Morocco overwhelmingly approves curbs on king's powers (AFP)

RABAT (AFP) – Moroccans have overwhelmingly approved a new constitution curbing the vast powers of King Mohammed VI after authorities offered reforms in a bid to quiet protests inspired by uprisings in the Arab world.

More than 98 percent of voters had backed a new constitution put forward in a referendum on Friday, Interior Minister Taib Cherkaoui announced on state television just after midnight. Voter turnout had been 72.65 percent, he added.

Faced with demonstrations modelled on those that ousted long-serving leaders in Tunisia and Egypt, Mohammed VI announced the referendum last month to devolve some of his powers to the prime minister and parliament, saying the reform would "consolidate the pillars of a constitutional monarchy."

Critics were quick to denounce the result and the youth-based February 20 Movement, which organised the weeks of pro-democracy protests, announced it would hold another demonstration on Sunday.

"The movement will demonstrate peacefully on Sunday to protest against this ridiculous result," Najib Chaouki, one of the movement's leaders, told AFP.

"This referendum was illegal because it was marked by massive violations of democratic principles," he said.

The United States had hailed the referendum on Friday, with State Department spokesman Mark Toner telling reporters it was "an important step in Morocco's ongoing democratic development."

Under the draft constitution, the king will remain head of state, the military, and the Islamic faith in Morocco.

But the prime minister, chosen from the largest party elected to parliament, will take over as the head of government.

Mohammed VI, who in 1999 took over the Arab world's longest-serving dynasty, offered reforms after the February 20 Movement organised weeks of protests that brought thousands to the streets to call for more democracy, better economic prospects and an end to corruption.

The reforms fall far short of the full constitutional monarchy many protesters were demanding and the movement had urged a boycott of Friday's vote.

Throughout a brief campaign, the new constitution was fiercely backed by Morocco's main political parties, unions, civic groups, religious leaders and media. The campaign was dominated by the "yes" side, with few signs of an organised "no" vote movement.

Pro-government newspapers hailed the vote Saturday, with Liberation praising the "massive participation and serene atmosphere" while Le Matin said the vote had been held with "serenity, enthusiasm and patriotic engagement."

Liberation praised voters who "chose to meet their date with history and give body and soul to the social and modernist project whose realisation all Morrocans aspire to."

Along with changes granting the prime minister more executive authority, the new constitution will reinforce the independence of the judiciary and enlarge parliament's role.

It will also remove a reference to the king as "sacred", though he will remain "Commander of the Faithful" and "inviolable".

The new constitution will also guarantee more rights to women and make Berber an official language along with Arabic -- the first time a north African country has granted official status to the region's indigenous language.

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Powers plot 'post-Kadhafi' Libya as rebels eye cash (AFP)

ABU DHABI (AFP) – Key powers have vowed to unlock a billion dollars for hard-pressed Libyan rebels in talks to map out a "post-Kadhafi Libya" as a fresh volley of NATO air strikes rocked the capital early Friday.

Libya's former foreign minister, Abdurrahman Shalgam, said the rebel National Transitional Council needed at least $3 billion over the next four months to pay its expenses as it battles to oust Moamer Kadhafi.

In a boost to the opposition, the United States joined Australia and Spain in recognising the NTC as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people, with pressure mounting on the veteran leader to step down.

"Kadhafi's days are numbered. We are working with our international partners through the UN to plan for the inevitable: a post-Kadhafi Libya," US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told talks in Abu Dhabi.

"Time is on our side," the chief US diplomat said, adding international military, economic and political pressure was mounting on the Libyan colonel to abandon his four decades in power at the helm of the north African nation.

"In the days ahead," she said, "we have to coordinate the many plans taking shape and work closely" with the NTC and Libyan people.

Clinton was meeting counterparts from NATO and other countries participating in the air strikes against Kadhafi's forces for a third round of Libya talks.

The chief US diplomat said later that "people close to Kadhafi" have been making continuous contacts with many different interlocutors about the "potential for a transition" to a new regime.

"There is not a clear way forward yet," she told a news conference, also referring to the NTC as "the legitimate interlocutor" of the Libyan people.

Clinton offered no direct US financial contribution to the rebels, pledging instead another "$26.5 million to help all the victims of this conflict, including Libyan refugees."

Such money will likely be distributed through relief agencies.

But Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Rome would provide the rebel council with loans and fuel products worth 300 to 400 million euros ($438 million to $584 million).

And his French counterpart, Alain Juppe, said Paris would release 290 million euros ($420.9 million) of frozen Libyan funds for the NTC.

In a sign of the continued pressure on the Kadhafi regime, a fresh wave of NATO air strikes hit the Libyan capital very early Friday, with three strong explosions shaking central Tripoli at around midnight. Other more distant explosions followed.

In the last two days, Tripoli has been targeted by the most intense NATO air raids since the international military campaign began on March 19.

The nominee to be the next US defence secretary Leon Panetta said the sustained economic, diplomatic and military pressure would likely lead Kadhafi to step down.

"I think there are some signs that -- if we continue the pressure, if we stick with it -- that ultimately Kadhafi will step down," Panetta told US lawmakers.

"Frankly, I think there are gains that have been made. We have seen the regime weakened significantly, we have seen the opposition make gains, both in the east and the west."

Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade urged Kadhafi to step down as he became the first head of state to visit the rebels' bastion of Benghazi in eastern Libya.

"I look at you in the eyes... the sooner you go, the better," Wade said.

A member of the NTC said on the sidelines of the Abu Dhabi meeting that an international fund aimed at helping Libya's rebels had "become operational" from Thursday.

A State Department official later told reporters "we have got commitments of something about $300 million that came out of today's meeting," including $180 million from Kuwait and $100 million from Qatar.

Four blasts shook Tripoli on Thursday afternoon and NATO said it hit an electronic warfare vehicle and a military training camp near Libya's third-largest city Misrata.

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