Rabat, December 24, 2011 (MAP)
Rabat, December 24, 2011 (MAP)
Here follows the issues that drew the attention of Sunday’s daily newspapers:
AL MASSAE:
Prime Minister designate Abdelilah Benkirane gets green light on the structure of government and meets the leaders of the majority, which bodes well for the distribution of ministerial portfolios and the selection of candidates for the cabinet.
Beginnings of a diplomatic crisis between Rabat and Nouakchott following the decision of the Mauritanian security authorities to expel a Moroccan journalist without any justification of this move.
AKHBAR AL YAOUM AL MAGHRIBIA:
Abdelilah Benkirane received a written response from the royal cabinet on the structure of government, allowing the Prime Minister to move to the phase of ministerial portfolios’ distribution and the choice of ministers. The announcement of the new government is expected this weekend.
Expulsion of Moroccan MAP news agency’s bureau chief in Nouakchott: a coded message from Mauritania to Rabat. Sources exclude that the journalist’s work is behind the decision of his expulsion.
Fouad Ali El Himma, adviser to HM the King, visits Driss Jettou, former Prime Minister (2002-2007): Is it a visit for reconciliation or for a portfolio in Benkirane’s government?
ASSABAH:
The direction of the Istiqlal party decided to hold its next national conference after the organization of municipal and regional elections, and a source says Abbas El Fassi, outgoing Prime Minister, will continue to lead the party up until 2013 to prepare its successor to his new position.
Morocco will occupy his position as a non-permanent member of the U.N. Security Council within a week, and Taib Fassi Fihri, outgoing Foreign Minister, tipped to serve as Morocco’s representative to the 15-nation body.
Driss-Lachgar, Minister for Relations with Parliament, asked the Constitutional Court for explanations about the incompatibility between his capacity as MP and minister.
Al KHABAR:
Statements of Lahcen Daoudi, one of the Justice and Development Party’s senior leaders, on the project of the high speed train prompt wide discussions during the consultations on forming the government and media sources say that His Majesty has given its approval for the structure of government that has undergone minor modifications related to changing the names of some ministries.
The Moroccan victims of arbitrary expulsion from Algeria threaten to complain to the International Criminal Court against the Algerian authorities who refuse to implement the UN recommendations that call for the recovery by the Moroccans of their rights and their property in Algeria.
Mauritania expels MAP bureau chief in Nouakchott without legal justification and Younes Mujahid, head of the National Union of the Moroccan Press, describes the expulsion as “aggressive behaviour” and “flagrant violation of the protection of freedom of the press.”
ANNAHAR AL MAGHRIBIA:
Abbas El Fassi monopolizes the selection of Istiqlal Party’s candidates to the cabinet, directs the member of his party’s attention to the next conference, and paved the way for his cousin Nizar Baraka to be his successor as secretary general of the party.
Al AHTADH AL MAGHRIBIA
The new government to be announced next week and the Government Statement is almost ready.
AL ITTIHAD AL ICHTIRAKI
Libya called on the Moroccan authorities to face up the sale of Libyan goods in Morocco without the approval of the National Transitional Council.
AL ALAM:
Germany urged Morocco and the EU should discuss constructively the current situation on the fishing issue in order to create the conditions necessary to initiate as soon as possible new negotiations on the protocol of the fisheries agreement.
BAYANE AL YAOUM:
The National Union of Moroccan Press (SNPM) and Mauritanian journalists Syndicate (LSU) denounced the expulsion of the Moroccan news agency’s bureau chief in Nouakchott: The decision creates surprise and raises big questions in Morocco and Mauritania.
Christopher Ross, Special Envoy of the U.N. Secretary-General for the Sahara, will visit the Maghreb region before April 2012: will he bring new proposals for the resumption of negotiations on the Sahara?
RISALAT AL OUMMA:
The Managing Director of the National Agency for the promotion of Employment and Skill (ANAPEC) ignored the recommendations of the Court of Auditors and makes appointments that do not meeting the standards of transparency.
ASSAHRAE AL MAGHRIBIA
The issue of the next Executive was not discussed at the meeting of the General Secretariat of the PJD.
The delay in the announcement of the new government triggers suspense and the Government Statement is ready.
LE MATIN DU SAHARA ET DU MAGHREB:
Negotiations over the next cabinet continue, as the suspense still reigns around the distribution of ministries.
Istiqlal Party, Popular Movement party and Progress and Socialism Party, forming the government coalition led by the PJD, have already handed proposals to Prime Minister-designate and are waiting for the holding of their decision-making bodies to decide on the issue of candidates to the cabinet.
LIBERATION:
The Economic and Social Council has proposed several measures and attempts to provide an initial response to the problems of youth employment. These include, among other things, the regulation of the labour market.
AL BAYANE:
The National Union of Moroccan Press (SNPM) said the expulsion of the Moroccan news agency’s bureau chief in Nouakchott is “unjustified decision,” as it contradicts the freedom of the press.
