Firmly in the Saddle

By Pico Iyer

For Hassan II, boldness and surprise are the keys to survival

If any contemporary ruler is as crafty and consistently surprising as Shakespeare's Henry V, it is surely King Hassan II of Morocco. Like Prince Hal, Hassan was once a high-spirited playboy who has managed to disarm his critics by adroitly consolidating his power. Since he inherited the throne at age 31 from his father Mohammed V in 1961, Hassan has worked hard to make himself and his kingdom Western, Arabic and African all at once. He can play by turns the extravagant cosmopolite who rides horses with President Reagan, and the devout Muslim who is officially known as Commander of the Faithful.

Like King Henry, Hassan has a fondness for the bold flourish. He took over part of the Spanish Sahara in 1975 by exhorting 350,000 Moroccans to march unarmed into the disputed territory while Spanish soldiers looked on in disbelief. He gained the upper hand in his eight-year desert war with the Marxist Polisario guerrillas by enclosing almost half of the 103,000-sq.-mi. Western Sahara with a 750-mile-long wall of sand and rock. Just last month he caught Western leaders off balance yet again by signing a treaty of friendship with Libya's notorious Muammar Gaddafi. Says a West European diplomat: "No matter what Hassan does, it seems to turn out all right."

The King's lengthy repertoire of roles was on display once again last week, when Morocco held its first national elections in seven years. As one of the Third World's more democratic monarchs, Hassan allows his subjects to vote for 204 of the 306 seats in the legislative assembly (the rest are appointed by local councils). But in practice, the King himself chooses the Prime Minister and all the Cabinet ministers, often from among his family and friends. This year, however, with Morocco's standard of living on the wane and social unrest on the rise, Hassan needed to retain control while giving his critics enough freedom to keep them quiet. True to form, a majority of 108 seats was won by three look-alike centrist parties that are unswervingly devoted to the King and his pro-Western line. At the same time, however, the opposition Socialist Party went from 16 seats to 34 seats.

Though he lost some ground, the King won some democratic laurels. During the 1977 campaign, newspapers were seized by the government and there were fierce protests of improper interference. This time Hassan gave the press a freer hand, declared that the government must remain neutral and reduced sentences for about 600 prisoners, some of them political. For the first time in more than two decades, he allowed the Socialists to help administer the elections. He also permitted them and the tiny Communist Party to buy commercial time on the air waves. Even the Communist newspaper Al Bayane conceded that the campaign "was the cleanest that has ever been seen." The King has described his overall strategy: "I am going to subvert by democratic means people's natural instincts toward anarchy."

Hassan is a master of nondemocratic means. After price increases led to bloody rioting and some 100 deaths in January, he blamed much of the unrest on Muslim fundamentalist groups. The police stepped up surveillance in mosques and tightened religious censorship; Hassan imprisoned as many as 1,000 suspected agitators. Just two months ago, 13 of the 71 activists accused of conspiring to overthrow the King were sentenced to death.

Meanwhile, the King has cultivated abroad an unlikely assortment of friends. Morocco, which sits strategically on the southern bank of the Strait of Gibraltar, is considered by Washington to be a useful ally and a potentially valuable airbase. In return, the U.S. provides Hassan with $140 million in aid and an arsenal of sophisticated arms. Nonetheless, the King remains very much his own master, as evidenced by his recent treaty with Libya, a major U.S. foe. He apparently hopes that the surprise agreement may help revive his stricken economy with infusions of Libyan oil and investment.

That, however, may not be enough. More than half of Morocco's 23.6 million people depend on agriculture for a living, and the country has been devastated by a four-year drought. The guerrilla war in the Sahara continues to cost at least $ 1 million a day. Two-fifths of the population is below poverty line, according to World Bank figures, and thousands live in makeshift huts in the increasingly swollen cities. Meanwhile, Hassan maintains a regal lifestyle. This week, for instance, he is host to a lavish celebration of a daughter's wedding in Fez, at one of nine sumptuous palaces.

Both radical Marxists and Muslim fundamentalists hope that such disparities of wealth will inflame the resentment of the masses. But Hassan has a knack, it seems, for surviving resentment. Thirteen years ago, mutinous officers sent 1,400 cadets storming through the palace at Skhirat during a celebration, firing wildly in all directions. Some 100 guests were killed, but the King escaped unharmed. The following year, four F-5 jet fighters piloted by rebellious air force officers opened fire on Hassan's Boeing 727, destroying the landing gear as well as an engine. Cool as ever, Hassan reportedly took the controls and persuaded his attackers to cease firing by radioing them, "The tyrant is dead. Enough people have died." He expertly landed the craft and, by having his death proclaimed on the radio, flushed out the leaders of the plot.

Nowadays, Morocco's 170,000-man army has no Minister of Defense or Chief of Staff to challenge Hassan, and only one active general. Ultimately, the King intends to pass the throne on to his son, Crown Prince Sidi Mohammed, now a 21-year-old student. Morocco's economic troubles show no signs of subsiding. But Hassan, like King Henry, has proved so resilient that even cynical Western observers are tempted to see him as his most devout followers do: as the 35th descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, blessed with divine protection. --By Pico Iyer. Reported by Philip Finnegan/Rabat

With reporting by Philip Finnegan