THE BURNING TIME

King of Morocco outlaws Islamic parties on fourth anniversary of his reign (Elizabeth Nash, 01 August 2003, The Independent)

King Mohammed of Morocco has declared that Islamic parties will be banned, insisting he is the North African country's only representative of Islam. [...]

On the eve of King Mohammed's anniversary, Algeria offered to end decades of tension with its neighbour, and to re-establish links. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika told Morocco that he wanted "to close ranks and strengthen relations ... between our two countries".

Both countries want to please the US and are likely to be responsive to American desires to secure oil and gas supplies, and to guarantee stability in the region. The rapprochement is thought to augur a possible solution to the Western Sahara conflict...

Morocco is one of the nations that Fareed Zakaria mentions in his Future of Freedom as potentially becoming a liberal democracy in the not too distant future. One of the key elements--and it's startling when you hear the statistic--is that it has a per capita GDP between $3,000 and $6,000. Amazing, isn't it, that such a low standard of living by our terms offers such stability by the rest of the world's? Posted by Orrin Judd at July 31, 2003 6:43 PM