One key motivator for Morocco to seek alternatives to Oil, is it's neighbor and arch enemy Algeria. Think of it like USA vs Russia and their race to be the Nr 1. All the advancement in telecommunication, Space, Robotics..etc are partly due to this race. Algeria actively supports separatists in the Sahara (Polisario front) for independence. Algeria was a very rich country until the recent demise of Oil price. Morocco has to compete with a neighbor with a very big budget and a military that is buying more and more sophisticated equipment and arsenal. Alternatives had to be found. So for energy, independence is a must have for Morocco, dictated by a geo-political environment that is not stable and very volatile.
Sorry, I didn't mean to say they were a rich country, but had the means to advance rapidly compared to other third world countries.
Algeria had 186B$ of cash and was debt free. It even lent 5B$ to the IMF[1].
that is the biggest pile of steaming BS I have ever heard. Morocco is in control of all of the Sahara west of the buffer area. People in the Sahara have moroccan ID cards, vote for Moroccan elections (they just voted for locals where they participated more than other parts of Morocco).
Edit: another factor is this is near Ouarzazate, no where near the (Moroccan) Western Sahara.
That's the de facto situation, whereas I was referring to the de jure one. Ouarzazate is nowhere near Western Sahara, but I was just clarifying the parent comment.
I don't see where that conflicts with the previous claim. In particular, it's telling that the Manhasset negotiations didn't involve a Spanish delegation.
it is, I am talking about the actual situation not PLANS. Morocco DOES control everything west of the buffer zones and the population in there DOES have Moroccan national ID cards and they DO vote.
Edit: from the article "Western Sahara fell under Spanish rule in 1884". Because history started in 1884. Western Sahara was for Many centuries part of Morocco, it was not a country by modern standards, but local tribes did recognise reign of the Moroccan kings. there was never a "western Sahara kingdom"
Mohammed Abdelaziz, the long time leader (talk about democracy) of the Polisario camps in Algeria, was born in Marrakech, Morocco, and studied at Mohammed V University in Rabat.
