Amazigh TV channel to make Moroccan debut in 2009

16/12/2008

After much delay, Moroccan officials prepare for the launch of an Amazigh language television channel.

By Sarah Touahri for Magharebia in Rabat – 16/12/08

[Sarah Touahri] IRCAM Director Ahmed Boukous wants the new Amazigh network to serve as a medium to showcase Amazigh culture.

An amendment to the launch agreement of the long-promised Amazigh TV was signed on Friday (December 12th) in Rabat. The TV channel is now scheduled to go on air in September 2009 after several postponements. This time, officials have vowed to stick to the scheduled launch date.

Communications Minister Khalid Naciri said that this amendment now paves the way for the creation of the legal framework and practical arrangements necessary to ensure that the large-scale media project will become a reality. A budget of 500 million dirhams to cover four years of broadcasting has been allocated.

The National Radio and Television Company (SNRT) will be responsible for the operational measures necessary to ensure that the channel is launched on schedule.

"The new channel has almost finished recruiting staff, procuring resources and drawing up training plans, which will be implemented by SNRT employees and other partners," said SNRT President Faisal Laraichi.

The chief of production and programming at SNRT, Alami Khellouki, stated that a number of technical contracts will be put out to tender. "We plan to enter into discussions with production companies to enrich our programming, and will also run training sessions for staff. In nine months' time the channel will be ready."

The head of the Royal Institute for Amazigh Culture (IRCAM), Ahmed Boukous, declared that his organisation was ready to offer the benefit of its expertise in Amazigh language and culture to the channel to ensure high quality broadcasting. "It will be a community-based channel. Its aim is to integrate the Amazigh community into Moroccan society. It's intended not as a folk channel, but rather as a medium which will showcase Amazigh culture, which belongs to all Moroccans."

The initiative has already drawn widespread praise as a way to strengthen the concept of a diverse and united Morocco. Khalid Naciri said that "the channel represents a new milestone on the road to the shaping of Moroccan national identity".

Finance Minister Salaheddine Mezouar echoed this sentiment, saying the success of Amazigh TV represents a triumph for the diversity that characterises Moroccan culture.

Amazigh Moroccans hailed the long-awaited initiative. Teacher Rahma Beddioui stated: "The channel will make a real difference in public awareness, especially among those who know nothing other than Amazigh culture. Amazighs will feel that their identity has been enriched."

Amina Bencheikh, a member of the IRCAM, said that "the signature of the new agreement is a historic event and will portray the Amazighs in a new light as an open, advanced and forward-looking community."

The general-interest channel, which will broadcast exclusively in Amazigh, will air a wide range of items including programmes devoted to fiction, sport, music, politics, society and culture, as well as the Amazigh language.