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Algerian regime launches frontal assault on online media
Algeria has announced tighter state controls over online media, sparking alarm in the North African country whose pro-democracy movement is under heightened pressure from the government. President Abdelmadjid Tebboune's government, already accused of stifling free...
Divided Maghreb countries celebrate one common thing: the Couscous
Couscous, the Berber dish beloved across northern Africa's Maghreb region and beyond, Wednesday joined the UN list of the world's intangible cultural heritage. The countries that submitted the listing to UNESCO -- Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Mauritania -- may have...
Algeria: Recovering from Covid, President says he will return from Germany in two-to-three weeks
Algeria's President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said Sunday he was recovering from the Covid-19 illness, in his first televised appearance since he was hospitalised in Germany almost two months ago. "Thanks to God... I have started on the road to recovery," the 75-year-old...
Algeria: Purge of former regime operatives continues
This week, Algeria experienced a series of court decisions that have accelerated the fight against corruption. Sentences have been issued and new arrests were made. But the focus on the Bouteflika-era ministers and senior figures is evidence that the campaign is...
Algeria: Iconic opposition activist Karim Tabbou gets one-year suspended sentence
Algerian opposition activist Karim Tabbou, a key figure in anti-government protests last year, was given a one-year suspended sentence on Monday for "undermining national security", one of his lawyers said. A court in Kolea, near Algiers, also ordered Tabbou to pay...
Algeria alleges and decries ransom payment to ‘terrorists’ by foreign government
Algeria's prime minister has sounded the alarm over reported ransoms paid to "terrorist groups" for the freeing of hostages, weeks after the liberation of a French aid worker in Mali. "Algeria notes, with great concern, continued transfers to terrorist groups of huge...
Algeria: Four die in military-insurgent clashes in northeast Algeria
An Algerian soldier was killed Wednesday during a clash with armed Islamists in the country's northeast, the defence ministry said in a statement. Lelmaya Sifeddine was killed "during a new clash with a terrorist group" during an ongoing operation in the province of...
Minorities: The Amazigh people remain abused by North African regimes
The Berbers of Egypt: By Hager Harabech Siwa Oasis, Egypt, Dec 2, 2020 - Youssef Diab drives his truck through the Egyptian oasis of Siwa, singing catchy songs in a local Berber dialect that clings to life despite the dominance of Arabic. The UN has classified Siwi,...
OPEC cartel set to extend production cuts, but outlook is grim
As the coronavirus pandemic continues to weigh on global oil demand, the OPEC oil producers' club on Monday began a meeting in which they are expected to decide on an extension of production cuts. "2020 continues to be a year of immense challenges caused by the...
How Arab people’s efforts to bring democracy are undermined by online fake news
The incompetent Arab regimes: Opinion by Arezki Daoud Arab governments have perfected the science of fake news and deceptive propaganda. Twitter and Facebook have long been inundated with tweets and posts that have been praising regimes in the Arab world, in...
Algeria’s president Tebboune still missing in action: power vacuum in the making
A month after Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune was hospitalised in Germany and tested positive for coronavirus, uncertainty about his health is fuelling questions about the country's leadership. Tebboune, who is 75 and a heavy smoker, was admitted to hospital...
Algeria: Appeals court ridicules lower court for issuing 10 year jail sentence over opinion on religion
An Algerian appeals court Wednesday slashed to one year a 10-year jail term handed to opposition activist Yacine Mebarki, convicted of "offending Islam", his lawyer said. The court upheld rulings against Mebarki on charges including "offending the precepts of...
In North Africa, hospitals are in a state of war
Covid assaults the MENA region Iran, Jordan and Morocco have recorded thousands of new Covid-19 infections in recent days, the World Health Organization said Thursday, warning that lockdowns could not stamp out the pandemic. "More than 60 percent of all cases in the...
Algerian court orders retrial of former regime leaders, paves way for their release
Algeria's supreme court on Wednesday said the brother of former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika and two ex-intelligence chiefs convicted of conspiracy against the state would be retried after appeals. The once mighty Said Bouteflika was long seen as the real power...
Algeria: Media provocateur, Anis Rahmani, gets five years in prison
The head of Algeria's top private media group was jailed for five years on Sunday, the company said, the toughest sentence handed to a press mogul in the North African country. Anis Rahmani, chief of the Ennahar group, is the latest figure close to the clan of former...
Algeria: Covid upsurge prompts Algeria to impose new restrictions
Algeria imposed new coronavirus restrictions Sunday, closing sport and cultural centres as well as beaches after a spike in infections. The government called on Algerians to fight what it called a "concerning phase" of the pandemic. Algeria has registered more than...
Algeria confirms record low turnout for referendum on a new constitution, approves it anyway
The 23.8-percent turnout was a record low for a major vote in Algeria, with fewer than 15 percent of eligible voters endorsing the constitutional document Algerians approved constitutional reforms in a referendum, though with a record low turnout, the country's...
Podcast: Covid-19 in the Maghreb region as of mid-November 2020
In this brief podcast recorded on 12 November 2020, MEA Risk's Arezki Daoud provides an update on the Coronavirus in the Maghreb region. The state of the Covid-19 epidemic in the Maghreb looks rather bleak as we are reaching the mid-point of November 2020. As in...
Algeria: War hero and anti-regime icon dies from Covid-19
Lakhdar Bouregaa, a highly respected veteran of Algeria's war of independence against France and a key figure in an anti-regime protest movement, has died at the age of 87. “Lakhdar Bouregaa is now under God's protection," his son Hani Bouregaa wrote on Facebook late...
Algeria: Government finally recognizes president has Covid
Algeria’s poor communications and PR skills The Algerian authorities have been so bad at communicating the illness of President Tebboune from the outset. First, they said the president decided to isolate himself voluntarily. Then a day later he was transferred to...
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