VZCZCXRO1103
RR RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHKUK RUEHROV
DE RUEHRB #0784/01 1201242
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 301242Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY RABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6445
INFO RUEHCL/AMCONSUL CASABLANCA 2993
RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 3295
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 4623
RUEHNK/AMEMBASSY NOUAKCHOTT 3482

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 RABAT 000784 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/MAG AND EB/TRA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELTN ECON ELAB MO
SUBJECT: MOROCCAN ROAD REFORM LOST IN RHETORIC 
 
REF: A. RABAT 00492 
 ¶B. CASABLANCA 00071 
 
Sensitive but unclassified.  Please protect accordingly. 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  The appalling death toll on Moroccan roads is 
being overshadowed by uninformed and politically inspired rhetoric 
against the proposed new road reform law under debate in Parliament, 
according to the law's principal champion, Transport Minister Karim 
Ghellab.  Moroccan roads are recognized as among the most dangerous 
in the world, registering on average 12 deaths and 110 injuries per 
day.  In a meeting with econoff on April 26, Transport Ministry 
spokesperson, Khadija Bourara, said the government had launched a 
renewed information campaign in hopes of shifting public perceptions 
in favor of the legislation, but admitted there was little chance 
for passage before the September parliamentary elections.  End 
Summary. 
 
---------------------------------------- 
Need for Reform Clear in Grim Statistics 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Deadly road accidents have become routine in Morocco, as 
evidenced by the weekly tallies compiled by the Moroccan government. 
 During a meeting with econoff on April 26, Ministry of Transport 
Communications Advisor, Khadija Bourara, related that the new road 
reform law, which inspired two major labor strikes within the past 
month (reftels), was initiated in 2003 as a result of continued 
deterioration in road safety.  Bourara explained that faced with a 
mortality trend that would reach 5,000 annual deaths by 2012, 
Morocco launched an inter-ministerial national strategic plan that 
focused on infrastructure, legislative, and regulatory change. She 
emphasized the new road reform law was only one aspect of the 
government's plan to improve road safety (Plan Strategique Integre 
d'Urgence, PSIU), which also included a public awareness campaign 
and an overhaul in the licensing and registration of both vehicles 
and drivers. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Bourara emphasized that the proposed legislation came under 
the government's primary responsibility to protect the health and 
safety of its citizens.  She said the law would increase the rights 
of users by establishing due process for the adjudication of 
violations, introduced a point system for driving offenses, and 
would end the current practice of lifetime licenses.  Bourara 
admitted the law contained controversial measures, primarily the 
perceived increase in fines and penalties.  She explained the law 
split simple traffic violations into three categories of fines (400, 
750, and 1500 dirhams), while it established elevated penalties that 
would be decided by a magistrate for more serious violations, such 
as driving under the influence. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Results to date of the PSIU have been mixed.  Impressive 
improvements in the Moroccan highway system have been made and 
Morocco is in the process of expanding its highway system from 500 
km to 1,500 km in a national program valued at USD 2.5 billion. 
Under the expansion, auto-routes will connect Tangier to the 
Moroccan Mediterranean coast, Fez to Oujda on the Algerian border, 
and Marrakech to Agadir in the south.  Most significant, the new 
multi-lane auto-route connecting Marrakech to Casablanca opened in 
April, offering a new safer alternative to one of the most notorious 
and dangerous stretches of road in North Africa.  Nevertheless, 
while mortality and accident rates showed a steady decrease in 2004 
and 2005, this trend reversed beginning in the summer of 2006.  2006 
was the worst year since 2003, with 3,622 deaths and 12,024 serious 
injuries in 56,426 accidents.  According to Bourara, cyclists and 
pedestrians account for 50 percent of Moroccan road fatalities. 
 
------------------------------------ 
Cost of Corruption Stirs Controversy 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶5. (SBU) Legislative progress has been more elusive.  Morocco has 
been shaken by two national transportation strikes, as chauffeurs, 
taxi drivers, and truckers joined forces to protest the new law. 
Headed by the Union of Professional Federations (SUFP) and the 
Committee of Moroccan Workers (COM), the actions were launched to 
protest the law's stiffer penalties and its provisions allowing the 
confiscation of licenses.  Union officials criticized the government 
for not discussing the proposed legislation with the unions and 
argued that the new law set fines at levels that were inappropriate 
for the standard of living in Morocco.  They also challenged the 
consequences of granting traffic police the authority to confiscate 
licenses, arguing instead that such power would give traffic police 
(seen as one of the most corrupt entities in the country) more 
leverage to extort bribes from drivers who were at risk of losing 
their licenses, and consequently their jobs and livelihoods. 
 
RABAT 00000784  002 OF 003 
 
 
 
¶6. (SBU) At issue for many Moroccans is the "actual" price Moroccans 
will have to pay for traffic violations under the new law. 
Currently, the average fine is 400 dirhams or USD 47 for most minor 
violations such as speeding.  In practice, many Moroccans report 
that they only make a 50-100 dirham immediate payment to the officer 
at the scene.  In explaining the public's criticism of the new law's 
increased fines, one Moroccan asked, "If a 400 dirham offense 
actually costs 100 dirhams, how much will a 1500 dirham offense 
cost?" 
 
--------------- 
"Man Bites Dog" 
--------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) When asked about the controversy surrounding the new law, 
Bourara said it was a case of "Man Bites Dog."  She said that the 
press paid hardly any attention to the law when it was first 
announced by the government and failed to convey the law's 
objectives and provisions.  She quipped that there is not an 
interesting story when a dog bites a man, which was how the press 
treated the government's information campaign.  However, she said, 
all that changed when the strikes occurred, with the press inflaming 
the uninformed and emotional outrage against the bill.  "The story 
changed to 'Man Bites Dog.'"  She admitted that the strikes and 
public outcry against the law had put the government on the 
defensive. 
 
¶8. (SBU) In the end, intensive negotiations, intervention by the 
Prime Minister, and some government concessions enabled the 
government to weather the two strikes.  Since that date, Transport 
Minister Ghellab, whose personal fate appears linked to that of the 
bill, launched a public relations campaign, challenging critics to 
read the government proposal.  Ghellab said he was stunned to learn 
how uninformed many of the strikers were and described much of the 
rhetoric as emotional.  During his multiple public appearances, he 
also reemphasized the law's justification and defended some of its 
most controversial provisions, primarily the perceived increase in 
sanctions. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Bourara repeated Minister Ghellab's points while expressing 
frustration at the public's hypocritical stance on the corruption 
issue.  "Everyone cries that the system is corrupt, yet it is their 
own fault."  She said the new law was the government's attempt to 
police the police and emphasized that the government was committed 
to swift action when corrupt officials were identified.  However, 
she added, it was a two-way street, and that the public had to take 
responsibility for its culpability by ending the practice of 
offering bribes when stopped. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Bourara said the proposed law was a significant positive 
step against corruption because it would give citizens a process to 
challenge unwarranted violations.  Currently, she explained, there 
is no choice.  When someone is given a violation they can either pay 
it in total, or offer partial payment through a bribe.  Under the 
new law, however, Bourara said someone falsely stopped or charged 
will have the opportunity, through due process, to challenge the 
allegation.  According to Bourara, the new law gives drivers 
increased rights and the means to expose corrupt officials. 
 
------------------ 
Fed-Up With It All 
------------------ 
 
¶11. (SBU) Bourara, clearly fatigued and stressed from the past 
month, said professional transporters must accept much of the blame 
for Morocco's dismal safety record, and emphasized that the whole 
system of licensing professional drivers had to be reformed.  She 
said professional taxi, bus, and truck drivers make-up less than 10 
percent of the drivers in Morocco but account for 33 percent of the 
deadly accidents.  She added that the government planned to install 
a new system of granting professional licenses that would include 
periodic physicals and recurring training.  She compared the goal of 
the reform to the licensing of airline pilots.  "It would be absurd 
to issue lifetime pilot licenses to people who have not received any 
pilot training... Yet that is exactly what we do for professional 
drivers in Morocco." 
 
¶12. (SBU) Bourara lamented that the transportation syndicates were 
against the reform measures and admitted they had been successful in 
stirring-up opposition.  She questioned their logic by emphasizing 
the cost of the current situation.  "250 of the 3,500 productive 
citizens killed each year are professional drivers.  These are 
shattered families who will have to be supported by the state; yet, 
still they resist." 
 
 
RABAT 00000784  003 OF 003 
 
 
¶13. (SBU) When asked about the current state of the legislation in 
Parliament, Bourara threw-up her hands and said, "Who knows?"  She 
sarcastically added, "We should congratulate them, they have halted 
this injustice and nobody cares that 3,500 more will be killed." 
She finished by saying she doubted the bill would move through 
Parliament before the elections, sighing it was just too 
controversial. 
 
¶14. (SBU) Comment: For the second time in four months, Transport 
Minister Ghellab has emerged as the government's point person, 
charged with pushing through a comprehensive reform bill in the face 
of stiff union resistance.  However, unlike the earlier port reform 
bill he pushed through in December 2006 against the protests of the 
stevedores, the road bill faces both union and public resistance. 
While Ghellab appears to have again diffused immediate labor unrest 
by brokering private deals with transportation unions, the public's 
perception of the law remains a hot potato, and the government does 
not appear eager to spend the political capital required to push it 
through before the elections. 
 
RILEY