FOCUS ON
ALGERIA
Click here to sign up for free weekly email
Email recaps are sent every Thursdays.
Sign up today
Government of Algeria attacks Internet news sites
April 20, 2020 - Algerian authorities have blocked a third online news website that covered the anti-government "Hirak" protest movement, stirring condemnation Monday from media watchdog Reporters Without Borders. RSF also voiced concern that a draft law on "fake...
Algerian diplomat Lamamra withdraw from UN Libya envoy consideration
Algerian former foreign minister Ramtane Lamamra on Thursday ruled himself out of becoming the next UN envoy to Libya, after diplomats said Washington opposed his nomination. In a statement to the Algerian press, Lamamra said he had been invited last month by UN...
Algeria: Prisoners to make face masks
Algiers, April 17, 2020 - Inmates at 30 Algerian prisons are being mobilised to make personal protective equipment to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, official news agency APS reported. Authorities will "open sewing workshops for the production of 200,000...
Algeria’s political police continue to arrest civilians for their opinions
The fall of the notorious General Wassini Bouazza, former head of an equally notorious secret police, has done nothing to slow the level of repression suffered by the Algeria people in the hands of the generals in charge. Repression and judicial harassment against...
Algeria: Clan warfare inside military command rages, turmoil in intel agencies (s)
One of the most hated Generals in the Algerian military high command, General Bouazza Wassini, has been dismissed and reported to be on the run. Wassini, a man with no experience in intelligence but with a massive ego and ambitions, headed the Internal Security...
Algeria: Oil prices, virus, instability put Algeria on edge
Algiers, April 12, 2020 (By Amal Belalloufi with Philippe Agret in Tunis) - Algeria faces economic and social turmoil if crude prices continue to collapse, experts have warned, with the oil-dependent country reeling from a year of popular protests, political turmoil...
Public health: Inside North Africa’s healthcare systems
By Hamza Mekouar: The coronavirus pandemic has put the spotlight on shortcomings in health care in several North African countries, even as governments moved quickly to announce restrictions to limit the spread of the virus. "Our fate is in the hands of a health...
Food supply: The struggle to maintain normalcy in time of pandemic
Algiers, April 9, 2020 (By Abdellah Cheballah) - From an acute shortage of regional staple couscous to a surge of confidence tricks and counterfeiting, authorities in North Africa have been busy tackling coronavirus challenges that go beyond healthcare. For the past...
Diplomacy: No new UN envoys yet for Libya and Western Sahara crises
United Nations, United States, April 8, 2020 - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has begun searching for a new envoy to Libya, diplomatic sources said Wednesday, after the United States refused to endorse the previous candidate. Former Algerian foreign minister...
Algeria looking to renew chloroquine stocks as it generalizes its use (s)
MEA Risk LLC: Algeria is urgently looking for international suppliers who can immediately sell large stocks of chloroquine, which is used by Algeria to treat patients who contracted the Covid-19 virus. Algeria did not wait for the results of clinical trials taking...
Algeria: Regime jails human rights activist Abdelouahab Fersaoui
Algiers, April 6, 2020 - An Algerian court on Monday sentenced another leading figure in the country's anti-regime protest movement to one year in jail, keeping up a crackdown on activists despite the coronavirus crisis, a support group said. Abdelouahab Fersaoui,...
Algeria’s political police unleash terror on journalists and others
Journalist Meriem Chorfi, Editor-in-chief Mouhoub Rafik, and Mohamed Laamari, the Publisher of Algerian newspaper Sawt Al Akher were placed on Thursday, 2 April under judicial control. The move is the last step before they are dragged into a court, most likely the one...
Algeria’s political police punishes another journalist
Algiers, April 5, 2020 - An Algerian court on Sunday sentenced to eight months in jail a journalist who had provided images of months-long anti-government protests to foreign media, a prisoners' support group and a non-government organisation said. Sofiane Merakchi,...
Covid-19 in Algeria: China to the rescue
Algiers, April 4, 2020 - As adversity strikes in the form of the coronavirus pandemic, Algeria has found a helping hand in China, an old friend and the top exporter to Africa's largest country. An Air Algerie plane arrived in the capital Algiers from Beijing on March...
Maghreb: Media as collateral damage of Covid-19
April 2, 2020 - Measures to stem the novel coronavirus pandemic have affected the distribution and publication of newspapers across Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria, according to local media and officials. In Tunisia, seven daily newspapers and 20 weeklies have been...
Algeria is committing “acts of physical endangerment” with revenge arrests
April 3, 2020 - Reporters Without Borders has accused Algeria's government of taking advantage of the coronavirus epidemic to "settle scores" with independent journalists, including those covering long-running anti-government protests. In a statement co-signed with...
Algeria: Food shortages lead to breaches in social distancing and confinement rules
The coronavirus is creating acute shortages of high-consumption foods and commodities. Despite the calls for social distancing, with Algeria ordering a distance of at least one meter between people, there have been mass gatherings of people looking to buy semolina and...
Algeria: Inner-clan warfare continues inside the regime, ex-head of police gets stiff prison sentence
Algiers, April 1, 2020 - An Algerian court issued heavy prison sentences Wednesday to a powerful former police chief and his family for illicit gains and misappropriation of land, local media reported. Abdelaghani Hamel, a former national security director-general,...
Sport: Mediterranean Games pushed to 2022 due to Covid-19
Algiers, March 31, 2020 - The 2021 Mediterranean Games have been postponed a year until 2022 as a result of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, Algeria's sports minister Sid Ali Khaldi said Tuesday. The Games were scheduled for Algeria's second city, Oran, from...
Algeria: A dictator’s cozy retirement and the whereabouts of Bouteflika
Algiers, March 31, 2020 - A year after the unexpected downfall of Algeria's longtime president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the ailing octogenarian remains holed up in his plush and medically adapted home, with his detractors still demanding justice. Bouteflika assumed the...
Connect
You can find us on a few social media platforms. Feel free to connect with us there.