Kampala — ACCORDING to an article in the BBC Internet, the late King Hassan II of Morocco once said Morocco was a tree with its roots in Africa and its branches in Europe.

No statement could better summarise the dilemma of Africaness when viewed from countries like Morocco. This land of 30.5 million, whose coastline is washed by both the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, is geographically misplaced in Africa, so its people love to think.

It could as well have been designated part of Europe, being separated from Spain by just the seven-mile wide Strait of Gibraltar. Though racially considered an Arab land, half of its population speaks French as their mother tongue. Spanish, the other colonial language, is widely spoken too.

For the better part of the 38 years during which Hassan was in power, he was convinced Morocco rightly belonged to Europe so much that the country's policies were decided not in Rabat but in Paris and Madrid.

Europe is so much in the life of the Moroccans that 60 percent of the country's exports go to that continent. The trappings of Europe are evident all over here in Marrakech, where yours truly is penning.

For example, forget about Toyotas ruling the roads as you see in Kampala, giving the impression that everyone is driving Japanese. On the Marrakech roads, it's European cars par excellence: Peugeot, Fiat, Renault - names that are almost extinct on Ugandan roads!

Seeing Europe right in his face and the real Africa far away beyond the vast Sahara Desert, King Hassan before he died in 1999 could not help knocking on the doors of the European Union (EU) asking for Morocco to be let in as a member.

The EU rebuffed Hassan, but his son, the youthful Mohammed V (38yrs) a.k.a. M6, in Moroccan speak, has carried on the fight. The young King is so Euro-centred that he got a PhD in EU matters. But all these pro-Euro credentials of Morocco do not amuse the Europeans.

Brussels sees Morocco as nothing more than another African country with depressing economic stats not worth exporting to mainland Europe-50 illiteracy, massive unemployment etc. Above all, the Europeans view Morocco as the springboard for the illegal African immigrants, a source of drugs-and more dangerously terrorists.

Instead, the Europeans seem to be just content flocking to Morocco as tourists, basking in the more milder winter temperatures, across the Mediterranean. Here in Marrakech, one thing in particular seems to make the Europeans nostalgic of the good old days of true royalty in their own lands: horse drawn chariots.

All over the streets, horse-drawn well-decorated luxury carts for hire are as abundant as our boda bodas in Kampala. They line up at various points, taking in passengers one after the other in an orderly manner. A ride around the city costs the equivalent of sh20,000. One can clearly see the ever camera-wielding European couples savouring it.

Nonetheless, it may be a long wait if ever Moroccans are to get a chance to have these tourists feel at home here as being within. Yet Morocco seems to be in no hurry to acknowledge that its place is in Africa.

Matters are not helped by the fact that there has never been love lost between Morocco and the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) now African Union (AU). Reason? The continental body has backed the rebellious Western Sahara, a territory to the south west of Morocco, which has for decades fought for independence from Rabat.

Moreover, given Africa's disjointed economic situation, one can understand Morocco's gut feeling in wanting to cut and run into the warmer arms of the EU.

The reality of flying from Entebbe to Casablanca (the main airport in Morocco) tells it.

A direct commercial flight would take only some eight hours. There is, however, no conceivable direct flight or even any connection within Africa taking less than 48 hours.

One, therefore, has two alternatives - all detouring outside Africa. You either fly Entebbe-Dubai-Casablanca or Entebbe-London-Casablanca. Whichever way you go; it takes a whooping 24 hours!

There could be no better place for President Museveni's indefatigable call for a rapid integration of the African market to resonate. He was in Marrakech to give a keynote address to a top World Bank meeting; the only head of state invited to do so.