Ron Haleber
08-09-03, 15:51
Morocco victims press for aid
De slachtoffers van de Casablanca-aanslag krijgen de door de Marokkaanse regering beloofde uitkering niet om in de kosten van hun levensonderhoud te voorzien. Wel per familie een eenmalige donatie van Med 6.
BBC News.
By Sebastian Usher
BBC correspondent, Rabat
The families of the Moroccan victims of the Casablanca bombings last May are forming a pressure group to ask the government for financial help they say they were promised and have not received.
Nearly four months after the attacks in which 33 people died, apart from the suicide bombers, the families say they are facing major financial difficulties after losing, in many cases, their main breadwinner.
Twelve suicide bombers were among the 45 who died
In the immediate aftermath of the attacks on 16 May, King Mohammed pledged to ensure that the victims' families would be provided for by the state.
In the months since then, the relatives say all of they have received is a single donation of about $5,000 for each family from the king himself.
This they received on the 40th day after the attacks, along with a personal letter of condolence from the king.
At the moment in Morocco, there is no state mechanism to provide automatically for victims of attacks like those in May.
Election timing
Despite the orders of the king, the notorious sluggishness of the Moroccan bureaucracy has meant that nothing on a government level has yet been done for the families.
Now, in a series of interviews given to the media in Morocco, timed to coincide with the local elections taking place this week, the relatives have bemoaned their inability to provide for their families.
The deadly attacks were blamed on extremists
They say they need money urgently for basic expenses now that the breadwinner in the family is gone.
The families say the idea of setting up an official group to protect their rights is to give them more sway with the authorities than they have as individuals.
They also say that such an association will give them a more powerful voice in keeping the memory of their losses alive amongst the Moroccan public.
At least one newspaper in Morocco has already taken up their case and demanded that the authorities provide the families with an official state pension, saying it is the very minimum the government should do.
De slachtoffers van de Casablanca-aanslag krijgen de door de Marokkaanse regering beloofde uitkering niet om in de kosten van hun levensonderhoud te voorzien. Wel per familie een eenmalige donatie van Med 6.
BBC News.
By Sebastian Usher
BBC correspondent, Rabat
The families of the Moroccan victims of the Casablanca bombings last May are forming a pressure group to ask the government for financial help they say they were promised and have not received.
Nearly four months after the attacks in which 33 people died, apart from the suicide bombers, the families say they are facing major financial difficulties after losing, in many cases, their main breadwinner.
Twelve suicide bombers were among the 45 who died
In the immediate aftermath of the attacks on 16 May, King Mohammed pledged to ensure that the victims' families would be provided for by the state.
In the months since then, the relatives say all of they have received is a single donation of about $5,000 for each family from the king himself.
This they received on the 40th day after the attacks, along with a personal letter of condolence from the king.
At the moment in Morocco, there is no state mechanism to provide automatically for victims of attacks like those in May.
Election timing
Despite the orders of the king, the notorious sluggishness of the Moroccan bureaucracy has meant that nothing on a government level has yet been done for the families.
Now, in a series of interviews given to the media in Morocco, timed to coincide with the local elections taking place this week, the relatives have bemoaned their inability to provide for their families.
The deadly attacks were blamed on extremists
They say they need money urgently for basic expenses now that the breadwinner in the family is gone.
The families say the idea of setting up an official group to protect their rights is to give them more sway with the authorities than they have as individuals.
They also say that such an association will give them a more powerful voice in keeping the memory of their losses alive amongst the Moroccan public.
At least one newspaper in Morocco has already taken up their case and demanded that the authorities provide the families with an official state pension, saying it is the very minimum the government should do.