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Algeria-Morocco Competition for Regional Influence Shifts to Economic Affairs
Opinion By Arezki Daoud: Up until now, enemy brothers, Algeria and Morocco have been trying to impress and disrupt one another to ascertain their influence in the North Africa and Sahel regions through sabre-rattling, despite the two countries boasting the exact same...
Germany to get Algerian gas for first time
Germany is to get Algerian gas with the signing on 8 February of a contract tying gas producer Sonatrach to Leipzig-based gas trader VNG Handel & Vertrieb GmbH (VNG H&V). The German company is a wholly owned subsidiary of VNG AG. VNG is the first German...
Podcast: The Sahel is the Next Big Geopolitical Crisis where Foreign Meddlers are Congregating
Transcript: The Sahel is now clearly the next big event in Africa's geopolitics. After the complete destruction of Libya, the same foreign powers that paid for the killing of a nation are now shifting their attention to the Sahel, establishing the bases of another...
Mali junta ends Algiers Agreement
The ruling junta in Mali announced, on Thursday 25 January, the "end, with immediate effect", of the Algiers agreement signed in 2015 with the pro-autonomy and independence groups based in the north of the country. Long considered essential for stabilizing the...
Energy: US oil companies explore opportunities in Algeria but no deal yet after months of talks
Junior executives of Oxy and Chevron, affiliated with the US-Algerian Business Council (USABC) traveled to Algiers on 21 January 2024 as part of a 26-people delegation representing various sectors seeking opportunities in Algeria. Among the most noticeable companies...
Algeria: Six members of the same family die of carbon monoxide in MSila
Six members of the same family died on Sunday, 14 January 2024, at their home in the municipality of Ain El Melh in the wilaya of M'Sila, after being poisoned with carbon monoxide gas, said a statement from the Civil Protection Directorate. The gas emanated from a...
Algeria: Judicial Supervision of Former Head of RCD Party: Political Pressure or Legal Procedure?
The former president of the opposition party, the Rassemblement pour la Culture et la Démocratie (RCD), Mohcine Belabbas, has been under judicial supervision for two years. The investigating judge at the court of Hussein Dey in Algiers finally closed the investigation...
Algeria-Spain: Despite diplomatic disconnect, Algeria-Spain maintain strong energy ties ($)
Algeria fires head of police, arrests 11 Oran Airport security officers
Farid Bencheikh, the head of gigantic police and security agency, the Director General of National Security (DGSN), was fired today and replaced by another officer, Ali Badaoui. Bencheikh had been in office since 15 March 2021. Although the presidency did not specify...
Sahel: Qatar helps dissipate diplomatic tensions between Mali and Algeria
The North Africa Journal - Qatar has demonstrated its diplomatic skills in the Middle East crisis but it has also been quietly active in other regions, such as helping reduce tensions between Mali and Algeria. To recall, the Malian government expressed its anger at...
Drought is pushing North African economies to the brink and to social unrest
Drought is wreaking havoc on North Africa’s water supply and on its agriculture. All countries in the region are facing a dangerous water outlook. For example, cash-strapped Tunisia is expected to import almost all its cereal needs. During his visit to Tunis at the...
Franco-Moroccan relations likely to remain strained as ties between Paris and Algiers strengthen
There has been noticeable strain in relations between France and Morocco, with the ties between the two being once again tested this early 2024. The French resistance to Morocco’s pressure to recognize its Western Sahara plan and France’s cozy relationship with...
UN rapporteur on human rights pressures Algeria to release jailed activists
The United Nations special rapporteur on human rights defenders on Tuesday urged Algeria to release all jailed human rights activists, citing "ongoing judicial harassment". After a 10-day visit to the North African country, Mary Lawlor said at a press conference the...
North Africa’s use of drones in the agricultural sector
By Aymen Jamli: A drone buzzed back and forth above rows of verdant orange trees planted near Nabeul, eastern Tunisia. The black unmanned aircraft, equipped with a multi-lens camera and sensors, has been enlisted by Tunisian farmers to help adapt to years of drought...
Algeria: Year before election, president picks new prime minister
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune dismissed his prime minister on Saturday, replacing him with a seasoned diplomat, the presidency said. Tebboune named Nadir Larbaoui, currently serving as director of the presidential cabinet, to replace Prime Minister Aimene...
Anger in the Arab world over strike on a Gaza hospital
In Libya: Several hundred people protested in Tripoli and other Libyan cities late Tuesday over the deadly strike on a Gaza hospital, according to AFP journalists. In Tripoli, hundreds of demonstrators of all ages, brandishing Palestinian flags and some covering...
Sahel: Nigeria endorses Algeria’s mediation plan for Niger
The Sahel issues are now the domain of the Algerian military, who have sidelined the president and his aids due to their connections with France. Sources say that the Algerian mediation is likely the result of an agreement with the United States, which has been...
Algeria fires CEO of energy giant Sonatrach
Corruption and Politics: By Arezki Daoud: Oil company Sonatrach is once again going through turmoil. This week, CEO Hakkar has been fired, in a case that sees business intersects with politics. As Algeria prepares for a presidential election in 2024, the various...
Algeria: While pro-democracy Hirak movement represents no risk to regime, Algeria continues to hold people in prisons
A United Nations expert on Tuesday urged Algeria to pardon people convicted or detained over their involvement in the pro-democracy protests of 2019-20 and to ease restrictions on gatherings. The Hirak protests broke out in February 2019, forcing longtime president...
Algeria and Morocco on opposite sides of the Western Sahara conflict, face off at UN
Moroccan and Algerian representatives to the United Nations sparred over the fate of Western Sahara on Tuesday, with Algiers calling for the revival of a long-stalled referendum on the fate of the former Spanish colony. "We Algerians have chosen the camp of justice,...
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