comes with learning and perseverance,” he says.

Morocco has always paid particular attention to Sufism, through several Brotherhoods throughout the country, sociologist Samira Kassimi told Magharebia. “These brotherhoods play a very important role in the spread of knowledge, best practice and the principles of tolerance and peace,” she said.

The festival’s organizers say that Morocco’s Sufi religious brotherhoods have acquired international influence over time and formed many branches in different countries. “The roles of these Sufi paths of learning, civic and spiritual education, commitment to human development and peace mediation, in addition to a deep and creative cultural legacy, have formed a model for Islamic culture in Morocco,” Skalli says.

The Fes festival “marries the spiritualism of Sufism with social action”, sociologist Maria Sanoussi notes. Exposing young people to Sufi Islam may help deter them from extremism, she says. Many of them are being encouraged by their families to move towards the Sufi path. “Experience has shown that they have been able to make a success of their future and live in harmony with their principles and goals,” she adds.

Hicham Sibari, 28, discovered the path of Sufism five years ago, thanks to his uncle. “I never miss the Sufi music festival in Fes, even though I live in Agadir,” he tells Magharebia. “Following the path of Sufism enabled me to find spiritual peace and move forward in my personal life and my career at a time when I was lost,” he adds.

His friend Hamza points out: “Sufism can prevent young people from becoming easy prey for religious fanatics, who have no hesitation in exploiting them to achieve their devilish goals.” Hamza knows what he is talking about; one of his friends almost stumbled onto the path of extremism. “Luckily, he found people close to him who helped him climb out of the abyss of fanaticism,” he says.

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2013 Fes Festival of Sufi Culture. AFP/Ammar Abd Rabbo

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Travelling through the Morocco desert on a camel train is a tranquil experience for reader Joan Thompson, with shadows and light playing on the sand inspiring a sense of awe. Vancouver Sun

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* Vibrant markets, kind people warm the heart *

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Vancouver Sun, by Joan Thompson, Special to The Sun (April 21, 2014) — Our trip to Morocco, where we went with an Intrepid Adventure travel group, began in Tangiers, a short ferry ride away from the hip and charming town of Tarifa in Spain. Yes, in Tangiers and later, in Casablanca, we had taxi drivers to brush off, a faux guide to humor, a melee of potholed streets, sidewalks and intersections to negotiate and bleating traffic to tolerate, but these initial impressions were soon overtaken by one heartwarming experience after another in the two weeks we spent exploring this country. A few of those: the child in the city of Fez eager to take my hand, purely as a welcoming gesture; a storekeeper selling me a few dirhams of raw meat to help feed a pregnant cat adrift in the frenzy of Fez’s medina; the children in the mountainous Medelt region, keen to examine “Ali Baba’s” (my partner) camera and delighted with the unsolicited gift of “une stylo”; the opportunity to sing with the Berber drummers at our camp in the Sahara; the ubiquitous tajines, Berber “whiskey” (mint tea) and steamed milk, the eager-to-please cooks, waiters and hotel attendants.

The writer’s trip to Morocco, where we went with an Intrepid Adventure travel group, began in Tangiers, a short ferry ride away from hip and charming town of Tarifa in Spain. Vancouver Sun

One is well cared for in Morocco — the extra mile taken, the extra kindness given. Especially memorable was our tour’s camping venture in the Sahara, at the southern edge of Morocco. Ochre sand, piled as perfectly as whipped cream, was impregnable to sound and an impossibly rich backdrop for light. Bathed in a warm incandescent glow, we crossed the evening desert via camel train — our rhythms and silence perfectly matched to sweeping shadows of sand and light. The experience was one of the most tranquil of my life — a time-arresting, vision-expanding desert immersion. And bless those camels — their calmness, sure-footedness, stoicism, and sense of brotherhood — content to sit saddled and chained together all night, moments from readiness to do it all over again the next day. The walks, the climbs up the dunes to better views, the impulsive plunges down them, the sudden bursting into song.

It was at once a place that inspired a sense of awe and a sense of play — what kind of magic is that? Unexpectedly, other than the Sahara, it was the cities in Morocco that intrigued us most. The layers of culture and history (Arab, Jewish, Berber, French, Spanish) embedded in the vieux pierres (old stones) of the streets and buildings appealed to our imaginations (as did the boldness of the cats as if protected by a sixth Muslim precept — to love and let multiply the felines in one’s family). And what was most visually staggering in the cities were the medinas — enclosed street markets operating since the medieval period.

[Continue Reading at the Vancouver Sun…]

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