Morocco: Bakkoury stands down as party chief

Mustapha Bakkoury has stood down as leader of the Parti Authenticité et Modernité, a political party now in opposition but close to the royal palace, allowing him to spend more time on his other job as head of Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (Masen). King Mohammed VI in late December ordered that Masen should be given a wider role in implementing renewables projects. Ilyas El-Omari was unanimously elected as new secretary-general at the party’s 22-24 January conference at Bouzenika.