Friday, Feb. 15, 1963
University Daily Kansan
Page 3
North African Potential-
(Continued from page 2)
Morocco, a neutralist nation, which has coastlines on the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, covers 171,305 square miles and has a population of 11,620470. Its political power emanates from the throne, which appoints the Advisory National Consultative Assembly of 76 members. On June 7, 1961, a fundamental law sealed by King Hassan II declared Morocco to be moving in a path toward a constitutional monarchy.
The country still depends on the United States for much of her development funds. The new ministry inaugurated in 1960, which is composed of the rightist Istiglal and other conservative parties, has not shown an interest in a full-scale development program for the country. The National Union of Popular Forces, which brought the issue of constitutional government to the fore, was excluded by the new ministry.
MANUFACTURING IN Morocco provides less than a fifth of the gross domestic product. The industrial area which is centered around Casablanca produces foodstuffs, textiles, chemicals and tobacco products.
While Morocco may be moving toward constitutional monarchy, one of the other nations, Libya, already operates under this type government. Libya's constitution provides for a hereditary monarchy with a federal, representative form of government.
The 679,358 square miles of this north-central coastal nation is divided into three provinces: Tripolitania, Cyrenaica, and Fezzan. The king, who appoints the premier and other cabinet members to govern these provinces, has the power to introduce or veto any legislation at will and to dissolve the lower house of parliament at his discretion.
LIBYA'S GOVERNMENT is composed of a 24-member Senate whose members are chosen for eight-year terms. One-half of this body is appointed by the King and the other half is elected by provincial assemblies.
The country's 1,195,000 residents are concentrated along the Mediterranean Sea, where agriculture and animal husbandry are most important. Since 90 per cent of Libya is desert, the entire economy rests on the few fertile acres facing the sea. As in most of the other arid areas of North Africa, Libya's chief subsistence comes from cereal crops, supplemented by dates and olives.
As in Morocco, development has been slow, but recently a five-year development plan was announced. This plan is to be financed partly from oil revenue, but it is probable that much of the money will come from the annual subsidies which Libya receives annually from the United States, Britain, and France. These subsidies are for the most part used in maintaining military bases but perhaps some of the money will also be used along with aid received from the UN and other international organizations to provide economic and technical improvements.
UNLIKE THE OTIER countries in North Africa, Tunisia's
constitution provides for a presidential form of government with a unicameral legislature and an independent judiciary. In 1957 the Tunisian National Constituent Assembly chose the country's first president. He serves for a five-year term, as does the 90-member National Assembly.
Tunisia, which is considered to be the most pro-Western of the North African nationalist territories, is composed of 48,332 square miles on the Mediterranean coast. The population of 4,198,000 Arabs, Jews, Europeans and Algerian refugees is dispersed over a low coastal region to the north and east, a plateau region and broken mountain ranges to the west, and fringe areas of the Sahara Desert to the extreme south.
The economy of Tunisia centers around agriculture, along with mining and industry. French interests still control many of the larger enterprises in mining, public utilities, and commercial farming.
IN THE PAST few years ties between Tunisia and the West have been strengthened. Early in 1961 Premier Habib Bourguiba received a pledge from the United States for long-term economic aid, and in November of the same year President Kennedy named a team of management and economic experts to conduct a study of Tunisia's economic development.
Last summer Ben Bella and rebel forces finally succeeded in freeing Algeria from France, but only time will tell what effect this freedom will have on the governmental structure. When a referendum was taken in 1961 to determine whether a transitional regime should be established in Algeria, the rebel regime denounced it as an "electoral masquerade."
Before independence the country was divided into 13 departments governed as a part of metropolitan France. The head of the civil and military powers was a delegate-general, who was appointed by the government in Paris. Algeria proper, one part of the divided territory, was represented in the French National Assembly by 67 deputies and in the French Senate by 32 senators. The remaining section termed the Departments of the Sahara was under the French Minister of State and represented in Parliament by two senators and four deputies.
ALGERIA PROPER covers
113,882 square miles and has a
population of 10,082,291, most of whom reside in urban areas. The Departments of the Sahara form a vast, sparsely settled desert region which is rich in petroleum and other minerals. This region covers 803,654 square miles in which 590,000 people live on scattered oases.
Modern agriculture in Algeria is dominated by Europeans in the fertile coastal regions. The Moslems engage in tenant farming, using primitive cultivation methods on the marginal land located on the slopes and high plains of the interior.
This is North Africa today. The economic and cultural life of all four countries is almost identical. The major differences among them are primarily political.
To be shaken out of the ruts of ordinary perception, to be shown for a few timeless hours the outer and inner world, not as they appear to an animal obsessed with survival or to a human being obsessed with words and notions, but as they are apprehended, directly and unconditionally by Mind-at-Large—this is an experience of inestimable value to everyone and especially to the intellectual.—Aldous Huxley
Worth Repeating
1320
2:00 KIEF'S CORNER Kief's Records
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