MOROCCO: Terrorists’ Toll

One broiling hot night last August, the French overlords of Morocco deposed and exiled Sultan Sidi Mohammed ben Youssef, and in his place installed sad-eyed, compliant Sultan Sidi Mohammed ben Moulay Arafa. By doing so, the French hoped to discourage any respectable support for Arab nationalism, and to gain a little peace. Since then, Morocco has seen not peace but more bloodshed. Items: a house painter tried to assassinate the new Sultan; terrorists bombed the Algiers-Casablanca Express; a Moroccan member of the French secret police was shot dead; on Christmas Eve in Casablanca’s central market, a home-made terrorist bomb exploded, killing 20, wounding 26.

Last week the French Residency at Rabat tacitly acknowledged that switching Sultans had not brought peace and issued a five-month box score on the terror: 58 killed, 117 wounded, 87 arson attempts, 41 bomb attacks.