Referendums by country (a quarter of the population), cast ballots to become "sovereign and independent" of Ethiopia. This vote was the result of thirty years of war by Eritreans during their War of Independence. The result was a vote for independence by 99.8% of the voters. There have been several referendums in Morocco, most of which were related to the Moroccan constitution. Since becoming King, Mohammed VI has led many reforms that made Morocco an exception from all the other Arab countries. On February 20, 2011, thousands took to the streets of Rabat, Casablanca, Tangier and Marrakesh in peaceful protests demanding a new
Transport in Morocco be approved, the 1,500 kilometres of track may take until 2035 to complete at a cost of around 100 billion dirhams ($10 billion). Potential speed gains are large, with travel time from Casablanca to Marrakesh down from 3 hours to 1:20, and from the capital Rabat to Tangier from 4:30 to 1:30. The second High-Speed Rail (HSR) which is planned to be built after Tangier-Kenitra is the HSR Marrakech-Essaouira (180 km) followed by a new HSR Rabat-Meknes (130 km). The last high-speed lines will connect these two old empire cities to the Atlantique coast in less than one hour instead