Morocco anxious about the United States

Press, 14 June 1978, Page 18

Morocco anxious about the United States

By

JIM HOAGLAND

in the “Guardian”

Their red capes and ceremonial lances flashing in the bright Nonh African sun, two guards at the Royal Palace in Fez burst into a chant as King Hassan II approached their post one day last month. “God watch over His Majesty,” the guards implored as the King passed into the courtyard. Once the jauntiest and most self-assured of Arab rulers, the Moroccan monarch todays treads the palace grounds exuding a sombre, even worried, air. God may be watching over him, but the King has begun to believe in recent months that the United States no longer is. After two decades of close co-operation and unquestioning support from Washington for his throne and his policies, King Hassan, 48, appears to have been shaken by the Carter Administration’s failure to renew a warm American embrace that in the past resulted in United States military base rights here and diplomatic support for American objectives in Africa and the Middle East.

Still hoping to repair an alliance that he sees as strategically vital for both countries, King Hassan declined during an interview to voice a direct opinion of President Carter’s foreign policy “for fear of offending friends by being too frank.” But his new concerns were evident in all of his remarks. He invited Mr Andrew Young to visit Morocco on his next trip to Africa so that the United States Ambassador to the United Nations could “get a more clear idea of Africa.” King Hassan also said he hoped a state visit to Washington that he called off last December could now be rescheduled. In many ways, King Hassan’s doubts about American policy typify those of other conservative or moderate Third World leaders who have been disorientated by the Carter Administration’s efforts to woo rather than confront radical States and selectively to lessen involvement with some traditional allies. But Morocco’s strategic position

as a junction point for African. Middle Eastern and Mediterranean conflicts gives those doubts special weight. He is clearly uncomfortable at being excluded from the inner circles of American friends abroad for the first time since he came to power in 1961. His rule, endangered twice by nearly successful coup attempts, has been bolstered by a military pact, whose provisions are still secret, with the United States that established American military bases here. But the permanent American military presence in Morocco has been gradually phased out. The last important facility, the Kenitra Communications Centre, is due to be closed by September 1. The lessening of direct American interests here comes just as King Hassan had turned to the United States for increased help in putting down a guerrilla war that is increasingly draining the Moroccan economy. Late last year, the Moroccans were rebuffed by Washington when they asked to buy slowflying reconnaissance and

bombing “Broncho” aircraft and helicopters to be used in the Sahara war. Last December the King abruptly called off a scheduled visit to Washington to meet President Carter when it became clear the arms proposal would probably be shelved. King Hassan said he had been told the Administration sought to delay sending the arms request to Congress until after the package of war planes for Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel had passed. “I can’t see anything legally and objectively, that would keep the United States from selling us the helicopters and planes now,” he said, adding he hoped a meeting with President Carter could be arranged for early autumn. The King’s differences with the United States show even more deeply than the Sahara dispute. He indicated a broad range of concern about the way the United States views its w’orld role in the postVietnam period. “Andrew Young should not visit only countries like Rhodesia where there are problems that give an artificial

and superficial view of Africa,” he said. “He should visit Senegal, the Ivory Coast, and other (moderate) countries. He should come see us. There are great differ-

ences between the different regions of Africa. You cannot treat the people of Nigeria like the people of Kenya just because both are black.”