Rabat

World leaders started to arrive in Morocco on Saturday for the funeral of King Hassan II. "He was a great friend of the peace process," said President Clinton, who cut short a weekend Democratic Party fund-raiser. "He's done a lot of things that were very, very good for the United States and the world, and he was our friend." Clinton planned to fly to Morocco overnight to attend today's funeral.

In what is being called an unprecedented show of political unity and strength, tens of thousands of protesters from various political strains marched peacefully in cities and towns across the country Sunday demanding rapid political reform. The rallies, marchers said, were aimed at gaining democratic rights in a nation that has long been a hereditary monarchy and at times as oppressive as its autocratic North African neighbors. "We no longer want to be subjects," said Abdelilah Benabdeslam, a leader of the Moroccan Organization for Human Rights.

King Hassan II of Morocco, a friend of President Reagan, thinks Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi is a "courteous and attentive man" driven by three obsessions. In an interview published in Rabat on Friday, the Moroccan monarch said Kadafi is obsessed with Three issues: a union of all the Arabs, a refusal to accept Israel's existence and the civil war in the neighboring country of Chad. "He is a courteous man, and especially attentive. He relaxes quickly and is ready for a joke.

I had spent the night in a faded hotel near the railway station here so that I could catch the first morning train to Fes. For many years I had dreamed of seeing Morocco, but my schedule allowed only eight days for highlights. So I'd planned a careful itinerary to get the most out of visits to the Middle Atlas Mountains and the historic towns of Fes and Meknes. Rabat was only a jumping-off point. The hotel was dark and quiet when I made my way downstairs to leave.

A number of Christians held in Moroccan jails, including French, Spanish, Italian and British nationals, were released Saturday in a gesture of clemency to mark Pope John Paul II's recent visit to Morocco, diplomatic sources said. Sources close to the Rabat archdiocese said the amnesty declared by King Hassan II was specifically for Christians. There are an estimated 50,000 Christians in the Muslim nation.

Morocco on Monday asked to join the European Communities, a move reflecting the North African country's concern for its farm exports to Western Europe, but the bloc's foreign ministers said Morocco is ineligible. Ministers told reporters that the Common Market's founding Treaty of Rome allows only European states to become full members. Moroccan Foreign Minister Abdellatif Filali was informed that the Arab country thus does not qualify for membership in the 12-nation bloc.

Over a long lunch recently at a French country inn outside the Moroccan capital, a senior government official made an enthusiastic, if somewhat labored, analogy between this North African country and, of all places, Mexico. Like Mexico, he said, Morocco has hundreds of thousands of emigrants working in the industrial lands to the north, sending money home to their families.

I had spent the night in a faded hotel near the railway station here so that I could catch the first morning train to Fes. For many years I had dreamed of seeing Morocco, but my schedule allowed only eight days for highlights. So I'd planned a careful itinerary to get the most out of visits to the Middle Atlas Mountains and the historic towns of Fes and Meknes. Rabat was only a jumping-off point. The hotel was dark and quiet when I made my way downstairs to leave.

A Quiet Revolution The Veil's Resurgence From the Middle East to America Leila Ahmed Yale University Press: 352 pp., $30 When I was 13, one of my classmates came to school one morning wearing a beige head scarf. This was in the 1980s, in Morocco. Surprised by her attire, I joined a group of girls who gathered around her, watching them pepper her with questions. Our classmate calmly replied that she had decided to wear the hijab because that was what a "true" Muslim girl should do. This struck us as strange.

In what is being called an unprecedented show of political unity and strength, tens of thousands of protesters from various political strains marched peacefully in cities and towns across the country Sunday demanding rapid political reform. The rallies, marchers said, were aimed at gaining democratic rights in a nation that has long been a hereditary monarchy and at times as oppressive as its autocratic North African neighbors. "We no longer want to be subjects," said Abdelilah Benabdeslam, a leader of the Moroccan Organization for Human Rights.

World leaders started to arrive in Morocco on Saturday for the funeral of King Hassan II. "He was a great friend of the peace process," said President Clinton, who cut short a weekend Democratic Party fund-raiser. "He's done a lot of things that were very, very good for the United States and the world, and he was our friend." Clinton planned to fly to Morocco overnight to attend today's funeral.

Over a long lunch recently at a French country inn outside the Moroccan capital, a senior government official made an enthusiastic, if somewhat labored, analogy between this North African country and, of all places, Mexico. Like Mexico, he said, Morocco has hundreds of thousands of emigrants working in the industrial lands to the north, sending money home to their families.

Morocco on Monday asked to join the European Communities, a move reflecting the North African country's concern for its farm exports to Western Europe, but the bloc's foreign ministers said Morocco is ineligible. Ministers told reporters that the Common Market's founding Treaty of Rome allows only European states to become full members. Moroccan Foreign Minister Abdellatif Filali was informed that the Arab country thus does not qualify for membership in the 12-nation bloc.

King Hassan II of Morocco, a friend of President Reagan, thinks Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi is a "courteous and attentive man" driven by three obsessions. In an interview published in Rabat on Friday, the Moroccan monarch said Kadafi is obsessed with Three issues: a union of all the Arabs, a refusal to accept Israel's existence and the civil war in the neighboring country of Chad. "He is a courteous man, and especially attentive. He relaxes quickly and is ready for a joke.

A number of Christians held in Moroccan jails, including French, Spanish, Italian and British nationals, were released Saturday in a gesture of clemency to mark Pope John Paul II's recent visit to Morocco, diplomatic sources said. Sources close to the Rabat archdiocese said the amnesty declared by King Hassan II was specifically for Christians. There are an estimated 50,000 Christians in the Muslim nation.

The Arab League voted in Rabat, Morocco, to maintain a ban on Iraq in sporting events held by the 22-member organization.

A school run by the U.S. Embassy in Rabat was evacuated for more than two hours Friday after receiving a bomb threat that turned out to be false. Witnesses said Moroccan and U.S. Embassy security officials searched the Rabat American School in the Moroccan capital before letting students and teachers return. "Once it was determined that there was no threat to our safety, the students were sent back . . . to finish the school day," the school said in a statement.