Morocco’s foreign minister hasn’t responded to a request for comment about why it hadn’t accepted offers of help from other countries.
Morocco has been picky about donor countries because of “a mixture of pride and incompetence,” said Lise Storm, a professor specializing in North African politics at England’s University of Exeter. “It might sound a bit harsh saying that about the Moroccan government at this time — but it’s true.”
She and other analysts aren’t surprised the country refused aid from France — “you don’t want aid from the former colonial power” — and the U.S. is often treated with trepidation because it “is always seen as a meddler” by Morocco and others in the region, she said.
Domestically, Morocco does hold democratic elections, but the king retains “full dominance” of the country’s political institutions and can disband the legislature or dismiss Cabinet members.
The disaster response reinforces the idea that the government doesn’t care about the impoverished mountain communities rocked by the quake, Storm added, instead favoring wealthier metropolitan populations and foreign tourists.
As usual with such disasters, aid agencies are a key part of the picture. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has released 1 million Swiss francs ($1.1 million) to help with the effort. Such independent agencies have to maintain relationships with their host countries and so wouldn’t be expected to “comment on questions that cover geopolitics, national politics or policy,” Todd Bernhardt, a spokesperson for the International Medical Corps, said in an email.
Local news is awash with stories from Spanish rescue teams impressed by the professionalism of their Moroccan counterparts. And so far things have gone smoothly, said Rob Norman, a command support officer with the U.K. International Search and Rescue Team, which responds to international disasters on behalf of the British Foreign Office.
“The initial challenge in every sort of disaster situation, initially, is getting into the country, which thankfully, due to the brilliant relationships between the U.K. government and Moroccan government, we were able to do very swiftly,” he said. “We’ve established this base of operations, we’ve deployed teams out into the field yesterday, which I think is a demonstration of how swiftly that whole process has been managed.”
For people like Zahra Ait Abdalah, 50, whose home in the neighborhood of Douar Dlam, a suburb of Marrakech, was destroyed, help can’t come soon enough.
“We have nothing, because all of our belongings — our money, clothes, everything — were inside,” said Abdalah, who is seeking shelter in a tent with her husband and five children.
“The roof fell on my head, and I was injured,” she added. Now “I have nothing to wear. And I have nothing to eat.”
Matt Bradley, Raf Sanchez, Susan Archer and Bill O’Reilly reported from Morocco and Alexander Smith from London. Charlene Gubash contributed from Morocco.
