US embassy cable - 05RABAT2157

UNCLAS RABAT 002157 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/PPD, R, IIP, PA, NEA/MAG, BBG 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: KPAO, PREL, SCUL, OIIP, KIRC, PHUM, KMPI, MO 
SUBJECT: BBG DELEGATION AND MOROCCAN HIGH AUTHORITY FOR 
BROADCAST MEDIA AGREE TO REGULARIZE RADIO SAWA STATUS VIA 
SHELL COMPANY AND DOCUMENTS BY OCTOBER 31, 2005 
 
REF: A.Rabat 1498; B.Rabat 1893 
 
1. SUMMARY In two October 4, 2005 meetings mission, BBG and 
GOM representatives reviewed the history of Radio Sawa 
broadcasting in Morocco and agreed on a solution to the 
licensing impasse.  The GOM granted Radio Sawa seven 
frequencies on an exceptional basis in 2003 before the 
current radio licensing procedure had been established. 
Radio Sawa is the only radio station to miss the six month 
grace period August 2 deadline to regularize its license. 
The agreement reached in the meetings to create on a shell 
company (a legal shell, "une coquille juridique") that will 
take into account the fact that Sawa is not a commercial 
entity, yet satisfy the GOM legal requirements, and the 
agreement to complete paperwork by October 31 represents a 
substantial step toward regularizing Radio Sawa's 
broadcasting license in Morocco. 
 
2. The Ambassador and a BBG delegation composed of John 
Bowen, Senior Advisor to the Director of BBG Engineering; 
David Strawman, BBG Tangier Morocco Director; Darrel 
Duckworth, Morocco Critical Broadcast Systems Support 
office; and Larbi Khassouni, BBG Tangier staff held two 
meetings to discuss Radio Sawa licensing in Rabat on 4 
October 2005: one with the Moroccan Minister of 
Communication Nabil Benabdallah and one with President Ahmad 
Ghazali of the Broadcast Media Council and its regulatory 
arm the High Authority for Broadcast Media (Haute Autorite 
de la Communication Audiovisuelle hereafter "HACA").  The 
Counselor for Public Affairs was note taker. 
 
3. In a brief meeting, Minister of Communicatin Nabil 
Benabdallah recapped his role in the creation of Radio Sawa 
and confirmed that this is now a HACA issue. Mr. Bowen and 
Mr. Strawman thanked the Minister for past and continuing 
cooperation. (Note: BBG recently granted the Ministry/RTM 
eight radio transmitters.)  Minister Benabdallah noted that, 
at the King's behest, he had moved to authorize the initial 
seven Radio Sawa frequencies in 2003.  "At that time there 
was only a text of the Audio-Visual Law (which established 
HACA).  We knew that we could have problems because other 
stations like BBC, Radio Monte Carlo, and RFI had also 
applied to the Ministry of Communication.  And, yes, there 
were problems because the other stations asked us:  Why 
Radio Sawa and not us?  It was difficult to respond to these 
questions." 
 
4. The Minister continued that now in 2005 there is a new 
law which privatized the broadcast media sector, created 
HACA, and spelled out the procedure for radio broadcast 
license applications.  All existing radio stations in 
Morocco were given six months to comply, except for the 
government-owned RTM which had been given a year. All have 
complied except Sawa, whose six month deadline expired on 2 
August 2005. (Note: BBG sent several communications to HACA 
in a response to the new law, but all - including a 
diplomatic note to the MFA which was never forwarded to HACA 
- requested a special status based on the BBG/VOA bilateral 
relation. There is no provision in the new law for such a 
special bilateral status.  The new law requires that radio 
stations be constituted so as to be a company.) 
 
5. The Minister of Communication said he was glad the U.S. 
team would be seeing HACA where this issue could be worked 
out amicably.  "We will not impose on you program content; 
we just need to know (in the application) percentages of 
content type and language.  If you want ten hours of news, 
you can have it; if you want only two hours you can can have 
it."  It is important that the Sawa arrangement follow 
faithfully the new legislation. 
 
6. After eloquent mutual thank you's for cooperation, the 
Minister asked if Radio Sawa was the same group as Hurra TV 
(Mr. Bowen - yes) and if there was a chance that Al-Hurra 
would be broadcast from Morocco (Mr. Bowen - it is 
technically but not programmatically possible). 
 
7. Mr. Ahmed Ghazali, President of HACA started his meeting 
with a survey of the history of Radio Sawa in Morocco, 
stressing that the unresolved regularization had made HACA 
very uncomfortable.  (Note: the day of the meeting a new 
article, one of several accusing HACA of making special 
exceptions for Sawa, appeared in "Le Journal.") 
 
8. The president of HACA noted the series of discussions 
about putting Radio Sawa in conformity with the law and the 
lapse of the six month grace period on August 2, 2005.  In 
the meantime, the three other private radios in the same 
situation had "normalized" their status. (Note: these three 
 
 
are Medi-1 a 51% Moroccan 49% French company in Tangier; Ain 
Chouck radio in Casablanca, and the Second Channel (2M) 
Radio in Casablanca.)  The government-owned RTM radio had 
just finished its regularization under the new law the 
previous day. 
 
9. Mr. Ghazali continued:  "We want to find the best 
solution for Radio Sawa. HACA will help provide ways to 
`conform in principle' to the new legislation.  Ambassador 
Riley thanked the president and said that BBG told him (the 
Ambassador) last week in Washington that they were ready to 
take prompt action to resolve the Sawa license issue.  Mr. 
Bowen said he was in Rabat to try to implement the new 
broadcast media regulation.  "We appreciate the patience of 
HACA, and we want to listen to learn how to resolve the 
issue." 
 
10. Mr. Ghazali continued his review of history.  On 31 
August 2002 Morocco created HACA to privatize broadcast 
media.  In September 2002, a royal decree ended state 
monopoly of broadcast media.  Before that date only the 
government could own radio and television and there were 
only three exceptions (noted above) and these three 
exceptions have created new private entities. 
 
11. In the meantime, as HACA was being formed, on 15 August 
2003, the Minister of Communication granted an exceptional 
authorization for seven frequencies for Radio Sawa.  Law 
77.03 of 2 February 2005 ended the government monopoly of 
broadcast media, liberalized and privatized the sector, 
ended the old system of controlling programs initially, 
changed to a principle of controlling programs afterwards (a 
posteriori), and established principles governing broadcast. 
These included freedom of communication, respect of human 
dignity, reflection of a pluralistic society, and 
organization of publicity and ads. 
 
12. Mr. Ghazali stressed: "HACA is constrained by the law 
and by public opinion.  Our credibility must be established 
so that we can function.  Regarding Radio Sawa, we are aware 
of its peculiarity.  We know the entire dossier and from 
October 2004 to October 2005 we have reviewed the dossier 
twelve times in twelve different meetings."  HACA is 
accountable to be sure the law is applied.  There is also 
the matter of conformity.  HACA received a dossier from 
Radio Sawa which did not conform to the requirement that 
Radio Sawa be a company incorporated under Moroccan law 
(societe anonyme). 
 
13. Mr. Ghazali continued:  "From the second of August until 
now it has been uncomfortable for Radio Sawa and for the 
Moroccan government.  We have been patient about the 
situation but it is not in your or our interest to let this 
continue.  It has been very uncomfortable for HACA." 
 
14. At this point there was a discussion to clarify the 
procedures HACA expects.  First Sawa must form a private 
company which has a name, a headquarters and shareholders; 
these can be foreign shareholders.  It is easy to establish 
a company, said Mr. Ghazali.  It can be done in 48 hours. 
Second, Sawa must fill out a dossier of papers which 
describe the nature of the company, employees, program, etc. 
Third, the newly formed company, "for example SAWA. S.A." 
must request a license.  HACA and Sawa will then negotiate a 
contract or "cahier de charges."  Once this is negotiated 
HACA can grant a license. 
 
15. The president of HACA recognized Moroccan laws did not 
foresee the situation of Radio Sawa and that "Radio Sawa is 
a different reality."  HACA is willing to do everything it 
can to facilitate paperwork for a Radio Sawa license in 
conformity with the law. 
 
16. Mr. Bowen responded:  "What you have laid out is very 
helpful.  I have been empowered by the BBG to work towards a 
resolution of this issue and to establish a shell 
corporation." 
 
17. Mr. Ghazali replied:  "If you do the application, the 
role of HACA established by law and the obligations of Sawa 
in Morocco can be codified in a way that is acceptable.  We 
know that Radio Sawa programs are formulated for regions of 
the Middle East as well as Morocco.  When we consider its 
application we will ignore that particularity. 
 
18. HACA board member Prof. Salah-Eddine el Ouadie asked to 
speak and reiterated how important it is that the Sawa issue 
be resolved "in conformity with Moroccan law."  "HACA plays 
an important institutional role in Morocco.  Conformity of 
 
 
Sawa with Moroccan law is not only of juridical value.  It 
is also of value to the general audiovisual environment." 
 
19. President Ghazali said that it was necessary to have a 
deadline, not as short as 48 hours but also not as long 
three months.  He suggested the end of October.  Mr. Bowen 
said that the deadline of the end of October is reasonable, 
that he accepts HACA's offer of assistance with the 
paperwork, and that his representative will be Mr. Strawman, 
BBG Tangier Director.  Mr. Ghazali appointed Prof. El-Hassan 
Bouquentar as the point of contact from the HACA side, and 
suggested that the first week of November would be a good 
time for a ceremony. The Ambassador thanked HACA for its 
cooperation. 
 
20. COMMENT Clearly, Mr. Ghazali was under orders to achieve 
this "regularization" as quickly as possible.  The GOM does 
not want any more bad press over the Radio Sawa anomaly. The 
Minister of Communication told us that he had informally 
"advised" HACA to help us but that HACA was an independent 
entity with whom he had no formal communication.  It is 
clear that Radio Sawa can not be licensed via the BBG 
bilateral agreements with the GOM.  Formation of a company 
with a "legal shell" ("une coquille juridique") is the next 
critical step.  We should hold to the October 31 deadline 
for regularizing Sawa.  BBG Tangiers has contacted a lawyer 
to implement the shell company. Once that is done they will 
meet with Prof El-Hassan Bouquentar (a former PAS 
International Visitor) to finish the paperwork for a 
license.  Mr. Ghazali told us that HACA is already working 
on a draft of the "cahier de charges" which is the last step 
before licensing. 
 
RILEY