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☆ France Aligns With Morocco on Western Sahara, Angering Algeria
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-30 | by ( Aida Alami | Aurelien Breeden | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

France has backed a plan for the autonomy of the long-disputed Western Sahara territory under Moroccan sovereignty, a diplomatic shift that immediately provoked condemnation from Algeria, a former French colony and Morocco’s rival in the region. In a letter to King Mohammed VI of Morocco that was made public on Tuesday, President Emmanuel Macron of France said that Morocco’s plan was “the only basis for achieving a just, lasting and negotiated political solution in accordance with the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council.”That was a notable departure from France’s prior position. The French authorities previously argued that Morocco’s plan for autonomy, which was put forward in 2007, was a “serious and credible” basis for discussion, but not the only one. Excerpts from Mr. Macron’s letter, which were sent to the king on the 25th anniversary of his ascension of the throne, were made public on Tuesday by Mr. Macron’s office.

Persons: King Mohammed VI of, Emmanuel Macron Organizations: United Nations Security Council Locations: France, Sahara, Algeria, French, King Mohammed VI of Morocco

In the 1980s, a French punk rock band coined a rallying cry against the country’s far right that retained its punch over decades. The chant, still shouted at protests by the left, is “La jeunesse emmerde le Front National,” which cannot be translated well without curse words, but essentially tells the far right to get lost. Now, that notion has been challenged as increasing numbers of young people have joined swaths of the French electorate to support the National Rally, a party once deemed too extreme to govern. But one of the biggest jumps was in the estimated numbers of 18-to-24-year-olds who cast ballots for the National Rally, in an election that many say could reshape France. A quarter of the age group voted for the party, according to a recent poll by the Ifop polling institute, up from 12 percent just two years ago.

Organizations: National Locations: France

☆ As Morocco Tries to Rebuild After Quake, Tradition Is Top of Many Minds
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-19 | by ( Aida Alami | More About Aida Alami | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Whatever the fate of the villages dotted across the Atlas Mountains, the example of Agadir shows just how difficult it is to repair the trauma of a devastating earthquake. Every year around the end of February, the anniversary of the disaster, a commemoration occurs. The graveyard sits on a hill that once was a neighborhood of Agadir. Not much remains from that time: some trees, a disused hospital and the ruins of collapsed homes. Sometimes visitors come to ask him to help them locate the grave of a loved one.

Persons: Mohammed V, ” Mr, Kouti Locations: Agadir, Agadir’s, Ihchach

In many areas hit by the quake, there were complaints that the government was slow to rescue and bring relief supplies to stricken villages. Driving along the road to the Tizi N’Test pass, the challenges faced by relief workers getting through became clear. Upon seeing the blocked road, they begged Mr. Id Lahcen and his colleague, Mustapha Sekkouti, to help get their bags of supplies to the other side. “This reality, we want it to be a memory in our history,” said Mr. Sekkouti, 50. Helping clear the road to save lives.”The efforts by Mr. Id Lahcen and Mr. Sekkouti opened a gap near the top of the road on Sept. 11, allowing some aid to get through.

Persons: Lahcen, Mustapha Sekkouti, ”, Sekkouti, “ Organizations: New York Times Locations: Rabat

Now she stood near the Koutoubia Mosque, where she and other Marrakesh residents once prayed regularly, filling it during the holy fasting month of Ramadan or the days of Eid. Its square had been sealed off by metal barriers and police tape while experts assessed the damage, but no final diagnosis had been made, according to a government official. “I would love to go there and pray for the dead,” said Ms. Chuegra, “but I’m afraid it might collapse.”Elsewhere in Marrakesh, several museums, as well as the 16th-century El Badi Palace (often translated as “The Incomparable”) and the late 19th-century El Bahia Palace (“The Beautiful”) were closed to visitors. Experts have judged them to be in serious condition, and what appeared to be materials for shoring up the structure of El Badi were piled outside the palace on Wednesday. Residents said the apparently untouched or lightly cracked exterior walls of the homes hid serious destruction within.

Persons: “, ”, Chuegra, El Organizations: Residents Locations: Koutoubia, Marrakesh, Bahia, El Badi, Medina, guesthouses

Before the tourists came to marvel at the valley cradled in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains, with its arid red slopes splashed with lush green and its deep-blue lake, the only living to be made was in olive farming, and not much of a living at that. Then came the modest little hiking lodge and the luxury resort, and the quasi-palace owned by Richard Branson and the inns set up by the people of the Ouirgane Valley, many of whom are members of the Amazigh ethnic group, more commonly known as Berbers. As more and more tourists discovered over the last few decades that the area was only an hour’s drive from the city of Marrakesh, the residents of villages like Ouirgane got jobs as guides for mule riding and hiking, drivers, waiters, hoteliers, restaurateurs and more. Many were able to move back home from Moroccan cities like Marrakesh and Essaouira, where they had taken jobs to support families in their villages.

Persons: Richard Branson, Ouirgane Locations: Atlas, Marrakesh, Moroccan, Essaouira

When the earth seized his house and shook it late Friday night, Mohamed Abarada ran outside with his 9-month-old daughter in his arms. Mr. Abarada started digging with his bare hands. He dug by day with the help of neighbors and relatives, and by night with the flashlight on his phone. But on Monday, his daughter Chaima had yet to be found. With Mr. Abarada’s shoulder injured, his fellow searchers urged him to rest while they kept sifting through what had been his house — broken bricks mingled with broken wood, bamboo roofing, couch cushions, a satellite dish and teakettles, all the flotsam of family life.

Persons: Mohamed Abarada, Abarada, Chaima, Abarada’s, — Locations: Douar Tnirt

Others tried to comfort the wounded and grieving. A lack of ambulances and other transportation from Douar Tnirt meant that some people who had been pulled alive from the rubble over the weekend died before they could be taken to Marrakesh for treatment, residents said. Others waited for hours before being driven there by private transport. Some Moroccans expressed frustration with the pace of aid efforts. “Help was extremely late,” said Fouad Abdelmoumni, a Moroccan economist.

Persons: Tnirt, “, ”, Fouad Abdelmoumni, King Mohammed VI Organizations: Moroccan Locations: Casablanca, Marrakesh, Moroccan

Like almost every building in Douar Tnirt, a village high up in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, the home was a rubble of broken mud bricks, its broken doorbell insisting in vain that, even after a powerful earthquake, it was still a place where humans could live. Right after the quake struck on Friday, they started search and rescue with their bare, untrained hands, eventually adding shovels and picks. By Sunday, the government had sent neither emergency responders nor aid to Douar Tnirt and several other mountain villages visited by journalists for The New York Times. “They don’t want to see them, and, well, it’s about respect for the dead,” Ms. Id al-Houcine said. “If you don’t, you don’t.”

Persons: Douar Tnirt, ”, Zahra, “, Id, Houcine, Abdessamad Ait Organizations: The New York Times Locations: Douar Tnirt, Morocco, Marrakesh, Abdessamad Ait Ihia

With debris and fallen rock blocking roads to Moroccan villages hit hardest by an earthquake, many residents began burying their dead and foraging for scarce supplies on Sunday as they waited for government aid. That wait may be lengthy. The most powerful quake to hit the region in a century spared neither city apartment dwellers nor those living in the mud-brick homes of the High Atlas Mountains, but many in the remote and rugged areas of Morocco have been left almost entirely to fend for themselves. Survivors, faced with widespread electricity and telephone blackouts, said they were running low on food and water. Some bodies were being buried before they could be washed as Muslim rituals require.

Locations: Morocco

Rescuers in Morocco are racing to dig survivors out of rubble after the country’s worst earthquake in a century flattened homes and buildings, killing at least 2,000 people. The magnitude-6.8 quake struck in the mountains south of Marrakesh, an ancient city that is a popular tourist destination. The quake particularly devastated communities in the Atlas Mountains, where the full extent of the damage is still unknown. Debris has blocked some of the region’s roads, making it difficult for rescue crews to reach remote communities. Frantic rescue effortsIn some remote areas, people sifted through debris with their bare hands to search for survivors.

Locations: Morocco, Marrakesh

“They have nowhere they can go back to,” Mr. Choula said of his family, who spent Saturday night sleeping in a field with several other families. Some are rallying together to send funds and organize shipments of supplies for survivors while others are heading home to help on the ground. But Mr. Dehy said he had received dozens of calls from Moroccans who want to immediately send help home. For Moroccans watching from afar, “the only thing that helps them is knowing that they helped, that they didn’t just stand idly by,” Mr. Dehy said. Mr. Choula, 41, said he was gathering money to send home.

Persons: Youssef Choula, “, ” Mr, Choula, ”, Latif Dehy, Dehy, —, Ella Williams, Talat N’yakoub, It’s, “ I’ve, Williams Organizations: “, French, of, British Moroccan Society Locations: Gloucestershire, England, Marrakesh, Amizmiz, Moroccan, Avignon, France, Morocco, Europe, Britain, ”

Residents fleeing their homes in Moulay Brahim, a village near the epicenter of the quake, outside Marrakesh, Morocco, on Saturday. “The current tectonic stresses are therefore only part of the story,” Dr. Hubbard said. Historical earthquakes offer few answers to that question, according to Dr. Hubbard. Another challenging detail to study is an earthquake’s depth, Dr. Hubbard said. The shaking from a deeper earthquakes may not be as strong, but it can be felt across a wider swath of the surface, Dr. Hubbard said.

Persons: Judith Hubbard, ” Dr, Hubbard, ”, Jascha Polet Organizations: Saturday, Earthquakes, San, Cornell University, Geological, Seismological, California State Polytechnic University Locations: Moulay Brahim, Marrakesh, Morocco, Africa, Africa’s, Pacific

The U.S. Geological Survey estimated its magnitude at 6.8, but the Moroccan geological institute put it at 7.2. That would make it more than twice as large, according to the logarithmic scale on which earthquakes are measured. The U.S. agency said local estimates can often be more accurate, but initial readings of magnitude are measured automatically and need to be reviewed by seismologists. But it was clear that the scope of the catastrophe was extensive, with the rural provinces outside of Marrakesh the hardest hit. Moroccan architects say the area near the epicenter has many earthen houses that are not built to withstand an earthquake of this strength.

Persons: Omar Farkhani Organizations: Geological Survey, seismologists, United Nations ’ Office, Humanitarian Affairs, UNESCO, of Architects Locations: U.S, Moroccan, Marrakesh, Marrakesh’s Medina

The earthquake that struck Morocco on Friday night hit near Marrakesh, a popular tourist destination, sending both residents and visitors scrambling for safety. “We didn’t know if we had to stand up, to sit down, to run,” Mr. Ait Chari said. Ms. Lorang and hundreds of others found refuge in a courtyard, where some brought out rugs and blankets to sleep. “It was very chaotic.”Mr. Ait Chari, the tour guide, said he was supposed to pick up more clients on Sunday but was unsure flights would be maintained. Many people were still in shock, he said, but there had also been “great solidarity,” as residents cleared roads.

Persons: “, Jen Lorang, ” Ms, Lorang, “ I’ve, Mr, Ait, ”, Jean, Baptiste Guinet Organizations: Big, ”, UNESCO, Heritage, Tourism, Organization for Economic Cooperation, Development Locations: Morocco, Marrakesh, Ait Chari, Massachusetts, Seattle, San Francisco, ” Morocco, Agadir, ”, Taroudant

As the death toll from the powerful earthquake in Morocco rose on Saturday, questions mounted about the vulnerability of buildings in the seismically active North African country. Moroccan architects said that the hardest-hit areas were rural zones with many earthen houses that were unable to withstand the shaking. “Given the state of the buildings in the country, this death toll was kind of expected,” said Anass Amazirh, an architect in the northern city of Casablanca. Image Rescue workers searching for survivors in a collapsed house in Moulay Brahim, in Morocco’s Al Haouz Province, on Saturday. “These more extreme risks occur regularly in other countries,” the report said, “and Morocco cannot avoid taking them into account.”

Persons: “, ”, Anass Amazirh, Omar Farkhani, Fadel Senna, Mr, Farkhani, Al Hoceima, Al, Haouz, Amazirh Organizations: Morocco’s, of Architects, ., Agence France, Moroccan, Organization for Economic Cooperation, Development Locations: Marrakesh, Morocco, Moroccan, Casablanca, Al Haouz, Moulay Brahim, Morocco’s Al Haouz Province, Al, Al Hoceima, “

Residents of Morocco who experienced the earthquake firsthand said that confusion had quickly turned into chaos when their walls started shaking and objects started crashing to the ground. In Amizmiz, a town about 30 miles southwest of Marrakesh that is near the epicenter, Yasmina Bennani was about to go to sleep on Friday night when she heard a loud noise. “I felt terrorized,” said Ms. Bennani, 38, a journalist who, like many people in the area, lives in a house made of clay bricks. “It didn’t last long but felt like years,” Ms. Bennani said. “The adrenaline took over,” Mr. Kourkouz told BFMTV.

Persons: Bennani, ”, ” Ms, “, “ Mustapha, Hassan, Ilhem, Maftouh, ” Yacine, France’s, Mr, Kourkouz, BFMTV, ” Raja Bouri, Ms, Bouri Locations: Marrakesh, Saturday, Morocco, Moroccan, Agadir

The quake had a magnitude of 6.8 and a depth of about 11 miles, the United States Geological Survey said in a preliminary report. Here’s what to know about the earthquake: The United States Geological Survey said it was the strongest quake to hit the area in more than 100 years. The epicenter of the earthquake was just over 30 miles west of Oukaimeden, a popular Moroccan ski resort, the U.S.G.S. As of early morning local time, the full extent of the casualties and damages was not known. The deadliest and most destructive earthquake in Morocco’s recent history was 5.8 magnitude and killed about 12,000 people in 1960.

Organizations: Morocco, Ministry, United States Geological Survey, UNESCO, Heritage, Reuters Locations: Marrakesh, Oukaimeden, Moroccan

Khadija Rmichi’s path to the Women’s World Cup started on a bicycle. Rmichi, a goalkeeper, grew up in Khouribga, a mining city in central Morocco. She was frequently drawn instead to the soccer played by boys in the streets. “It was considered shameful to play with boys,” Rmichi, now 33, said in an interview in April. He told Rmichi that if she could find enough girls to form a team, he would train them.

Persons: ” Rmichi, “, Rmichi Locations: Khouribga, Morocco

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