38 killed in attack on two tourist hotels in Sousse, Tunisia
Two armed men attacked two tourist hotels in the eastern city of Sousse, killing at least 38 Tunisians and foreign nationals and wounding 36 other people, according to the Ministry of Interior. The victims appear to be mostly British. While one of the attackers...
Belmokhtar Likely Escaped US Attack, and the Bizarre Aftermath
According to the Libyan government of Tobruk, the Algerian militant group leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar, head of al-Mourabitoun, was killed in a U.S. airstrike in eastern Libya. However, there is no evidence of his killing and the US authorities have not confirmed his...Dr. Cyril Widdershoven Joins MEA Risk to Drive Research and EMEA Business Development
North Africa Journal’s sister company MEA Risk LLC announced the extension of its Senior Management team with Dr. Cyril Widdershoven joining MEA Risk as Senior Vice President for Research & EMEA Business Development. Dr. Widdershoven is a long-time observer...
Oil Companies Reassessing their Investments in Tunisia
For weeks now rumors of major oil companies preparing to leave Tunisia have circulated in the central administration and in the media. There is no concrete information about many of such exits, but rumors are swirling specifically about Shell and ENI, while the...
Egypt: MEA Risk issues high-risk warning for March 11th to 16th
The Egyptian government, headed by the military is hoping to attract billions of foreign investor dollars to stimulate the country’s economy. After seeing the support of the Arab monarchies of the Gulf dry up, with Egypt actually returning loans back to some Arab...
Lack of Coordination and Panic Compromise the African Military Coalition Fighting Boko Haram
Government Troops battling Boko Haram in West, Central Africa and in the Sahel appear poorly equipped and badly trained to deal with an aggressive insurgency. The disastrous bombing on February 17, 2015 of the Abalam village in the east of Niger by unidentified...
Morocco’s Billions Stashed in Private Swiss Accounts
It is not such a shocking news to learn that Africa’s political and business leaders have long been breaching the trust of their nations by moving money into confidential and untraceable offshore accounts. Corruption, a non-existent justice system, widespread fraud...
The Libyan Crisis: The Moroccan Negotiations Likely to Lead to Nowhere
The Libyan government based in the east of the country and affiliated to the House of Representatives (HoR) is ready to join the negotiating table in Morocco, after it decided not to attend it. Or so it seems. It now has a top military leader, General Khalifa Haftar...
Libya and its three Competing Power Centers
The recent appointment of General Khalifa Haftar as top military commander is an indication that many Libyans are looking to unify their efforts against the Islamists. This appointment is also an effort to form a more solid block against the fast advances of the...
Islamic States working to drag Egypt into multi-front confrontation, say MEA Risk
MEA Risk issued a brief note on what it expects Egypt’s security outlook will be as a result of the killing of 21 of its nationals in Libya. MEA Risk says despite a dismal financial situation, Egypt is not hesitating to increase its debt to buy all sorts of...
Islamic State says it is behind Corinthia hotel attack
Initial reports suggested three Libyan security guards were slain in the Corinthia Hotel assault while at least four foreigners were later killed. At least one of the dead was an American and another one was French. At least six people were wounded. In a statement on...
Deadly Attack on Corinthia Hotel: UN Reacts
The United Nations Security Council and participants in U.N.-sponsored peace talks for Libya condemned an attack Tuesday at a luxury hotel in Tripoli that killed at least nine people. A Security Council statement urged all parties in Libya to take part in efforts to...
The Egyptian Government Signals Some Easing of an All-Out Repression Strategy
There are some tiny signals coming from Egypt that President Sissi and his government are looking to ease a few of the many severe repressive measures enacted since the ousting of previous President Mohamed Morsi. Indeed, the fight against the Muslim Brotherhood has...
Death toll from Libya crises in 2014 exceeds 2,600 – 71% of the region’s casualties
The year 2014 ended with at least 3,771 fatalities from Critical Incidents in the Maghreb and Sahel zones, based on MEA Risk LLC’s tracking service CIncidents. With an intense political crisis affecting Libya, that country was home for nearly 71% of the casualties,...
Maghreb MEA Risk Digest: Week Ending Jan. 18, 2015
The following review is a summary of Critical Incidents witnessed by MEA Risk Analysts and as reported in Critical Incidents Tracker. For the week ending Sunday January 18th, the Maghreb region saw a decrease in the number of Critical Incidents by a rate of -18%. The...
Algeria’s Finances: 2015 Likely to be a Tough Year
Over the past years Algeria has enjoyed a steady stream of strong revenues. Oil money has been used partly to stimulate national savings, to pay for general economic development and to cover subsidies. Another critical contribution of oil money was Algeria’s ability...
Tunisia: Fourth Year Anniversary of the Jasmine Revolution: Time to Celebrate and Time to Focus
Tunisia has achieved a lot. With a broad and solid consensus is emerging on the future of the country, and the secular and Islamist politicians agreeing to let the people choose, an elongated and protracted crisis has been averted as the new Parliament and new...
Libya Inches Toward Failed State Status, says MEA Risk
The collection of problems facing Libya today seems so insurmountable that it makes it a prime candidate for failed statehood status, based on MEA Risk taxonomy. Indeed all the data collected by MEA Risk’s Critical Incidents Tracker from war-torn Libya shows...
The Cost of Excessive Trade Regulation: How Tunisia is Losing Money
Tunisia suffers from the illegal trade of merchandise that reduces its potential for more state income. Most of illicit trade comes through its borders with Algeria and Libya. Each year, millions of dollars of illicit products enter Tunisia without control or...
As Oil Production Rises in Libya, so are Local Tribes and Militias’ Fortunes
After reaching its lowest level a few months ago, Libya’s oil production has been slowly rising to reach an estimated 800,000 barrels per day. It is still half of its peak, but it is a significant evolution in a country that is in war. Indeed what is peculiar is this...Sonatrach’s Hassi Messaoud housing base blockaded by local protestors
Dozens of residents of Hassi Messaoud are demonstrating in front of the housing complex of Algerian oil company Sonatrach. Blocking access to the base, which is located near the local airport, the residents say they are fed up with lack of resolution in their housing...
Last French hostage Serge Lazarevic freed
French President François Hollande announced today the release of Serge Lazarevic. Kidnapped in Hombori (Mali) by al- Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) November 24, 2011 with Philippe Verdon , who was assassinated in 2013, Serge Lazarevic , 50, was the last French...
Boko Haram Targets Niger, Panic in the East of the Country
Niger, the northern neighbor of Nigeria is now on the target list of the West African Islamist militant group Boko Haram. Boko Haram’s attacks within Nigeria forced thousands of residents to seek refuge in Niger, which is now getting the unwanted attention as a target...Morocco’s 2015 Budget Based on 4.4% GDP Growth, Earmarks $6 Billion for Debt Servicing
Morocco has a 2015 budget that takes into account a 4.4% GDP growth, up from a projected 4.2% this year. For many, the forecast growth is a bit too optimistic and may be misleading. Morocco planning council HCP for its part projects a more sluggish 2.5% GDP growth,...Mali’s Government Legitimacy Undermined by Corruption Scandals
Two procurement contracts in Mali got the IMF and the World Bank pretty upset. The international institutions have been probing the government in Bamako about dozens of millions of dollars worth of a military procurement contract, which was apparently signed under...Algeria’s Recent Oil Exploration Bid Round: Not Enough Takers and Why
Statoil resumed its work in the In Amenas site on September 2014, and expanded a bit more by winning a Timissit Permit License in the Illizi-Ghadames Basin onshore Algeria, in partnership with Shell. The license is located in southeastern Algeria, not too far from the...
Tunisia’s Presidential Elections’ Outlook: Essebsi’s Almost Guaranteed Victory
MEA Risk says the first round of the Tunisian presidential elections turned out to be democratic, transparent, free, and trouble-free. Although the two competing candidates had an important 6% difference in the results, Tunisian law requires a second round to close...