Morocco Savvy

Nine people have been killed near Khénifra as the bus they were traveling in fell into a ravine.

According to the Moroccan press agency MAP, 36 others were injured, six of them seriously. 

The accident happened Saturday morning around 11.30 on the road between Agelmous and Khénifra, some 195 kilometers (120 miles) southeast of Casablanca.

MAP reports that an initial investigation suggests that a mechanical problem caused the bus to veer off the bending mountainous road and plunge into a ravine.

The region is little visited by foreign tourists.

Eight out of ten deaths in car accidents happen on the same 180 kilometers of roads - here’s where to be extra vigilant.

There’s around 35,000 kilometers (22,000 miles) of road in Morocco, and yet 80 percent of all fatal car accidents happen on the same 180 kilometers (110 miles) in the network.

Moroccan weekly La Vie Éco has mapped these dangerous stretches and has come up with a list of the 15 “most lethal roads”. Most of these accident “black spots” are located on intersections in the north of the country.

According to La Vie Éco, the layout of intersections is as much a cause of accidents as speeding, reckless driving and the poor mechanical state of a lot of cars in Morocco.

For its part, the magazine says, the government is spending more than US$ 15 million to improve the traffic situation at the listed locations.

If you want to see the maps of these “black spots”, check the article over at La Vie Éco’s website.

The most dangerous stretches of road on the “tourist trail” are:

Traveling between Casablanca and Marrakech

• intersection of the RN9 and provincial road 3011 (near Sidi Maarouf), at kilometer point 2.1

Traveling between Marrakech and Essaouira/Agadir

• RN8 between Marrakech and Chichaoua (between km 182.3 and km 183.3)
• intersection of the RN6 and provincial road 5013 (km 185.1) 
• intersection of the RN4 and the RN6 near Chicaoua (km 187.8)
• RN8 north of Ameskroud between km 30.8 and 54.8  

Traveling between Casablanca and Essaouira

• intersection of the RN1 and regional road 204 at Bouguedra (near Safi), at km 518
• the southern exit from Safi on regional road 301 (the coastal road to Essaouira) at km 177

The other “black spots” have not been listed here, because they are not on the tourist trail. Again, La Vie Éco lists all of them on their website.

A big thank you to the people at La Vie Éco’s website who responded very quickly to my request to put these maps online.

The Moroccan government has raised the terrorist threat level to “red” amid a wave of terrorism-related arrests.

There’s a “red alert” active in Morocco. The interior ministry has raised the level on its security threat scale after seven people were arrested in Meknes on Tuesday on suspicion of “criminal and terrorist acts”.

According to L’Economiste newspaper, the suspects, all between 24 and 26 years old, were planning attacks against military barracks, universities, hotels and government offices. Four of the arrested people have been released after questioning.

More than 30 people were arrested since Tuesday in Fnidek, Tetouan and Tangier, another daily, Al Bayane, adds. 

Increased security was notable near tourist hotspots in Tangier, Casablanca and Rabat, Al Bayane writes, while L’Economiste says added controls have come into force at Morocco’s borders. 

The security warning comes in the wake of a series of bomb attacks in bordering Algeria, which killed at least 7 people earlier this week. Those attacks have been attributed to the terrorist organization Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat.

The group recently said it was changing its name to Al Qaeda in the Islamic Land of the Maghreb and announced that it would widen its activities to other countries in North Africa.

Crime rates were up by 2 percent last year, but safety isn’t on the agenda of any of the main political parties.

Moroccans are going to the ballot box this year to elect  a new parliament. It’s still unsure whether the elections will be in July or in September, and the date is a bit of a hot topic.

The government seems to want an early election, maybe to prevent the islamist party PJD more time to get even more popular than they are today. Polling is restricted in Morocco, but some suggest that the PJD will get as much as half the seats available.

Le Reporter, a Moroccan news weekly, puts the focus on crime and safety and wonders why no political party seems to be bothered by the increase in crime rates. Apparently, those were up 2 percent last year, with thefts and robberies taking the bulk of the increase.

The magazine points to the small numbers of police officers as one of the reasons behind the growing crime problem. And it embarks on quite a familiar call for more police on the streets.

Right now, Le Reporter writes, Morocco has around 40,000 police officers on a total population of 30 million.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime keeps statistics on the number of police officers per 100,000 inhabitants. That number is 141 for Morocco. By comparison, France has 211, Germany 303 and the United States 326.

It’s interesting to see how those numbers relate to the number of recorded crimes, also found in the UN’s statistics.

For every 100,000 Moroccans, a grand total of  967 crimes were recorded in 2002. For the US, that number is 4,118.

The major flaw, of course, in putting the two statistics next to each other is that, maybe, people in Morocco simply don’t report crimes as often as people in the US do. They may be scared of going to the police, or think it won’t make any difference.

We’ll allow that for “white collar crimes” like fraud and bribery - the Moroccan police itself has a reputation for taking (or even demanding) bribes. Reporting a theft may not be worth the hassle, and some rapes may go unreported in Morocco because of the stigma and possible repercussions.

So let’s just look at crimes that are pretty sure to be reported even in Morocco.

In 2002, with almost double the police capacity, the US recorded 84 times the number of cars stolen per 100,000 people, compared to Morocco. The US had 11 times more murders and 9 times more drug offenses than Morocco.

Which is to say that the number of men in blue (or gray, in much of Morocco) is not the only factor in a country’s safety. There’s more to safety than just law enforcement. It’s just a guess, but social cohesion and social control may be a deterrent to crime in Morocco.

Still, Le Reporter has a point when it says that the relatively low numbers of crimes are making policiticians complacent, even when the trend in crime rates is rather worrying.

An earthquake in the Atlantic Ocean has sent tremors through Portugal, Spain and Morocco.

The earthquake measured 6.1 on the Richter scale, and happened at 10:35 AM Moroccan time this morning. The epicenter of the quake was in the Atlantic Ocean, some 250 miles (400 kilometers) west of Tangier.

The light quake was also felt in Portugal and in the Spanish capital Madrid.

According to the Kuwaiti news agency (KUNA), the shock was felt as far south as El Jadida. KUNA says that some people rushed out into the streets after the tremor.

Moroccan daily L’Economiste says on its website that the quake was also felt in Marrakech.

No injuries or damages have been reported so far.

Morocco’s seismological institute has reported a “notable increase” in seismic activity since the beginning of the year in the regions around Fes, Agadir, Al Hoceima, Ifrane and Taounate.

This map shows the epicenter of the earthquake at 35.8 degrees latitude and -10.3 degrees longitude. Map is from Google Earth.

What’s the measure of a country’s welfare? In Morocco, economic indicators are up, but new anxieties are looming.

Economic growth stood at 8.1 percent in 2006, the Finance ministry says. The unemployment rate dropped below 10 percent for the first time. The all-shares index at the Casablanca stock exchange gained over 70 percent in value.

Foreign investment is up, and Moroccans are buying more cars, mobile phones and broadband internet subscriptions - to name just another few random markers.

But I believe that the true measure of a country’s well-being are its worries.

Moroccans (and their government) used to agonize over unemployment, inflation, the trade deficit, illiteracy - and all the rest of us looked warily at press freedom, democracy, and human rights. The big issues.

So it’s a bit of a surprise that Morocco has now reached the point of well-being where it can afford to worry about noise pollution.

Health has been on the country’s agenda for a while. But again, the big issues ruled, like the infant death rate, access to health care and to drinking water. Never, it seemed, the ailments of modern life.

Now, though, Moroccan daily Libération sounds the alarm bell over “the blare of drills, the zoom of aircraft, the rattling of trains, the honking of car horns” and other sounds that torment Casablanca every day.

“A phenomenon we should take seriously,” the paper writes, outlining the risks to the city’s inhabitants.

Today, Libération adds burn-out and depression among students to the new health risks facing Morocco. In a study to be published in March, researchers from El Jadida university followed 2,000 students over a two-week period.

Until now, psychological problems have been “neglected enormously”, one researcher says. “There’s a taboo surrounding the issue. People are interested in physical diseases and overlook the psychology.”

It’s a sign of Morocco’s growing prosperity, if you ask me.

• There’s some tips about health issues for tourists and for their children over at the Morocco FAQ