Drought, Fundamentalism Put Pressure on Morocco’s King Hassan II

Blowing dust dimmed the sun over this ancient city, where Mohammed Tayeb fled after giving up trying to raise grain, beans and livestock in his drought-plagued fields.

Tayeb is part of a dangerously growing flight to Morocco’s cities, creating urban tinderboxes of rising unemployment and Muslim radicalism that could undermine the rule of King Hassan II.

Using a mix of religion, limited democracy and some iron-fisted tactics, Hassan has successfully ruled for nearly 35 years with the support of educated urbanites and Muslim peasants who respect his religious credentials.

But the lack of rainfall is expected to cut the current grain harvest by more than 80% and shake the economy nationwide.

“It’s certainly the drought of the century this year,” Prime Minister Abdellatif Filali said in Rabat, the capital. “It has a negative effect on everything else.”

The economic crisis could pose a threat to the government, which is among the most Western-oriented of Arab regimes. The United States and Europe view Hassan’s support of the Middle East peace negotiations as a source of moderation and stability in an uncertain region.

But a growing population of educated youth is demanding the creation of more jobs, and the middle class wants more political say as the king’s bedrock constituencies face harder times.

A graying father of nine, 41-year-old Tayeb pounds out copper ware to feed his family.

“There was nothing for my sheep to eat. We had nothing to sell,” he said when asked why he left his farm. “Many others have left the village. If there’s rain, I’ll go back.”

He came to Fez three years ago and normal rainfall has yet to return. In the 1994 census, Morocco’s urban population exceeded 50% of the nation’s people for the first time--something demographers had not expected before the end of the century.

Hassan, known as the “Commander of the Faithful,” has enjoyed the support of rural Muslims while appealing to the urban middle class with market-oriented reforms, including selling off state companies.

But the drought is expected to cause the economy to shrink by as much as 5%, and people flowing into the cities are finding it harder to get work. Unemployment is estimated at 20%, hitting young people the hardest.

One young man, Adnan Mossaid, has been seeking a computer job for two years and drives a taxi instead. He lives at home, where he supports his mother and seven unemployed brothers.

Mossaid said he spent two months in prison for participating in a 1991 anti-government demonstration that degenerated into rioting. Police crushed the protest, and 90 people died in the crackdown.

“I like the king. It’s the people around him who are the problem,” he said.

“Look at that palace, while other people can’t find a place to live,” he said, pointing to an example of the opulent royal life. “But without King Hassan, we’d die. The government is like the Mafia.”

The 66-year-old Hassan’s recent bout with pneumonia raised anxieties about the future. Some people question whether crown Prince Sidi Mohammed, 32, would be up to dealing with growing pressure to further loosen the monarchy’s grasp on power.

Hassan now appoints the prime minister, but opposition parties are demanding that the prime minister be made responsible to the Chamber of Representatives instead.

Hassan has not faced a serious challenge from militant Muslims who want to base all of society’s rules on a strict interpretation of Sharia, Islamic religious law.

The only legal opposition parties are secular organizations that range from centrist to socialist in outlook.

Islamic militants are barred from forming political parties, but there are Muslim groups that engage in charity, education and other community activities.

Sheik Abd Assalam Yasine, leader of the major Islamic group, Justice and Welfare--has been kept under house arrest since 1989 for questioning the king’s religious authority.

The second biggest Islamic organization, the Movement for Reform and Renovation, maintains a moderate tone.

“We use the Sharia as a reference,” said Abdellah Baha, vice president of the movement. “We’re not going to apply laws used in past centuries. They need to be renewed. Life is different now.”

While Baha criticizes Yasine’s house arrest, he does not take issue with sometimes tough police tactics to put down protests.

Alluding to the rioting in 1991, Baha said his movement avoids staging demonstrations. “You can call a protest, but I can’t ensure that I’ll control it. An individual Moroccan is responsible, but in a group, he isn’t.”

Some Hassan supporters question Baha’s commitment to an open society, saying they suspect he is putting up a false front of moderation only to build political acceptance and influence.

Islamic militancy is increasing among young Moroccans, students and teachers say. Radicals disrupt classes and have had bloody clashes with their opponents--secularists and moderate Muslims who support a more flexible interpretation of Islamic law.

At a university in Rabat, a young woman wearing a black robe and white head scarf was asked if it was as a protest or out of tradition. “For both,” she said tersely. She would give only her first name, Fatira, reflecting the wariness on both sides of religious divide.

A female student in a business suit, who gave her name as Samira, said she worried about militants trying to bring down Morocco’s system. She welcomed reports that police infiltrate militant student groups. “It’s the only way to weaken those groups,” she said.

A powerful rallying issue for the king is Morocco’s claim on Western Sahara, where guerrillas have fought for independence since Morocco seized the territory from Spain in 1975. The United Nations is trying to organize a referendum on the mineral-rich land’s status.

If Morocco lost the vote and was forced to give up the territory, the king could be destabilized because he has spent billions of dollars there and built up political capital with his people by constantly playing up the theme that Western Sahara is Moroccan.

Hassan has strong support on the issue from his political opponents, some of whom even question the need for a referendum.

“Why should you ask someone from an American state if they are American?” Baha asked.