Fez – Abdellatif Loudiyi, Morocco’s Delegate Minister in charge of the National Defense Administration, has announced that Morocco will resume compulsory military service next year.
While discussing Morocco’s 2022 national defense administration’s sub-budget, Loudiyi said that the 37th group to be enrolled in the upcoming year’s compulsory military service will include 20.000 conscripts.
At the request of King Mohammed VI, the ministry of interior will soon launch an operation to select and integrate conscripts who will serve in the 2022 cohort of Morocco’s military service, said Loudiyi.
He also stated that Morocco’s armed forces have ensured to provide all the necessary and appropriate means needed for training the new conscripts.
Read also: Everything You Need to Know About Morocco’s Compulsory Military Service
This includes the establishment of four additional training centers in Benslimane, Sidi Yahya El Gharb, Ben Guerir and Tan-Tan, in addition to several units in southern Morocco set to be equipped to serve in the specialization phase.
After more than a decade of absence, the idea of compulsory military re-emerged in Moroccan public discourse in 2019.
Citing Law 44.18 on military services, proponents of the idea called for subjecting Moroccan males aged 19 to 25 – conscription is not compulsory for women – to a 12-month military service.
Despite widespread criticism, supporters maintained that reintroducing compulsory military service would help in cementing young Moroccan’s attachment to their country by reacquainting them with values of patriotism and brotherhood.
