An international year of prayer for
Morocco
| WEEK 32 |
JusticeMorocco has hit the jackpot! In the summer of 2000. An American oil company began to drill in the Atlas Mountain region of Morocco. Moroccan energy minister, Yousef Taheri believes there may be 15 billion barrels of oil. King Mohammed VI called it "Allah's blessing to Morocco."The king’s subjects who live in the region where the oil wells are being drilled would disagree. A local Berber man said, "That land belongs to my tribe, the Bourchaim. I've raised livestock there for 30 years, and now the oil men just grabbed it." Though the Bourchaim Berbers live above an oil bonanza, they are not given a share of the oil wealth or jobs. Among Berber youth, unemployment is over 60 percent. Military police cordon off land for oil drilling that Bourchaim Berbers need for their livestock. Land squabbles are nothing new in Morocco. As early as the 12th century BC, the Phoenicians established trading posts. Many powers have dominated the land throughout the centuries. The Berbers, North Africa's first peoples, make up a large percentage of the Moroccan population. Right up into the mid-twentieth century boundary disputes between neighboring Berber tribes were common. Animosity over some of those disputes remains in some places even today. Arabs have dominated Berbers since the Muslim conquests of the seventh century AD. Some Berbers still resent it. "Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this." Isaiah 9:7 "Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations." Isaiah 42:1 Pray the Arab and Berber peoples will find that Jesus offers hope and a solution to their day-to-day problems. Pray for God's perfect justice to be done in Morocco. Pray King Muhammad VI will pursue the righteousness from above in his reign over Morocco. |
