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Morocco Partially Reshuffles Government

Photo of King Mohammed VI and members of the government (MAP)
Photo of King Mohammed VI and members of the government (MAP)
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Morocco Partially Reshuffles Government

Photo of King Mohammed VI and members of the government (MAP)
Photo of King Mohammed VI and members of the government (MAP)

Morocco saw this week a partial cabinet reshuffle, official sources announced.

The ministers of education, higher education, agriculture, health, and transport and logistics were changed, but several key figures retained their posts, including the ministers of interior, foreign affairs, justice and religion, according to Reuters.

Amine Tahraoui was appointed Health Minister, replacing Khalid Ait Taleb while Azzedine El Midaoui is now the new Minister of Higher Education, replacing Abdelatif Miraoui.

Mohamed Saad Berrada replaced Chakib Benmoussa as the new Minister of Education. Benmoussa was appointed last week to lead the High Commission for Planning (HCP)—a pivotal governmental body responsible for shaping national development policies.

Also, Ahmed Bouari will replace Mohamed Sadiki as Minister of Agriculture, while Naima Ben Yahia will replace Aawatif Hayar as Minister of Solidarity and Family.

The reshuffle included the appointment of Amal El Fallah Seghrouchni as the country’s minister Delegate to the Head of Government in Charge of Digital Transition to replace Ghita Mezzour.

Also, six new secretaries of State were appointed while Abdessamad Kayouh will take on the Ministry of Transport and Logistics.

The Moroccan official news agency, MAP, said that King Mohammed VI met on Wednesday with Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch and members of the government in its new form following the reshuffle.

The new ministers were then sworn in before the King.

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Syria Minister Says Open to Talks with Kurds, But Ready to Use 'Force'

Syria's new Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra attends an interview with Reuters in Damascus, Syria January 19, 2025. (Reuters)
Syria's new Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra attends an interview with Reuters in Damascus, Syria January 19, 2025. (Reuters)
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Syria Minister Says Open to Talks with Kurds, But Ready to Use 'Force'

Syria's new Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra attends an interview with Reuters in Damascus, Syria January 19, 2025. (Reuters)
Syria's new Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra attends an interview with Reuters in Damascus, Syria January 19, 2025. (Reuters)

Syria's defense minister said Wednesday that Damascus was open to talks with Kurdish-led forces on their integration into the national army but stood ready to use force should negotiations fail.

"The door to negotiation with the (Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces) is currently open," Murhaf Abu Qasra told reporters.

"If we have to use force, we will be ready."

Last month, an official told AFP that an SDF delegation had met Syria's interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, who heads the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group that spearheaded the opposition offensive that ousted Bashar al-Assad.

Sharaa had told Al Arabiya television that Kurdish-led forces should be integrated into the new national army so that weapons are "in the hands of the state alone".

The US-backed SDF spearheaded the military campaign that ousted the ISIS group from its last territory in Syria in 2019.

The group controls much of the oil-producing northeast, where it has enjoyed de facto autonomy for more than a decade.

"They offered us oil, but we don't want oil, we want the institutions and the borders," Abu Qasra said.

Ankara, which has long had ties with HTS, accuses the main component of the SDF, the People's Protection Units (YPG), of being affiliated with Türkiye's outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

In an offensive that coincided with the HTS-led advance on Damascus, Turkish-backed armed groups in northern Syria seized several areas from the SDF late last year.

Earlier this month, then US secretary of state Antony Blinken said he was working to address Turkish concerns and dissuade it from stepping up its offensive against the SDF.

UN envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen told reporters in Damascus on Wednesday that he hoped the warring parties would allow time for a diplomatic solution "so that this does not end in a full military confrontation".

Pedersen said Washington and Ankara "have a key role to play in supporting this" effort.

"We are looking for the beginning of a new Syria and hopefully that will also include the northeast in a peaceful manner," he said.