20120125
AFP
An unemployed Moroccan graduate died on Tuesday, almost a week after he set himself ablaze in a horrific act that has become synonymous with discontent in the Arab world.

Abdelwahab Zeidoun was one of two men who set themselves on fire during a protest on January 18, the latest in a string of self-immolations across the region since the Arab Spring was unleashed more than a year ago.

"It's a painful and regrettable incident we wouldn't wish for any young person," said Communications Minister and government spokesman Mustapha Khelphi, offering condolences to the man's family.

It was not the first suicide of its kind in Morocco, but reflects the despair of thousands of young people seeking jobs and comes at a delicate time for the country's new Islamist government.

Zeidoun, 27, was among a group of graduates who have been staging protests in Rabat to try to win jobs in the public sector. He and another demonstrator set themselves on fire and were transferred to Casablanca for treatment.

The shocking sequence was caught on video and posted on social networking websites. In it, two men can be see running in panic as frantic students try to douse the flames.

"We're in a state of shock and we don't yet know what we're going to do," said a student named Asma, a spokeswoman for the group of demonstrators. "For the time being, we're carrying on with our sit-in."

Asma said that after Zeidoun's death was announced, dozens of youths headed for Casablanca to gather outside the Ibn Rochd hospital where he died.

Thousands of Moroccans with university degrees and seeking jobs in the civil service have been demonstrating almost daily to voice their frustration at the lack of employment prospects.

The government has promised about 3,600 public sector jobs, but only about 1,000 have been filled. Graduates are desperate for government jobs because they are better protected than private jobs.

In the north African country of 33 million people, the unemployment rate is officially reported to be 9.1 percent, but about 27 percent of graduates are estimated to be out of work.

"The government wants to find a solution to this problem within the framework of constructive dialogue," said government spokesman Khelfi.

Morocco is desperately hoping to avoid the sort of popular uprisings that swept the Arab world, although it did witness its own pro-reform protests last year.

The Arab tumult was triggered in December 2010 when Mohamed Bouazizi, a young fruit seller in the unemployment-stricken Tunisian town of Sizi Bouzid, self-immolated to protest police harassment and the lack of opportunities.

His action led to unprecedented protests that eventually toppled president Zine el Abidine Ben Ali a month later and spread to other countries, also felling long-standing despots in Egypt, Libya and Yemen.

Morocco's King Mohammed VI, the latest scion of a monarchy that has ruled the country for 350 years, blocked insurrection by offering reforms curbing his near absolute powers.

Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane, whose Islamist party won November polls called early by the king to preempt swelling Arab Spring-inspired protests, has vowed his new government will address their grievances.

In a speech to parliament last Thursday, Benkirane outlined a five-year plan for economic growth and said the government would reduce unemployment to eight percent.