Morocco

The Government of Morocco is planning to deploy a new e-government system to streamline public procurement processes, increase competitive bidding and save money for Moroccan taxpayers, with support of the Development Gateway's e-Government Grants Program. Technical assistance and seed funding for the project will come from the Grants Program, a partnership with the Government of Italy.

The Moroccan Ministerial Commission, chaired by Premier Driss Jettou, approved the lifting of some reservations to international conventions Morocco ratified to uphold the principles of a modern and democratic society, human rights and gender equality, said a Justice Ministry communiqué. The lifting of the reservations comes as part of the country's move to revise the citizenship code to allow women to hand down their nationality to children born to foreign fathers.

On 29 December 2005, publication director Ahmed Benchemsi and news editor Karim Boukhari, of the weekly "TelQuel", were sentenced on appeal, to a two-month suspended prison term and ordered to pay a fine of 800,000 dirhams (72,000 euros). In January, the two journalists, convicted of defamation in another case, are set to reappear before the Casablanca Court of Appeal. "Contrary to our expectations, the sentence is markedly disproportionate in its opposition to Ahmed Benchemsi and Karim Boukh...read more

Illegal immigrants seeking to start a new life in Europe will now find it impossible to jump the border after the Moroccan and Spanish armies erected a barbed wire between their common frontier, reports Inter Press Services (IPS).

King Mohammed VI today (December 16) approved the publication and public release of the final report of the Moroccan Equity and Reconciliation Commission (Instance Équité et Réconciliation or IER). The Royal Palace received the report on December 1, 2005, officially ending the Commission's 18-month mandate.

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