King Juan Carlos on private visit to Morocco

Café Argana after bombing

MOROCCO (GibChronicle) King Juan Carlos I of Spain is on a private visit to Marrakesh just one week after the tragic bomb attack on the Café Argana, in the Yemá el Fna square which killed 16 people and bequeathed another 21 injured. According to diplomatic sources, the monarch arrived in Marrakesh yesterday and will be staying until tomorrow. The Moroccan media have given coverage to the royal visit, describing it as a “show of support” for the country after last week’s attack on its leading tourist centre. Don Juan Carlos has travelled to Morocco at the invitation of King Mohamed VI - an invitation that was first issued in August last year during a telephone conversation to and from the two monarchs, in which they discussed finding a solution to the problems on the country’s border with Melilla.>

Meanwhile, Morocco arrested three people over a bomb attack on a cafe in the tourist city of Marrakesh last week that killed 16 people, and said the chief suspect showed “loyalty” to al Qaeda.

The three suspects were all Moroccans, the official news agency quoted the Interior Ministry as saying. Most of the bomb victims were foreign holidaymakers, including eight French people.

The ministry said the chief suspect, who was “well-versed in jihadi ideology and shows loyalty to al Qaeda”, had built and planted two bombs in the cafe, not one as previously believed.

The April 28 blasts were the first such attack in Morocco since coordinated suicide bombings in the commercial capital, Casablanca, in 2003, and added to the challenges facing King Mohammed at a time when he is trying to prevent uprisings breaking out in Morocco similar to those elsewhere in the Arab world.

The Interior Ministry said the chief suspect had previously tried to fight alongside Islamist militants in Russia’s turbulent Chechnya republic and in Iraq.

It said he built two remotely detonated bombs using instructions downloaded from the Internet, then dressed like a tourist and planted them in a cafe overlooking Marrakesh’s Jemaa el-Fna square.

The bombs ripped through the cafe, which is often packed with tourists.

Western security experts said the aim was probably to damage the tourism industry on which Morocco depends.

The kingdom is usually seen as a haven of stability in a volatile region, but it has faced demonstrations in recent weeks, joined by the trade unions last weekend, demanding a change of government and greater democratic freedoms.

The government has offered a public sector pay rise, reform of the constitution and greater independence for the judiciary. Protesters have accused the government of trying to use the bomb attack to raise fears of instability and dissuade people from taking to the streets.