Six Months Without Madeleine McCann: Morocco Sighting Legit?

By Keith Walters Jones Nov 3, 2007

Madeleine McCann disappeared on the evening of Thursday, May 3rd. That was a full six months ago. She was snatched from the resort of Praia da Luz in the Algarve, Portugal, just days short of her fourth birthday. One hundred and eighty days later, it appears that authorities are no closer to finding the now four year old little girl. Her parents Kate and Gerry McCann have commented on the grim date.

Six Months Without Madeleine McCann: Morocco Sighting Legit?

Gerry writes, "Today marks six months since Madeleine was taken from us. It is an incredibly long time for us but must be even longer for Madeleine. It is so painful for us simply being separated, but all the more distressing when we have to speculate about the situation Madeleine finds herself. We have no idea whether she is suffering but we have to hope and pray that she is being treated like a princess, as she deserves."

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Continuing: "This afternoon there will be prayer vigils in Liverpool, Praia da Luz and many friends will be praying in Glasgow. Tonight we will be attending an ecumenical service to pray for Madeleine and other children who are suffering. There is again a lot of media presence in Rothley and the upshot is that millions of people know Madeleine is still missing and that we will not give up looking for her."

He concludes with this pea, "We urge anyone who may have information that might help us find Madeleine to call us on the confidential number +34 902 300 213, which is manned by private detectives in Spain or e-mail investigation@findmadeleine.com, or contact the police."

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There have been more reports of a sighting in Morocco. The UK Daily Mirror reports that a Moroccan police chief yesterday said officers were scouring the north of the country after the most recent sighting of a Madeleine look-alike. Mum Naoual Malhi saw a little blonde girl with Madeleine's distinctive eye mark being bundled into a taxi in the town of Fnidk by a Moroccan woman and driven away.

According to the UK Daily Express she said, " She said: “I am certain it was Madeleine. She had the same mark of Madeleine that I have seen in the posters and looked exactly like her.” Mrs. Malhi said she was told by police that more than 100 people had called them to report seeing the missing four-year-old in the same mountain area.

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She alerted police about a month ago that she had seen Madeleine with an older woman, who tried to hide the girl as she whisked her away in a battered Mercedes taxi. Ms Malhi, who has a four-year-old daughter, was shopping in the coastal town of Fnidek during a holiday when she spotted the girl with a middle-aged woman.

“I went to Morocco on August 19. I saw Madeleine between August 22 and September 7,” she said last night.

From nationalledger
http://www.nationalledger.com/artman/publish/article_272617038.shtml

Moroccan ambassador quits Spain amid tension over royal visit

RABAT (AFP) — Morocco's ambassador to Spain returned home on Saturday as tensions between the two nations rose over the Spanish king's planned visit to two disputed territories in north Africa.

"Mr Omar Azziman returned to Morocco today for consultations," a Moroccan government official said.

Spanish officials expressed surprise Saturday at the level of controversy sparked by the announcement of the visit.

Spanish Defence Minister Jose Antonio Alonso told radio Cadena Ser on Saturday that the visit was not organised "against anyone".

He called for moderation to avoid "a deterioration in relations between the two countries, which currently have very good relations and share numerous interests".

Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said Madrid did not intend to take similar measures and recall its ambassador from Rabat, saying that he hoped Morocco's "sovereign" decision "would not affect" bilateral relations.

Morocco had announced Friday that it would recall its ambassador from Madrid to protest King Juan Carlos' visit next week to the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla neighbouring Morocco on the north African coast.

Moroccan groups also planned demonstrations against the king's visit.

"Moroccans do not intend to stand still before the offence being carried out against them, and protests are planned," Moroccan senator Yehya Yehya told AFP.

Rabat has always considered Ceuta and Melilla to be part of its territory, although they have been under Spanish control for more than 400 years.

A visit last year by Spain's socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to Ceuta and Melilla was not well received in Rabat.

It was the first official visit by a Spanish prime minister to the two enclaves since the early 1980s.

Spanish daily El Pais reported Saturday that the Moroccan announcement surprised Madrid, especially because Moratinos was on a semi-private trip in Morocco to attend a cultural festival.

"If Moratinos had any idea that this was going to happen, he would not have spent the long weekend in Morocco," a Spanish diplomat told El Pais.

A ministry spokesman confirmed to AFP that Moratinos was in Morocco and slated to return to Spain on Saturday afternoon.

Spanish newspapers called Rabat's reaction to King Juan Carlos' visit disproportionate.

One editorial in El Mundo pointed out that Ceuta and Melilla are Spanish territories and have been so "since the 15th and 16th centuries".

The Moroccan press had a different take, noting that the visit coincides with the 22nd anniversary of the "Green March". This was when 350,000 Moroccans marched into Western Sahara, located south of Morocco, to force Spain to give over the territory.

"The Spanish royalty is coming to open the famous Pandora's box without any apparent worries of the consequences that their decision brings," wrote Le Matin newspaper.

Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia are expected to visit Ceuta on Monday, where they will visit local officials and have lunch, before moving on to Melilla.

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The cultural impact of the french colonialism on the Moroccan identity

The nature of colonialism in the form of ancient and modern history is to exploit peoples and vulgarize them if possible at all levels, including the exploitation of culture. This immensity concept of the cultural activity in the western colonial period arises in Morocco just after the treaty of protection in 1912, which played a vital rule supporting and stabilizing the French colonial presence in the area. Thus, the French cultural immerse in Morocco affected the national principles by injecting economy, education, media, administrations, politics… external values that do not correspond with the Moroccan identity at any point. Consequently, Arabic for instance takes place only in poetry and as the language of the Quran, religion and traditions. In other words, it has become believed that it is unfit as a language of the modern age just as the same as any other national structure.
by Abdelkrim Amrani