Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — Morocco’s King Mohammed has restored direct control over his Cabinet, a report said.

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy determined that Mohammed removed Islamists and returned his supporters in the new Cabinet.

In a report, the institute asserted that the Oct. 10 Cabinet reshuffle represented the king’s intent to neutralize Morocco’s growing Islamist sector.

“Morocco’s ability to remain stable, relatively secure, and a major non-NATO U.S. ally can be attributed, at least in part, to what many critics perceive as the monarch’s chess game,” the report, titled “Assessing Morocco’s New Cabinet,” said.

Researcher Vish Sakthivel said the king, a leading ally of France and the United States, left Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane, head of the ruling Justice and Development Party, as prime minister while replacing most of his Islamist colleagues. This included foreign minister, finance minister, interior minister with the king remaining in direct control over the military.

“The new cabinet confirms, meanwhile, the extent to which the PJD
continues to be subject to the monarch’s whims and the preeminence of the —
at times amorphous — old guard,” the report said.

The report said the real power in the Cabinet could be Salah Eddin
Mezouar, head of the royalist National Rally of Independents and the new
foreign minister. The appointment of Mezouar appeared to represent the
king’s intervention in Islamist efforts to oust the minister.

“Beyond old guard incentives to weaken the Islamists, two more
observations are worth mentioning,” the report, dated Oct. 16, said. “The
first is that given the backlash against Islamists in the other parts of
North Africa, PJD’s position as a minority participant may allow the party
the silent exit it needs. Second, as Mezouar was an important figure in
brokering the 2004 U.S.-Morocco Free Trade Agreement, he is likely to be
seen as bolstering the ever-important U.S.-Morocco bilateral relationship.”

  Abdelilah Benkirane, Justice and Development Party, King Mohammed, Moroccan king ousts Islamists, returns old guard to Cabinet, Washington Institute for Near East Policy