Morocco row over cheap land allegations
W. Sahara separatists want UN to press Rabat
RABAT, July 26, (AFP): Activists and opposition members in Morocco demanded an investigation Monday into allegations that officials including royal advisers and ministers were able to buy state land for derisory sums.
The independent news website Lakome2 and the Hespress site first reported on Saturday that land was being sold to senior officials at knockdown prices.
The case came to light with the publication of documents implicating Rabat Governor Abdelouafi Laftit in the purchase of land in the capital, allegedly for 350 Moroccan dirhams (32 euros) a square metre.
The normal value of land in the city would be 25,000 dirhams (2,300 euros) a square metre and 30,000 dirhams (2,780 euros) in upscale neighbourhoods.
On Sunday, the interior and finance ministers issued a statement that “this land was part of a residential development dedicated to the officials and servants of the state”.
They denounced what they called “a tendentious campaign” led by “a political party and media that favour it”, referring to the Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) of Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane.
The premier urged the PJD not to respond to the statement by the two ministers.
Hespress late Monday also published documents it said revealed that two ministers had also acquired land at 350 dirhams (32 euros) and 370 dirhams (34 euros) respectively.
Lakome alleged that Fouad Ali El Himma and Mohamed Moatassim, two advisers of King Mohammed VI, have also acquired land at low prices.
Civil society activists have now launched a campaign on internet social networks to denounce a case that divides Moroccans into “servants and enemies of the state”.
“We are also servants of the state and we want land for 350 dirhams like governor of the capital,” wrote one activist.
Meanwhile, Western Sahara’s separatist Polisario Front urged the UN Security Council on Monday to boost pressure on Morocco to allow expelled UN staffers to return to their mission in the disputed territory.
The council is due to discuss Western Sahara on Tuesday to follow up on a resolution adopted in April that calls for the mission known as MINURSO to be fully restored.
The Polisario Front’s UN representative, Ahmed Boukhari, told reporters that “the resolution has not been implemented” and sent a letter urging the council to obtain “a commitment from Morocco to respect MINURSO’s mandate.”
Morocco this month allowed 25 UN staffers to return to Laayoune, where the MINURSO mission is headquartered, but this represents only about a third of the personnel expelled in March.