RABAT, Nov 17, 2007 (AFP) - Morocco's justice ministry said Saturday it had not received four arrest warrants reportedly issued by Interpol for senior Moroccan officials in connection with the 1965 disappearance of opposition leader Mehdi Ben Barka.

A ministry statement also strongly criticised the conduct of the French probe into the abduction of Ben Barka, a charismatic foe of Morocco's late king Hassan II who has not been seen since he was snatched on a Paris street and is widely believed to be dead.

KINSHASA, Nov 17, 2007 (AFP) - The UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo has opened an investigation into allegations of violent sexual abuse implicating one of its soldiers in the country's northeast, it said Saturday.

The incident is alleged to have involved a soldier from the mission's base in Bunia in the Ituri district and occurred on the night between November 13 and 14, the mission said in a statement.

It added that 'all allegations of this nature are taken seriously by the mission'.

PARIS, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy heads on Monday to Morocco for a three-day state visit intended to cement ties with the former colony and clinch a raft of high-profile trade deals.

King Mohammed VI is to roll out the red carpet for his 'friend' Sarkozy, whose visit was initially planned as part of an African tour in July but was postponed at Rabat's request.

Travelling with a 70-strong delegation of business leaders, Sarkozy was to meet Mohamed VI and deliver a speech to parliament.

RABAT, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - France and Morocco are to sign a deal on Monday for the construction of a high-speed rail link between the cities of Tangiers and Marrakech, sources and media reports said.

The agreement is to be sealed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy during his visit to the north African kingdom, several sources told AFP on Friday.

RABAT, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) - King Mohammed VI of Morocco received the new government in Rabat headed by the conservative Istiqlal party's Abbas El Fassi in a swearing in ceremony on Monday, according to an official source.

The king held the nomination ceremony for Prime Minister El Fassi's new coalition cabinet at his palace in Rabat.

El Fassi won the September 7 legislative elections in a surprise victory and was named to the post of prime minister on September 19 by the king. He created a new government replacing former prime minister Driss Jettou's cabinet.

PARIS, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) - French first lady Cecilia Sarkozy will not accompany President Nicolas Sarkozy on a state visit to Morocco next week, his spokesman said Monday but he declined to comment on reports that they are getting a divorce.

'I have no comment to make on this issue,' presidential spokesman David Martinon told journalists who asked about a spate of articles over the past week reporting that the couple had decided to end their marriage.

RABAT, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - Czech movie director Milos Forman will preside over the seventh international Marrakesh film festival to be held in December, the organisers announced Friday.

Forman won the Oscar twice for his films 'Amadeus' and 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.'

The festival will spotlight Egypt, which marks a century of film-making this year. The official selection of festival movies will be announced in the middle of November.

Polish filmmaker Roman Polanski headed last year's festival jury.

OTTAWA, Oct 10, 2007 (AFP) - The federal court on Wednesday refused to unshackle a Moroccan living under strict bail conditions, saying his alleged Al Al Qaeda links pose a danger that must be counteracted.

Released in 2005 after two years in detention, Adil Charkaoui, 33, must adhere to dour restrictions, such as wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet and not using a mobile phone, or face prison.

RABAT, Oct 8, 2007 (AFP) - Moroccan authorities are holding five men on charges of planning terrorist attacks, judicial sources said Monday.

The five, from a village near the capital Rabat, were formally detained Monday after appearing before a court, the sources said, without further identifying those arrested.

They had been picked up at the end of last month.

BAMAKO, Oct 8, 2007 (AFP) - A total of 114 would-be illegal migrants were flown back home on Monday after they failed to clandestinely enter Europe through Morocco, the returnees said.

'We are voluntary repatriates. It is now very difficult to go to Europe through Morocco. We chose to come back home,' Mohamed Diane, one of the returnees, told AFP on arrival in Bamako.

Yet others said they would still try to reach Europe through alternative routes such as Senegal or Libya.

MADRID, Oct 5, 2007 (AFP) - The Spanish government approved Friday the extradition of two Moroccan Islamic extremists who planned to travel to Iraq to attend military training camps and fight, the justice ministry said.

Mohammed Laksir and Miftah Idrissi are accused of membership in a terrorist organization and were arrested in Barcelona on June 26, it said in a statement.

RABAT, Oct 3, 2007 (AFP) - Moroccan magistrates placed a suicide bomber who survived his own attack against a tourist bus in August in preventive detention Wednesday, the Moroccan news agency Map reported.

Hicham Doukkali, 30, has only recently recovered from his injuries sufficiently to go before the court in Sale, near the Moroccan capital, Rabat.

ZINAT, Morocco, Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) - A blonde girl photographed by a tourist in northern Morocco is not missing British toddler Madeleine McCann, the child's bewildered parents said Wednesday.

She is Bouchra Benaissa, born October 24, 2004, at the village of Zinat, near Tetouan in northern Morocco, her father Ahmed Ben Mohamed Benaissa, a farmer, and mother Hafida Achkar told an AFP photographer.

YAOUNDE, Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) - A Moroccan diplomat has died after being attacked in the streets of the Cameroon capital, the Moroccan embassy said on Wednesday.

Khaled Barnossi, 42, who had been working in Cameroon for three years, was found unconscious on Monday near his home in the Bastos residential area of Yaounde.

'We do not know what happened. As he did every evening, after breaking the Ramadan fast at about 6:30 p.m., he went to a telephone box near his home to make a call to his family in Paris,' embassy official Mohamed Abarghaz said.

RABAT, Sept 24, 2007 (AFP) - Police and demonstrators protesting high food prices clashed Sunday in the central Moroccan city of Sefrou, leaving 50 people injured, officials and witnesses said.

Witnesses said the demonstrators, who threw rocks at police, also trashed a bank office, several shops and an local administration office.

Police arrested about 30 people, according to witnesses.

The Moroccan Human Rights Association, which organised the demonstration, said that police had detained 28 people, including two of its activists.

BAMAKO, Sept 23, 2007 (AFP) - Thirty-seven would-be immigrants from the Democratic Republic of Congo arrived in Mali's capital this weekend after failing to enter Morocco and Algeria, one of the returnees said Sunday.

To add to their woes, they were blocked in northern Mali for nearly a month due to clashes between Tuareg rebels and government soldiers, he said.

LONDON, Sept 23, 2007 (AFP) - Missing British girl Madeleine McCann was reported seen in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh by two unrelated witnesses days after she disappeared in Portugal, newspapers reported Sunday.

A British man has told police he is certain that a little girl he saw in the lobby of the Ibis hotel in Marrakesh was McCann, who vanished days earlier from the family's hotel apartment in the Algarve on May 3, The Sunday Express said.

He contacted police after he flew home to Britain and saw news reports of her abduction, it said.

MADRID, Sept 21, 2007 (AFP) - The Spanish government on Friday approved the extradition of a Moroccan terror suspect to his own country, the Spanish justice ministry said on Friday.

Abdellatif Zehraoui, 29, is suspected of belonging to a cell of the radical Islamic group Al-Al Qaeda in the Maghreb.

Zehraoui was arrested with three other Moroccans on June 29 near Barcelona. The four were suspected of belonging to a recruitment cell that sent members to 'terrorist camps' in the semi-arid Sahel region, said the ministry.

RABAT, Sept 21, 2007 (AFP) - The head of Morroco's moderate Islamist party which made a breakthrough in a general election said in a newspaper interview published Friday that he would rather stay in opposition than get a weak role in government.

The comments by Justice and Development Party (PJD) secretary general Saad Eddine Othmani came as new prime minister Abbas El Fassi pursued contacts with the main parties to form a new government.

RABAT, Sept 20, 2007 (AFP) - Morocco's new prime minister Abbas El Fassi on Thursday began consultations on forming a post-election government, with most attention focused on how the main Islamist party would be handled.

While analysts said it was possible the Justice and Development Party (PJD) could be involved, most said the outgoing coalition would probably be renewed.

RABAT, Sept 19, 2007 (AFP) - King Mohammed VI on Wednesday named Abbas El Fassi Morocco's new prime minister after his nationalist Istiqlal party won September 7 elections.

'King Mohammed VI received Abbas El Fassi at the royal palace in Rabat and named him prime minister,' the palace said.

The king had let it be known that he would choose a prime minister from the Istiqlal party as it emerged as the surprise winner of the election, although he was not obliged to.

RABAT, Sept 19, 2007 (AFP) - King Mohammed VI on Wednesday named Abbas El Fassi Morocco's new prime minister after his nationalist Istiqlal party won September 7 elections.

'King Mohammed VI received Abbas El Fassi at the royal place in Rabat and named him prime minister,' the palace said.

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TANGIERS, Morocco, Sept 19, 2007 (AFP) - Moroccan customs officials said Tuesday they had arrested three Portuguese and a Spanish national in two separate operations in this port city against drug traffickers.

The Spaniard was detained Tuesday afternoon as he was about to leave Tangiers for the Spanish mainland city of Algeciras with 435 kilograms (960 pounds) of cannabis resin hidden in his car.

Customs officials also discovered five kilograms (11 pounds) of cannabis resin in the tank of the car of the Portuguese nationals.

CASABLANCA, Sept 18, 2007 (AFP) - A Moroccan court on Tuesday slightly reduced the sentences of two journalists convicted for publishing confidential information related to the country's anti-terrorism operations.

An appeals court in Casablanca sentenced Mustapha Hormat Allah to seven months in prison, instead of eight months, while his boss Abderrahim Ariri was given a five-month suspended sentence in place of six months suspended.

RABAT, Sept 17, 2007 (AFP) - Fifteen Moroccans were killed and 42 injured when a bus skidded into a ravine in the southeast of the country, the national MAP news agency reported Monday.

It said that seven of those killed in the accident late Sunday near the town of Errachidia were soldiers returning to barracks from leave.

The vehicle travelling between Marrakesh and Errachidia went off the road on a tight bend.

Fatal road casualties in Morocco rose by more than four percent last year to 3,622 compared with 2005, according to official figures.

RABAT, Sept 13, 2007 (AFP) - Ballot-box corruption marred Morocco's legislative elections this month, a report from a group of Moroccan observers alleged Thursday, despite an all-clear from international monitors.

The preliminary report from a group of 617 Moroccan associations on the September 7 elections said 'the honesty of the elections was compromised by the pressure exerted on large sectors of the electorate, in particular by the illicit use of money, merchandise and promises.'

RABAT, Sept 12, 2007 (AFP) - A Moroccan prosecutor called Wednesday for 21 Islamists suspected of Al-Al Qaeda links, including two Belgian nationals of Moroccan origin, to be punished with up to 20 years in jail.

They are wanted for 'collecting and managing funds' and 'creating a criminal group for committing terrorist acts.'

The prosecutor did not specify how many years he was seeking but called for 'sentences corresponding to the charges against them.' The maximum possible prison term for such charges is 20 years under Moroccan law.

CASABLANCA, Morocco, Sept 11, 2007 (AFP) - A Moroccan journalist sentenced to eight months in prison in August for publishing secret military intelligence documents was released on probation Tuesday by the appeals court in Casablanca.

'I am happy to be free and to rejoin my family after being unjustly deprived of my freedom for several weeks,' Mustapha Hormat Allah said after emerging from Casablanca's Okacha prison.

A visibly relaxed Allah picked up his son one-year-old son Sufian in his arms after being greeted by his wife and his two lawyers outside the prison.

RABAT, Sept 11, 2007 (AFP) - A Moroccan journalist sentenced to eight months in prison in August for publishing secret military intelligence documents was released on probation Tuesday by the appeals court in Casablanca.

'I am relieved and happy that the court has decided to release Mustapha Hormat Allah on probation,' the journalist's boss, Abderrahim Ariri, director of the Al Watan Al An weekly, told AFP.

WASHINGTON, Sept 10, 2007 (AFP) - The United States on Monday congratulated Morocco on parliamentary elections held Friday, saying the vote represented a 'step forward' for the country.

'The United States congratulates the Government and citizens of Morocco on the parliamentary elections held September 7,' said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

'We see the elections as another step forward for Morocco, and we support the Moroccan people as they build a more democratic, representative government,' he said.

RABAT, Sept 10, 2007 (AFP) - Morocco's king will consult with political leaders over the next few days to decide on a new prime minister following the definitive results of last week's elections, the royal palace said Monday.

King Mohammed VI has let it be known that he plans to choose a prime minister from the nationalist Istiqlal party as it emerged as the surprise winner of Friday's poll, although he is not obliged to.

GENEVA, Sept 10, 2007 (AFP) - Max the white stork has begun her annual migration south from the German mountains to her winter nesting place in Morocco, scientists in Switzerland said Monday.

They know this because Max is no ordinary large wading bird -- she has carried a tracking device longer than any other animal and has been monitored by satellite on her last eight return trips.

PARIS, Sept 10, 2007 (AFP) - France on Monday welcomed the outcome of elections in Morocco as proof that democracy had taken hold in the north African country and said the vote was held in a transparent manner.

Morocco's nationalist party Istiqlal emerged as the surprise winner in the elections held Friday that had been expected to see moderate Islamists gain ground. The vote was marred by the lowest turnout ever.

RABAT, Sept 10, 2007 (AFP) - Morocco's nationalist party Istiqlal emerged as the surprise winner in elections with 52 seats in a vote marred by the lowest turnout ever, according to official results published Monday.

The moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) was in second place with 46 seats, followed by The Union of Socialist Popular Forces (USFP) with 38 seats, the interior ministry said, announcing definitive results.

Istiqlal has vowed to maintain an alliance with the Socialists.

RABAT, Sept 8, 2007 (AFP) - Moroccan nationalist party Istiqlal on Sunday vowed to keep an alliance with socialists after emerging as the surprise winner in elections marred by the lowest turnout ever in the north African nation.

'We will respect the commitments that we have signed with our friends ... we must work towards a common position on the formation of a government,' said Abbas El Fassi, secretary general of Istiqlal, Morocco's oldest party.

RABAT, Sept 8, 2007 (AFP) - Morocco's oldest political party Istiqlal emerged Saturday as the biggest in parliament after an election marred by the lowest turnout ever recorded in the North African nation.

The nationalist Istiqlal won 52 seats, five more than the moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD), according to preliminary results quoted by Interior Minister Chakib Benmoussa. The Union of Socialist Popular Forces (USFP) trailed in third place with 36 seats.

RABAT, Sept 8, 2007 (AFP) - Morocco's nationalist Istiqlal party won Saturday a suprise victory in the country's legislative elections, pushing the main Islamist party into second place, the interior minister said.

Istiqlal won 52 seats, five more than the Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD), Interior Minister Chakib Benmoussa said.

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RABAT, Sept 8, 2007 (AFP) - Morocco's main Islamist party accused rivals of electoral fraud on Saturday after early results indicated they had failed to become the biggest single party in a general election marked by voter apathy.

'We think we will get 52 seats in total, which is disappointing. Money from our rivals was changing hands all over the place,' the Justice and Development Party (PJD) number two Lahcen Daoudi said.

RABAT, Sept 8, 2007 (AFP) - Morocco's main opposition Islamist party accused rivals of electoral fraud on Saturday after early results indicated they failed to achieve a breakthrough in legislative elections marked by voter apathy.

'We think we will get 52 seats in total, which is disappointing. Money from our rivals was changing hands all over the place,' the Justice and Development Party (PJD)'s number two Lahcen Daoudi said.

RABAT, Sept 8, 2007 (AFP) - Morocco's main opposition Islamist party failed to make its hoped-for breakthrough in Friday's legislative elections, marked by an historic low turnout of only 41 percent, early results showed Saturday.

The Justice and Development Party (PJD), whi