Morocco: What the CIA thought of Crown Prince Sidi Mohamed

Morocco, Hassan II, Mohammed VI, CIA,

Under the title « Morocco: The Question of Succession », the CIA drew a detailed portrait of the life of the then Crown Prince and now King of Morocco Mohammed VI. The report was written in 1982 and declassified in 2008. Here are some excerpts on Prince Sidi Mohamed.

We believe that Sidi Mohamed would follow his father’s moderate, pro-Western stance in the early years of his reign. At least, initially, loyalists of Hassan’s palace clique are likely to dominate Sidi Mohamed’s group pf advisers. Their subsequent jockeying for power, however, could weaken Sidi Mohamed’s control of the instruments of power.
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A fundamentalist revolutionary regime is the least likely government to come to power after Hassan dies. Althoug the extremist religious groups would challenge the legitimacy of Sidi Mohamed, they lack a strong charismatic leader and are not sufficiently well organized to make a successful bid for power.
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Sidi Mohamed has been rigourously groomed since childhood to be the heir to the Moroccan throne, according to US Embassy Reporting, He frequently appears in public with his father and sometimes performs ceremonial fonctions by himself. During the past two years, Sidi Mohamed has been eased slowly into more important official functions; the Crown Prince attended the Fez and OAU summits in 1981 and has been sent occasionally as special envoy in 1981 and has been sent occasionally as special envoy to deliver personnal messages from his father.

Sidi Mohamed has been educated at the palace school, which provides a careful mix of royal children and selected commoners from proper families. The school appears to revolve primarily around the education of the Crown Prince, as a new grade level is added when Sidi Mohamed is promoted; According to US Embassy, the pupils work hard and are in class almost all day.

The Regency Council members a year later formalized the succession arrangements and was intended to allay public concern regarding the transition. Hassan Priobably believed a broadly representativ » council including key interest groups would preserve popular support for the monarchy if the council ever exercised any power.

Loyal service to the Alaouite throne is the shared hallmark of the council members. Most have been close confidants of Hassan for at least 20 years, and two are distant relatives; In our view, General Ahmed Dlimi; Hassan’ senior military and intelligence adviser, is the only member likely to be a strong, independent political figure; We believe that Hassan may hope that real power and control during a transition period would remain with Dlimi and his closest political adviser, Ahmed Reda Guedira, with the others acting as a rubberstamp to show broad support for the new monarch.

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