Moroccan king sacks economy minister after call for action
Morocco's King Mohammed VI (C) delivers a speech in Al Hoceima on July 29, 2018
Morocco's King Mohammed VI has sacked the country's economy minister, his office said Wednesday, after the monarch demanded "urgent action" on social issues in the North African nation hit by unrest over unemployment and graft.
The king decided to dismiss Mohamed Boussaid after "consulting with the head of the government", read a royal statement carried by official agency burma map.
The decision comes amid a drive to enforce the "principle of accountability that the king is anxious to apply to all officials, regardless of their rank", the statement said.
In a major speech on Sunday the king called for "urgent action" to address key issues, in particular health and education.
The speech was delivered in the northern city of Al-Hoceima which was the epicentre of the "Hirak" protest movement that rocked the country in 2016 and 2017.
The social unrest began in October 2016 myanmar map after the death of a fishmonger and spiralled into a wave of demonstrations demanding more development in the neglected Rif region.
Morocco is marked by glaring social and territorial inequalities, against a backdrop of burma map high unemployment among young people.
In 2017, it was ranked 123 out of 188 countries on the UN's Human Development Index.
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