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http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/12/15/10174965.html

12/15/2007 01:18 AM | By Scott Shuey, Chief Business Reporter

Dubai: It could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

A Moroccan delegation, comprising government officials and industry leaders, visited Dubai last week looking for ways to build trade relations.

The country, known more for tourism and Casablanca than technology, is actively looking to expand its image as an information and communication technology (ICT) hub.

Jamal Benhamou, director and CEO of the Federation of Information Technologies, Telecommunications and Offshoring (Apebi), said that while the country may not yet be known for ICT, it plans to use the recent infrastructure upgrades and its position as a trade hub to change. Benhamou said his organisation's objective is to support innovation and development in Morocco's IT sector and increase the number of companies doing business there.

"To be successful, we had to build up step by step, so we built up our original position in North Africa," he said. Then the country had to make sure that an environment existed where international investors could benefit. Now that the country has that, he says, he's trying to spread the word in Dubai.

More than 42,000 people are currently employed in Morocco's ICT sector in 1,500 firms, Apebi claims. The Moroccan ICT sector grew 9.6 per cent to $638.69 million between 2001 and 2006, and the government expects the sector to reach $9 billion by 2012.

It isn't just foreign direct investment (FDI) that Morocco is looking for. Moroccan companies are also eyeing the Gulf region.

"There are so many countries that you can reach so easily from Dubai," said Chemsedine Ould Sidi-Baba, executive manager of Cadtech, a Moroccan company looking to expand into fleet management and tracking services. "Instead of going to other countries, you open an office in Dubai and from there you can reach the entire regional market."

Jyoti Lalchandani, the regional managing director for IDC, which provides analysis for the ICT industry, said there are a number of reasons that make Morocco competitive in the wider regional market, where it competes with countries such as Egypt.

"Morocco definitely understands that it competes with Egypt in terms of some of the localisation and customisation work, or 'Arabisation' as we call it," he said. But the country offers a more mature market, and aims to make it easier for companies to set up shop there, he said.

By Nick Britten

A witness in the Madeleine McCann case has broken her silence to protest the innocence of the missing four-year-old's parents and recount the haunting night she disappeared. More on the disappearance of Madeleine McCann Madeleine will be home for Christmas, says PI Find Madeleine campaign Bridget O'Donnell and her partner, Jeremy Wilkins, befriended Kate and Gerry McCann during their week-long holiday in Portugal and have now given the most insightful account yet of their agony after the "catastrophic" disappearance of the little girl. Telegraph TV: The private investigator hired by the McCanns said Madeleine could be home by Christmas Miss O'Donnell, who worked as a producer on BBC's Crimewatch programme, said that she has "always believed that Gerry and Kate McCann are innocent". In an interview with the Guardian, she rubbished police theories that Madeleine was killed inside her parent's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz by revealing that on the night of May 3 Mr McCann was as chatty, "calm and relaxed" as ever, until the discovery that his daughter was missing from her bed. She also criticised Portuguese detectives for failing to take a statement from her and her partner, and said police officers did not even recognise a photograph of Madeleine the day after the incident. Speaking about the night Madeleine went missing, Miss O'Donnell said: "Our baby would not sleep and at about 8.30pm, Jes (Mr Wilkins) took him out for a walk in the buggy to settle him. "Gerry was on his way back from checking on his children and the two men stopped to have a chat. "They talked about daughters, fathers, families. Gerry was relaxed and friendly. advertisement "They discussed the babysitting dilemmas at the resort and Gerry said that he and Kate would have stayed in too, if they had not been on holiday in a group. "Jes returned to our apartment just before 9.30pm. We ate, drank wine, watched a DVD and then went to bed. "On the ground floor, a completely catastrophic event was taking place. On the fourth floor of the next block, we were completely oblivious." Confirmation of the conversation between Mr Wilkins and Mr McCann is crucial because police believe at that time Madeleine was already dead and Mr McCann was hiding her body. It also corroborates the timeline of events given to the police by the McCanns and their friends. Miss O'Donnell described how the tragic event led to an immediate, physical transformation in the McCanns after the loss of their daughter. She said during the holiday they got to know them and their group, who they called "the Doctors". "One man was the joker," she said. "He had a loud Glaswegian accent. He was Gerry McCann. He played tennis with Jes. Gerry was outgoing, a wisecracker, but considerate and kind." She added: "Kate was calm, still, quietly beautiful; Gerry was confident, proud, silly, strong." She next saw the McCanns two days after Madeleine's disappearance. She said: "The physical transformation of these two human beings was sickening. "Kate's back and shoulders, her hands, her mouth had reshaped themselves in to the angular manifestation of a silent scream. Gerry was upright, his lips now drawn into a thin, impenetrable line." She revealed that she had debated with the McCanns the childcare arrangements at the Ocean Club resort and recalled admiring them "for not being paranoid parents" by leaving their children alone as they ate at a tapas restaurant every night. She added that privately she was glad she had not been given the McCanns' apartment because, being on a corner by the road "people could see in" and "they were exposed". She said the first she knew about Madeleine's disappearance was when one of the McCanns' friends began banging on their apartment door at 1am. "Jes got up to answer. I stayed listening in the dark. I knew it was bad; it could only be bad. I heard male mumbling, then Jes's voice. "You're joking?" he said. It wasn't the words, it was the tone that made me flinch. "He came back in to the room. 'Gerry's daughter's been abducted,' he said. "I jumped up and went to check our children. They were there. We sat down. "We got up again. Weirdly, I did the washing-up. We wondered what to do. "Jes had asked if they needed help searching and was told there was nothing he could do; she had been missing for three hours. "Jes felt he should go anyway, but I wanted him to stay with us. I was a coward, afraid to be alone with the children - and afraid to be alone with my thoughts." The following morning, she said, there was no news. "People were crying in the restaurant. Mark Warner had handed out letters informing them what had happened in the night, and we all wondered what to do. "Mid-sentence, we would drift in to the middle distance. Tears would brim up and recede." Miss O'Donnell said that while the parents were out looking for Madeleine, she saw no police until one turned up with a "slightly sweaty" translator, who turned out to be Robert Murat, the only other official suspect in the case. She said police failed to ask Mr Wilkins for a statement and when the officer pointed to a picture of Madeleine and asked if it was her daughter, "my heart sank for the McCanns".

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From Monsters and Critics.com

UK News
McCanns: Madeleine home within days - detective agency (Roundup)
By Rich Bowden, M&C Staff Writer
Dec 14, 2007, 13:38 GMT

(M&C) - The head of the Barcelona-based detective agency hired by the McCanns to find their missing daughter says he believes he is just days away from finding her.

Francisco Marco, head of Metodo 3, says he is confident Madeleine McCann, who vanished from the family's holiday apartment in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz on May 3, will be reunited with her parents by Christmas.

"It's the highest pressure case I've ever had to deal with because of the press and because of my own family, Mr Marco said to Spanish newspaper Metro.

He added: "When I get home at night, my children ask me, 'Have you found Madeleine yet daddy?'"

He went on to say the agency knows who kidnapped the four-year-old.

"We have proof of her movements after her kidnap and we know she was alive the day after her disappearance. We are not certain she left Portugal," he said.

"I talk of certainties because we know which group may have her or could have kidnapped her to then sell her on to others."

The detective added: "We know who kidnapped her. We believe she is in an area not very far from the Iberian peninsula and north Africa. And we have a fairly certain idea who she is with."

"I cannot say who she is with because we are putting together conclusive proof we can present to the authorities so they can proceed with their arrests."

He added: "God willing, I hope that she will be back with her parents before Christmas."

McCanns family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said the parents were "pleased" at the positive attitude shown by the detective agency and said Metodo 3 "retains our full confidence".

By Sarah Touahri for Magharebia in Rabat – 04/10/07

[Sarah Touahri] The first years of a child's life have a great affect on later success in school.

Moroccans are enrolling more children than ever into pre-school education programmes. Even parents from the underprivileged sectors of society are growing more aware of the importance of this education and try, despite their limited means, to enrol their children in private establishments. In rural communities, however, such institutions are largely lacking.

According to managers and owners of pre-school establishments, this branch of teaching requires a great deal of development before it can reach its rightful place. The latest figures, published in 2005 by the High Commission on Planning, indicate that 740,511 children under the age of six, or half of all pre-school age students, study in pre-schools. Nearly all of those who attend modern pre-schools live in major cities. Islamic pre-school education remains popular however, with 88.4% of the children in the age group in attendance throughout the country.

According to the Directorate of Co-operation and Private Education within the Ministry of National Education, the pre-school sector lags far behind the objectives laid out in the national education and training charter, particularly those concerning schooling for girls.

According to Rahim Anouloufe, who manages a pre-school in Rabat, there are persistent flaws in this educational provision: it is not accessible to all, there is no official supervision of teachers, there are contradictions in the perceived objectives of such teaching and there is a lack of ongoing training for pre-school staff.

The National Education Ministry has called for international co-operation and input from civil society, as well as the direct involvement of local communities in the expansion of pre-school education. This will involve devoting part of the income of provincial councils and local authorities to fund pre-school education. On the international level, the Moroccan government hopes to obtain aid for education.

Teacher Abbas Farnatchou told Magharebia that the first few years of a child's life have a great affect on a student's success in school. He added that early teaching, such as pre-schooling, opens up linguistic pathways for a child, contributes to reducing school drop-out rates and child labour, and helps to ground the child in his or her culture, "Hence the importance of involving the state and bringing [pre-school education] into state schools."

Until now, pre-school education has been essentially confined to the private sector. There are very few state schools which offer nursery classes. According to the education ministry, priority goes to the betterment of primary education. Only when this has happened can pre-school and primary education be brought together to represent a coherent educational foundation.

Until pre-school education becomes widely available in state schools, many parents, because of their low incomes, are suffering to stump up the price of kindergarten classes. "I know pre-school education is important in the life of a human being," said Abderrahim Maghloufi, a mechanic. "That's why I’m struggling to pay 300 dirhams every month for my daughter's school, even though I don’t have the funds."

The quality of television productions aired by Moroccan networks during the month of Ramadan has left many viewers wanting. Viewing figures reach their highest levels during the holy month and state-run channels invest their resources accordingly to present the maximum number of national productions. The programs and the people who create them are often criticized for not showing more interest in current affairs.

Jamal Baridi, a bank clerk, expressed his frustration at the absence of productions dealing with issues such as the fight against terrorism. "The Maghreb has really borne the brunt of terrorist attacks. We were expecting our artists to raise awareness among young people, but they only show trivial things."

Teacher Abderrahmane El Bachir agreed, saying that given the lack of programmes dealing with subjects of concern to the public, the viewer has no choice but to look elsewhere. "Arabic satellite channels put out programmes which deal in depth with a good number of issues. What a shame Moroccans are not looking at the problems threatening us, like security. We need awareness-raising programmes," he said.

Abdelkébir Fennane, an arts critic, told Magharebia that mediocrity is the hallmark of Ramadan programming. "Most productions arise from pure improvisation at all levels: script, production, actors... artists keep reproducing the same style and wear themselves out trying to raise a laugh using outdated methods which are no longer able to satisfy today's Moroccans," he said.

Fennane said he cannot understand the reasons why Channel 1 suspended the activities of its script reading panel, which was established in 2005 to sift through artistic works.

Mustapha Mesnaoui, former chairman of the panel, explained that it disappeared following the creation of the National Radio and Television Company (SNRT), whose charter did not extend to the panel's work.

Artists defend themselves as far as possible. Actor Abdelkader Moutaa said television production is acceptable and, if the level of creativity falls, there is no need to blame the actors, who are bursting with potential. "In Morocco, there is a crisis of creativity and imagination, which has been going on for years. Script-writers, dramatists and specialist technicians are sorely lacking," he pointed out.

State television directors reject the criticism, claiming that all efforts have been made to keep viewers satisfied. Nevertheless, the SNRT has called in a specialist team to review the programmes to air at peak times during Ramadan.

A representative cross-section of viewers was mobilised to view the various sitcoms and television films, talk shows and soaps. The programming department was keen to explain that the group reacted favourably to the programmes and that the proportion of national productions will not exceed 10% of programming, which includes a majority of Arab and international productions. In fact, to satisfy the broadest possible audience, programming choices include Arab, international and Indian films, as well as Egyptian, Syrian and Moroccan soap operas.

Alami Khallouqi, Director of Programming for Channel 1 has announced that TVM is not taking production quality lightly, and that everything has been carefully prepared in advance. He said the channel has redoubled its efforts to offer diverse and innovative programming to viewers. "Nothing has been left to chance. We have put in place a profusion of quality national productions, no fewer than five Arab soaps per day, plays, the best of international and particularly Arab productions, evenings of entertainment programmes and major sporting events, especially the national football championship."