2023-07-08 17:07:42
Apparently nothing moves in Morocco without the king knowing. In addition to being head of state, Mohamed VI is ehe commander of the believers and president of the council of the ulama (religious leaders), head of the Army and the highest judicial authority. But the truth is that despite the immense power that he accumulates, shielded by a Constitution that consecrates him as an “inviolable” figure, the monarch andI’m an absent kingwho has spent months withdrawn from public life, outside the country most of the time, and whose latest appearances, since last May, have only unleashed the concern and all kinds of rumors in the Alaouite kingdom.
????????????| Tamesna: HM King Mohamed VI today inaugurated the City of Trades and Skills of the Rabat – Salé – Kénitra region, a new generation vocational training establishment at the service of the excellence and innovation. pic.twitter.com/AQU9MKlyAU
— Moroccan History ????????۞ (@MoroccanSories) May 30, 2023
It was on the occasion of the presentation of a hydrogen car prototype made entirely in Morocco when after several months, On May 15, the Moroccans discovered a Mohamed VI visibly thinner and paler, emaciated. In the midst of an official secrecy, both from the Government and the Royal House, only rumors and critical foreign media point to a worsening of the presumed illness who has suffered for years: sarcoidosis, a complex autoimmune disease that can affect and inflame different organs, for which there is no cure beyond symptomatic treatment.
Mohamed VI, 59 years old and on the throne since July 1999, has canceled several meetings in recent months. Thus, his absence was notable at the high-level Spanish-Moroccan meeting that led to the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sanchez, to Rabat last February. The information portal Afrik.com recently described the king’s state of health as “very worrying” and reported that he would have spent the first three months of the year in his luxurious residence at Pointe Denis, in Gabon.
According to other media, the monarch spent most of last year, about 200 days, abroad, divided between the African country, in the French capital (where he has a palace), and the Seychelles Islands. The health of the fifth richest monarch in the world – his fortune is estimated at around 7,000 million euros – is a taboo subject in the Alaouite kingdom. Officially, there are only two known heart operations for cardiac arrhythmias, in 2018 and 2020.
The international press
But in the face of Rabat’s secrecy, the absences and possible ailments of Mohamed VI have been aired by the international press. “The mystery of the absent Moroccan king”, headlined the British weekly ‘The Economist’ while the French newspaper ‘Le Figaro’ spoke of ‘Intrigue and opacity in the Government of Mohamed VI’.
Some information indicates that the preparation process for the crown prince Mulay Hassan, who turned 20 this May and who is beginning to be seen more frequently at official events. The young man is the son of the king and princess Lalla Salmafrom whom Mohamed VI divorced in 2018. The couple also had another daughter, Lalla Khadija, 16 years old.
The whereabouts of Princess Salma since the divorce is another of the great mysteries of the kingdom. But in a recent article, Afrik.com located in that marital separation, the beginning of the “descent into hell” of Mohamed VI. It was then that he was first seen with the muscular Azaitar brothers, three martial arts fighters with criminal records in Germany initially presented as “personal trainers” until they became part of his most inseparable circle, sharing an itinerant life with the king. luxury.
— Abu Azaitar (@abu_azaitar) March 26, 2021
The Azaitar, against the viceroy
As highlighted by ‘The Economist’ in its long article, “former advisors to the king have seen how they have been replaced by the brothers, who have become authentic guardians of the palace” and “they act like they are royalty themselves”. Ali Lrambet, the Moroccan journalist who spent eight months in prison after being sentenced to three years in prison for insulting the monarchsubscribes to this information and affirms in a conversation with EL PERIÓDICO, that it is the Azaitar who decide who sends the king or not and that his power has already passed over the royal adviser, Fuad Ali El Himma, known as the “viceroy”. Lrmbet speaks of a “war” between the old royal entourage and the Azaitar.
“The king is no longer in charge, he is taking care of his illness and his life and has left us in the hands of the deep state, a hidden structure that has returned us to the years of leadsays Lrambet. The journalist lists the ten people who would form part of that shadow power: the two heads of the secret services, the royal adviser, the president of the Supreme Court, the Minister of the Interior, the head of the judicial police, the first Minister, and the Minister of the Budget.
In a region devastated by poverty and turmoil, Morocco is uno oasis of stability which dodged the popular uprisings of the so-called Arab spring in 2011 with political and constitutional reforms, as well as being a strategic partner for Spain in immigration control. But, the challenges facing the country remain the same, aggravated after the covid epidemicthe crisis caused by the rises in prices as a result of the war in Ukraine and the escalation of the conflict with the historical enemy, Algeria. And all this without a strong power in front and with the succession open because the youth of the crown prince could play against him and in favor of the king’s brother, Moulay Rachid, 53 years old.
“The king can be a autocrat but has historical and religious legitimacy but the current structure that commands us does not have any legitimacy, that is why the repression is accentuated”, he affirms. A former Moroccan official defines it this way in ‘The Economist’ magazine: “We are an airplane without a pilot”.
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