Morocco and the fight against international terrorism

Morocco has always strongly condemned all forms of heinous fanaticism, of which terrorism is the vilest form. It is resolved to firmly fight against terrorist trends that exploit religion for political ends.

Having itself suffered from terrorism, the Kingdom is well aware of the scope of the fight against this plague. Its action in the anti-terrorism fight, far from being punctual, reflects a permanent commitment stemming from a global security strategic approach, centered on prevention.

This action is multi-dimensional and evolves mainly around political, economic, social and educational components. Morocco is convinced that terrorism finds its origins both in xenophobia and intolerance as well in other forms of fanaticism and radicalism that dismiss modernity resulting from globalization. Moroccans paid a heavy price to this plague on a day of May 16 for the model of democratic and modern society that they are in the process of perfecting.

Morocco’s action against terrorism is designed as a three-dimensional endeavor: National, regional and international, convinced that the same threat hovers without distinction over all the members of the international community.

In this context, Morocco, which has fully adhered to the universal legal and institutional system on the fight against terrorism, as soon as it was set forth by the Security Council resolution 1373, is convinced that the United Nations Organization is and remains the appropriate framework to express the international community’s consensus on this plague.

The complexity of the terrorism phenomenon and its mobility, regardless of borders and national identities, exact to replace the framework of action defined at the global level by a better-adapted and reinforced regional approach.

This sub-regional approach itself needs to be supported by gains of the Euromed dialogue (particularly the 5+5 dialogue), and a broader consideration of the various experiences of southern countries which, plagued by the upsurge of heinous radicalism, have built up an experience that should be tapped into in this fight.

The Moroccan authorities’ handling of various cases linked to religious radicalism following the attacks of May 16, 2003 in Casablanca has allowed to dismantle several radical groups and to charge those involved in terrorism-related cases.

Such good results obtained in the fight against terrorism are the fruit of the tenacious Moroccan action as well as of the close cooperation with security services of other countries.

The vertical and quasi-hierarchic connection, or to say the least the ideological subordination of the local operatives to the international terrorism network is proven. Investigations have revealed that the operations are generally prepared by non-Moroccans and that the order came from an external ideological authority.

Meanwhile, the investigation conducted by the Spanish authorities in close cooperation with the Moroccan competent services show that Moroccans or Moroccan-born nationals imprisoned for involvement in the Madrid attacks are mere executers located at the lowest links of the chain. Most of them are either born in European countries or have been living there for several years. It is therefore in the intellectual poverty and moral indigence that the motives of their deviation should be sought.

The lesson thus drawn confirm that only a dialectic with triple national, regional and international levels is capable to confer coherence and effectiveness on the fight against the terrorist threat. In this respect, it is necessary to note the convergence of the approaches between Morocco and its strategic allies in this fight, in particular the United States, on the basic problems concerning regional and international safety. An approach which is articulated around the concept of total safety, combining safety and human concerns.

It is in this direction that Morocco calls for a renewed, reinforced and interdependent commitment, within the framework of a total and multidimensional effort based on the shared responsibility and the mutual confidence and resolutely turned towards a conjugation of the efforts which guarantee the taking into account of the whole of the challenges to common safety.

The socio-economic development, the consolidation of the democracy are the key words in this fight, because in the current context, a State whose sovereignty is respected and whose territorial integrity is preserved, is the best guarantor of the safety of its population and neighbours.

The promotion of an effective human and cultural rapprochement has also its importance. Incomprehension, amalgams and ignorance on which the international terrorist nebula breeds, nourishes ostracism that is promoted by the thesis of the "shock of civilizations".

The fight against terrorism also goes through the introduction of a lasting peace (sustainable peace) and the containment of the tension spots. In this respect, the resolution of an artificial conflict over the Moroccan Sahara, is more than ever a must. This is indeed one of the dimensions of Morocco’s strategic engagement in favour of the construction of the Maghreb united on sound bases, as a factor of stability in the area. Indeed, in addition to being economic and political, the cost of the "non-Maghreb" is also likely to be a security matter. It should also be noted that the genuine matrix of residual instability remains the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Palestinian issue is one of the keys, if not, the main key of stability in the area. Stigmatising the action with variable geometry of the international community and its incapacity to impose a just and lasting settlement of this conflict, pave the way for extremist trends to cash in on this conflict and to recruit new followers.

To tackle these threats and to face these challenges, security and stability seem at the same time a common good to preserve and a strategic objective to pursue. In that, Morocco and its strategic Allies must remain vigilant and jointly committed in the common fight to uproot terrorism and to remove its structures.