This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 RABAT 000040 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL OVIP MO
SUBJECT: CODEL LANTOS VISITS PARLIAMENT, MEETS REFORMERS, 
AND DISCUSSES ISLAMIC AFFAIRS 
 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1. (SBU) As part of his January 2-5 visit to Morocco, 
Congressman Lantos (D-CA) visited and toured the Moroccan 
Parliament, met with Moroccan reformers, and discussed 
recent political, social and religious reforms with the 
Minister of Islamic Affairs.  Lantos was accompanied by his 
wife Annette Lantos; HIRC Democratic Staff Director Robert 
King, HIRC Senior Professional Staff Member Alan Makovsky, 
Professional Staff Member Mike Beard, and friends Philip 
Friedman, Rosa Friedman, and Jeffrey Friedman.  Ambassador 
and Embassy staff also accompanied Congressman Lantos in his 
meetings.  At Parliament, both sides hailed the close USG- 
GOM cooperation and expressed a desire for continued 
exchanges with counterparts.  Moroccan reformers praised 
ongoing reforms, but delineated numerous challenges facing 
Morocco, including a low level of political participation, 
high unemployment and poverty rates, a continued high 
illiteracy rate especially in rural areas, and a lack of 
focus on the Amazigh (Berber) population.  The Minister of 
Islamic Affairs described Morocco's unique experience at 
adapting Islamic religious values to modern political life 
and discussed the Ministry's efforts to use information 
technology to promote tolerant religious values.  End 
summary. 
 
Visit to Parliament 
------------------- 
¶2. (SBU) On January 4, Congressman Thomas Lantos, 
accompanied by Ambassador and delegation, was received by 
First Vice President of the Lower House Driss Sentissi 
(Parliament President Abdulwahid Radi was on travel). 
Sentissi summarized Morocco's recent achievements, stressing 
that since 1999, parliament has been strengthened and 
increasingly consulted on key issues.  He emphasized that, 
given the importance of the Free Trade Agreement with the 
U.S., MPs worked hard to pass the agreement as a means of 
reinforcing the bilateral relations between the two 
countries.  Sentissi expressed his desire to strengthen 
relations between the U.S. Congress and the Moroccan 
Parliament and thanked the Ambassador for giving the 
opportunity to Moroccan MPs to exchange ideas with their 
American counterparts.  Lantos reaffirmed the U.S. Congress' 
view that Morocco is a long-standing friend of America's and 
an important partner on many international issues.  He added 
that "Morocco has consistently demonstrated a strong 
commitment to peace, stability, and constitutional 
democracy.  As a tolerant, multi-racial and multi-ethnic 
Islamic society, Morocco continues to stand as a bulwark 
against the extremism prevalent in the region. Morocco is to 
be particularly commended for working to resolve the 
conflict in the Western Sahara through the efforts of the 
United Nations." 
 
¶3. (SBU) Following a tour of the Parliamentary chamber, 
Lantos and delegation met with Foreign Affairs Committee 
President Khadija Belftouh and Committee member Ahmed 
Zarouf.  Belftouh praised the historical Moroccan-American 
relations and stressed the important role that King 
Mohamed's vision, credibility, and commitment have played in 
advancing prospects for regional peace.  Zarouf described 
Morocco's commitment to democracy and human rights as an 
example for the region, citing Morocco as the first country 
where an independent human rights entity (the Equity and 
Reconciliation Commission) has publicly disclosed past human 
rights violations.  In the economic sphere, Morocco is 
committed to free trade, privatization, a free market 
economy and enhanced economic trade and investment with the 
U.S. as witnessed by the FTA.  Zarouf said Morocco sought 
more investment and tourism from the US, and expressed 
concern about the level of corruption in Morocco.  Lantos 
said that trade liberalization with Morocco will support the 
U.S. Administration's commitment to promote more tolerant, 
open, and prosperous Muslim societies. He explained that 
economic and political reforms underway in Morocco will 
certainly enhance the GOM's efforts to attract new trade and 
investment, and promote sustainable development.  Praising 
Morocco for having chosen to work against extremism, Lantos 
said that countries such as "the United States, Morocco, 
Israel and others will stand against terrorism and promote 
values of democracy, tolerance and coexistence." 
¶4.  (SBU) Noting that he had sat next to the Iraqi 
Ambassador at a dinner the previous evening hosted by 
Ambassador Riley, Lantos commented that Iraq had thrown off 
the terror of Saddam Hussein and was now consolidating 
itself as a free and open society.  Lantos said the US was 
grateful for Moroccan assistance to help Iraq become a more 
stable, normal society.  Zarouf commented that while there 
was some progress in Iraq, "many people have been killed" in 
the process, implying that the US bore some of the 
responsibility.  Lantos vigorously rejected any equivalence 
between Saddam's "deliberate killing" and the accidental 
casualties caused by US forces.  Zarouf also made a plea for 
the U.S. to help the world limit "state terrorism wherever 
it exists." 
¶5.  (SBU) On the Western Sahara, Zarouf commented that 
Morocco did not have the same propaganda machinery that 
Algeria deployed to defend its position on the issue. 
Zarouf said U.S. support on the Sahara was critical, noting 
that it was ridiculous to contemplate creating a nation of 
100,000 people in one corner of the Sahara when the Saharan 
population numbered more than 4 million spread the width of 
Africa. 
¶6. (SBU) Lantos and his delegation then met with five of the 
eight Parliamentary caucus leaders representing the eight 
committees in Parliament.  Mr. Lantos described U.S. policy 
in support of UN efforts to resolve the Western Sahara 
issue. On behalf of the Caucus leaders, USFP Parliamentarian 
Driss Lachgar reiterated the Moroccan parliament's desire to 
continue working with all democratic forces around the globe 
to fight extremist views and promote values of freedom of 
expression and tolerance.  In a reference to the Western 
Sahara, Lachgar also described the ongoing threat of 
terrorist networks in the Sahel and asked for USG assistance 
to help the Maghreb countries overcome their differences to 
better confront terrorist networks in the Sahel.   Lachgar 
praised the U.S. embassy for reaching out to Parliament, for 
helping Morocco reduce poverty, and for supporting Morocco's 
transition to democracy. 
Meeting with Moroccan Reformers 
------------------------------- 
¶7. (SBU) During a January 4 tea hosted by Ambassador for 
Moroccan reformers including Istiqlal Party executive 
committee member Nizar Baraka, NGO founder and former 
parliamentarian Ali Belhaj, and president of the Amazigh 
(Berber) Association Tamaynout Hassan Eid Belkacem, the 
participants told Lantos that the reforms being undertaken 
in Morocco were principally associated with its democratic 
transition.  Both Belhaj and Baraka agreed that the most 
recent municipal and legislative elections demonstrated 
fairness and transparency and represented an important step 
in Morocco's democratization process.  Baraka said that the 
newly adopted political party bill was also critical for 
restructuring political parties.  Belhaj noted that Morocco 
devoted important efforts to human rights issues and that, 
despite existing shortcomings, press freedom had also 
improved over the past five years. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Nonetheless, Morocco still faces many challenges, 
according to Baraka, including a low rate of political 
participation (35% in cities and less in rural areas) and a 
poverty rate of 14% in the cities and 40% in the rural 
areas.  Youth unemployment is another major issue as the 
number of youth ready for employment is soaring and the 
current growth rate is too low (4 percent) to absorb demand. 
Belhaj explained that Morocco is the only country in the 
world where unemployment for graduates is higher than that 
of the uneducated population which results in a brain drain. 
Other major challenges include the high rate of illiteracy 
and low school attendance as eighty percent of rural women 
are illiterate and two million children do not attend 
school, despite the fact that 25% of the public budget is 
allocated to education.  Recent polls have shown that 
Moroccan youth prefer to emigrate if given the choice. 
Illiterate and unskilled youth opt for illegal emigration 
whereas the skilled workforce chooses to migrate to Europe 
or Canada.  This demonstrates the failure of the education 
system in preparing its youth for the labor market, 
commented Belhaj. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Morocco is facing these challenges by working to 
speed up the economic transition through improving the 
judicial and administrative system, according to Baraka. 
There is also an urgent need for Morocco to open its market 
to the Maghreb as a recent World Bank study indicated that 
opening the border with Algeria could increase the Moroccan 
GDP by two percentage points.  However, with the current 
high price of oil, any negotiations with Algeria now on the 
Western Sahara issue will put Morocco at a disadvantage. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Eid Belkacem raised his concern that while the 
Berber population is the largest ethnic group in Morocco, 
its language is not acknowledged as an official language in 
the constitution.  While he agreed that progress had been 
made under King Mohamed VI in human rights, women's rights 
and the recognition of the Amazigh (Berber) language, he 
said that the system is too centralized, which makes 
implementation of reforms difficult.  While the recent 
census may indicate that approximately 27 percent of the 
population speaks Berber, Eid Belkacem said that he would 
estimate that Berbers make up 40-50 percent of the 
population.  Being Berber in Morocco is not like being an 
American Indian since Berber is still a living language and 
culture and, in some areas, it is the only spoken language. 
The fact that Arabic is the primary language taught in 
schools is one of the main reasons for a low retention rate 
in schools in rural Berber populated areas, according to 
Belhaj. 
 
¶11. (SBU) Belhaj said that Morocco's problems are primarily 
related to the lack of separation of powers and to the still- 
weak parliament.  The fact that the Prime Minister is not a 
politician, but a technocrat is also an issue, and can serve 
to discourage political participation. 
 
¶12.  (SBU) Lantos responded that the legislative branch is 
oftentimes weak in emerging democracies.  He noted that two 
Congressmen had established a program to share the U.S. 
experience and assist emerging parliamentary bodies and 
offered to follow up on the possibility of including Morocco 
in this program.  Lantos said that because PM Jettou does 
not represent a political party, he has the advantage of not 
having to respond to specific political pressures.  When 
asked by Lantos what they would do if they were PM, Belhaj 
opted to strengthen the separation of powers, Baraka said 
that he would attempt to give political life more 
credibility, and Eid Belkacem favored a democratic 
constitution that would guarantee human dignity and the 
right to equal distribution of resources. 
 
Minister of Islamic Affairs 
--------------------------- 
¶13.  (SBU) In a January 4 meeting, Minister of Islamic 
Affairs Ahmed Toufiq expressed his appreciation for 
Congressman Lantos' visit, noting that it demonstrates the 
interest shown by the U.S. in his Ministry's reform efforts. 
When Toufiq meets with the ulemas (religious scholars), he 
will tell them of the Lantos visit to emphasize this 
interest to them.  The Minister then described Morocco's 
unique experience of attempting to integrate Islam's values 
into the requirements of modern life, including democracy. 
As such, Morocco could serve as a role model for the rest of 
the world.  (Embassy Note:  Morocco and Kuwait signed an MOU 
in late December aimed at promoting moderate Islam though IT 
and the media.  End Note).  Through his Ministry, Morocco is 
now working to use information technology - through the 
establishment of a website, a new TV station inaugurated by 
the King, and in the near future, an online network linking 
1000 mosques which will allow imams to interact real-time 
with each other and with the Ministry to receive religious 
guidance and assistance.  Of utmost importance is that a 
distinction be made between Islam's true values and the 
desecration that has been done in the name of Islam, 
according to Toufiq. 
 
¶14. (SBU) Lantos described how, as the U.S. enters the new 
millennium, Americans are increasingly conscious of the 
importance the Islamic faith plays in the world.  Islam is 
now the fastest growing religion in the U.S.  Lantos noted 
that Morocco has been a leader for generations in religious 
tolerance and moderation, and, as a result, has a unique 
role to play in the Islamic world.  At a time when Islam is 
being subverted by a minority, the U.S. looks to its friends 
in Morocco and the Ministry of Islamic Affairs to teach the 
followers of Islam the true meaning of the faith.  A 
commitment to tolerance and moderation is now more important 
than ever.  Lantos wished the Ministry the best of luck in 
its reform efforts. The Ambassador also expressed his 
appreciation for the important work being done by the 
Ministry. 
 
¶15. (SBU) Codel Lantos did not have the opportunity to clear 
this cable. 
 
RILEY