Morocco: Bloody Birthday

THOUGH he was once one of the more notorious playboys of the Arab world, Morocco's King Hassan II quickly proved himself a sober ruler when he acceded to the throne more than ten years ago. But the slim, dark-eyed monarch still enjoys a good bash, and he decided to celebrate in style when he turned 42 last week. Accordingly, he invited 500 guests, including Cabinet Ministers, generals and the diplomatic corps, to join him at Skhirat, one of his ten palaces, which is situated at a seaside spa ten miles outside Rabat.

What Hassan did not know was that rebellious junior officers in his 50,000-man army were planning to crash the party and topple his pro-Western regime. His guests were hardly seated for lunch beside Skhirat's swimming pool when some 30 truckloads of mutineers rolled up to the palace and began raking it with machine guns, grenades and mortars.

Hassan was pulled to safety by aides. But the guests, many of whom thought that the shooting was part of the king's birthday fireworks, became ducks in a palatial gallery when loyal troops started firing back. Belgian Ambassador Marcel Dupret fell dead with a bullet in his chest. General Mohammed Nmichi, commander of Morocco's air force, was killed, as were three army generals and two Cabinet Ministers. At least 100 people were wounded including Saudi Arabian Ambassador Fakhri el Adhr and the King's brother, Prince Moulay Abdullah. Hundreds who had expected a pleasant summer outing were terrified and scattered for cover.

A Right Royal Damn. Rebels appeared throughout Morocco. Even while hundreds of army cadets attacked at Skhirat, other anti-Hassan forces seized radio stations in Rabat, the capital, and Casablanca, announced that the King had been overthrown, and proclaimed a "revolutionary republic." Shouting slogans like "Socialism has arrived--down with the monarchy!" rebel broadcasters brought thousands of dissident Moroccans into the streets. Many gleefully tore down birthday posters bearing Hassan's portrait. But their demonstration proved short-lived as baton-wielding police beat them back.

Pro-Hassan forces, under Interior Minister General Mohammed Oufkir, quickly rallied. A gaunt, laconic Berber from the Atlas Mountains, Oufkir has been unswervingly loyal to Hassan. Four years ago, after the Moroccan leftist Mehdi Ben Barka disappeared in France, the De Gaulle government tried and convicted Oufkir in absentia for murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

Last week Hassan gave his Interior Minister wide authority to put down the disturbances. Oufkir used that power as ruthlessly as he did six years ago, when troops were called out to put down student demonstrations in Casablanca, the first serious anti-Hassan riot.

Hours after his bloody birthday party, Hassan was on the radio assuring his 15.5 million people that he was unharmed. During the broadcast he noted that his Arab ally, the far left revolutionary regime of Libya, had immediately supported the rebels and threatened to intervene (this would have been quite a feat, since it is separated from Morocco by 650 miles of Algeria). "Personally," said the King, "I will tell you about Libya in the most vulgar manner possible. I don't give a right royal damn." Meanwhile, Algeria's Houari Boumedienne, a devotee of Arab socialism who resents monarchs, issued no statements, but called his Cabinet into session to discuss the Moroccan events.

Absolute Power. Hassan could congratulate himself on surviving an attempted coup. But he could scarcely overlook the fact that apart from tiny Tunisia, he was a man alone in a North African littoral where the dominant mood is Nasser-style Arab socialism. Hassan introduced Morocco's first Parliament in 1963, but dissolved it 18 months later when it proved fractious and unproductive. Last year he set up a modified parliamentary system, but to all intents and purposes, he is still absolute ruler over the westernmost of the Arab lands. As a descendant of Mohammed, he has spiritual as well as temporal authority and frequently doffs his smart Western clothes for traditional Moroccan white robes.

Opposition parties have been trying to get him to doff some of his power as well. Angry over agriculture setbacks, unchecked population growth, the lack of jobs for graduating students, and the presence in Morocco of three sensitive Western bases, they have launched demonstrations and, according to the King, actual plots against the crown. Last month 192 people were put on trial in Marrakech for threatening the regime. There have been other less spectacular attempts on Hassan's life, and there are persistent reports that Moroccans are training in Algeria and Syria to overthrow the King.

At week's end Hassan and his followers seemed to be in control--though it was not yet certain whether Vice President Spiro Agnew would go through with his visit scheduled for next week. With its strategic position at the western gate of the Mediterranean, its status as a monarchy in the midst of revolutionary regimes and its domestic problems, Morocco seems too tempting a target to stay quiet for long.

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