HM the King "has understood the necessity to undertake reforms since the beginning," the US official said during a briefing at the Foreign Press Centre in Washington on the situation on the international arena in general and in the Arab world in particular.

    He was answering a question on the demonstrations staged last Sunday in some Moroccan cities, which were described by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International as mostly peaceful.

    A US State Department official said, on Wednesday, that his country appluads the Moroccan government for allowing its citizens to demonstrate in a peaceful manner.

    "We are aware that a number of mostly peaceful protests took place in Morocco last week," the US official said, adding that Washington commends the Kingdom's authorities for allowing citizens to hold such peaceful demonstrations.