Morocco's Two Decades under King Mohammed VI
With Morocco going to the polls on Wednesday, here are some milestones in the more than two-decade reign of King Mohammed VI.
- 1999: Breaks with father -
On July 23, 1999, Mohammed ascends the throne at age 35 on the death of his father Hassan II, who ruled with an iron fist for 38 years.
He says wants to "lighten the burden of poverty" afflicting his subjects and promote "a new conception of authority".
He breaks with his father by allowing the return from exile of historic opposition leader Abraham Serfaty.
He also sacks all-powerful interior minister Driss Basri, who symbolized the repression of his father's reign.
Mohammed travels to the traditionally restive Berber Rif region in the north, which his father never visited, and opens the way for an amnesty for political prisoners.
The 2002 legislative elections are seen as a key step towards democracy, following rigged votes of the previous regime.
But his declared reforms preserve the monarch's wide powers and firm grip on strategic sectors.
- 2003: Casablanca attacks -
On May 16, 2003, five suicide attacks kill 33 people and wound scores more in the economic capital of Casablanca. Most of the victims are Moroccans.
Parliament adopts an anti-terror law which considerably strengthens judicial and police powers.
Another bomb attack on a Marrakesh cafe in April 28, 2011, leaves 17 dead, including foreign tourists.
In late 2018, an Islamic State-linked group murders two Scandinavian women hikers in the High Atlas mountains.
- 2011: Protests and reform -
The Arab Spring sees tens of thousands march for reform in February 2011 with human rights groups also calling for more change.
On July 1, Moroccans vote massively in a referendum for what Mohammed describes as a "comprehensive constitutional reform".
It evolves many of his powers to the prime minister and parliament, while preserving his political and religious pre-eminence.
- Islamist victory -
On November 25, the Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) sweeps to victory in legislative elections, after decades in opposition.
But after another Islamist win in 2017, a new coalition government fills the most strategic ministerial posts with trusted men from the palace, weakening the political parties.
- 2016: Social unrest -
The Al-Hirak al-Shaabi ("Popular Movement") emerges in the Rif region amid anger over the death of a fishmonger crushed by a garbage truck as he tried to recover swordfish seized by police.
It sparks protests to demand development in the long-marginalized Berber region, which also at the heart of the 2011 protests.
Hundreds of people are arrested and sentenced, with Hirak figurehead Nasser Zefzafi condemned to 20 years for "plotting to undermine the security of the state".
There is similar unrest in the mining town of Jerada in the northeast in 2017-2018.
- 2017: Rejoins African Union -
Morocco rejoins the African Union, which it had left in 1984 in protest at the admission of the Sahrawi Democratic Arab Republic of the disputed Western Sahara that Morocco annexed in 1975.
- 2020: Normalization with Israel -
Morocco normalizes ties with Israel on December 10, 2020 in a diplomatic quid pro quo that sees Donald Trump back Moroccan sovereignty over the Western Sahara.
- 2021: Algeria stand-off -
On August 24, Algeria announces it is severing ties due to Rabat's "hostile actions".
Relations between the neighbors have been tense for decades due to Algeria's support for the Polisario which demands a self-determination referendum in Western Sahara, while Morocco, which controls around 80 percent of the desert territory, has offered only autonomy.
Source: Agence France Presse
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