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Algeria arrests analyst Raouf Farrah, keeps elderly mother of opposition figure under court supervision
The mother of prominent French-Algerian activist Amira Bouraoui has been released from custody but remains under court supervision, a rights group said Monday, a week after her arrest. Bouraoui had been banned from leaving Algeria after being sentenced to two years...
Algeria sentences ex-president’s brother and advisor Said Bouteflika to 12 years in prison
An Algerian court has sentenced the brother of ousted president Abdelaziz Bouteflika to 12 years in prison for "corruption" and money laundering, local media reported Wednesday. The verdict against Said Bouteflika -- already serving time in a different case -- is the...
Algerian regime’s fixation on all and any domestic opposition turns into paranoia
By Abdellah Cheballah: Algeria recalled on Wednesday its envoy to France "for consultations" after Paris intervened to fly out via Tunisia an activist and journalist who is wanted by Algiers, the presidency said. The Amira Bouraoui affair threatens renewed ties...
Most Arab leaders were no-show in regional meeting in Libya, unwilling to deal with Tripoli
Major Arab states boycotted a ministerial meeting hosted by Libya's interim government on Sunday, with just five of the Arab League's 22 members sending their top diplomats and even the bloc's secretary general staying away. The snub underlines Arab divisions over the...
Energy: New Italian PM heads to Algeria to secure more gas
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni agreed Monday to strengthen energy cooperation with Africa's top gas exporter Algeria, the latest European country seeking supply deals to help reduce reliance on Russia. "Facing the great energy crisis that Europe in particular...
Western Sahara: Brahim Ghali reelected head of Polisario Front
The Polisario Front, which seeks independence for Western Sahara, re-elected its leader Friday in its first vote since the breakdown of a UN-supervised truce with Morocco, which controls most of the disputed territory. Brahim Ghali, 73, was elected to a new three-year...
Algerian: Independent journalist Ihsane el-Kadi still in prison
Rights group Amnesty International urged Algeria on Tuesday to immediately release prominent jailed journalist Ihsane El Kadi, condemning what it called a "ruthless campaign" to silence critics. El Kadi, director of the Maghreb Emergent news website and Radio M, was...
Algeria: Sheltered abroad, ex energy minister Chakib Khelil sentenced to 20 years in prison for corruption
A former Algerian energy minister was sentenced in absentia Thursday to 20 years in prison for corruption, the latest ruling against a top ally of late president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, local media reported. Chakib Khelil headed the energy ministry of Africa's top gas...
Algeria: Opposition figure Rachid Nekkaz freed from prison after he allegedly vowed to quit politics
An Algerian businessman and activist imprisoned for urging a boycott of the country's 2019 presidential election was released Wednesday, a rights group said, after he announced this month he would quit politics. Rachid Nekkaz was released on "humanitarian grounds",...
Western Sahara: Polisario leader Brahim Ghali expected to be reelected after ongoing Congress meeting
The Polisario movement, which seeks independence in disputed Western Sahara, started meeting Friday for leadership elections in the shadow of mounting tensions between host Algeria and Morocco, which controls most of the territory. More than 2,200 members of the...
Algeria: Policeman kills boy during drug bust
An Algerian policeman shot a teenage boy who later died when a gang tried to stop officers during the latest in a string of drug busts, police said Tuesday. Officers searching a house in the Baraki suburb of the capital Algiers were "surprised" by young men trying to...
Podcast: Sahel and North Africa week in review 7 Jan 2023
Greetings to our second episode of Week in Review and a quick summary of what we are tracking in the Sahel and in North Africa. Today is Saturday, the 7th of January 2023. This past week was somewhat subdued in the region largely due to the year-end holiday season and...
Algeria makes baby steps to stimulate tourism sector, but just in the Sahara
Algeria will allow foreign tourists heading to its vast desert south to obtain visas on arrival, part of efforts to "promote tourism in the Sahara", the interior ministry announced Wednesday. In a statement, it said that "foreigners heading to the south of the...
Algeria’s political police arrest independent journalist El Kadi Ihsane
The Algerian political police secret services arrest the journalist El Kadi Ihsane and close the premises of the Radio M web radio station By Writing Algeriapart more - December 25, 2022 0 57 On Saturday, 24 December 2022. the Algerian political police known as the...
Algeria troubled by Europe’s gas price cap
Africa's top gas exporter Algeria on Tuesday spoke out against a European Union price cap on natural gas, saying it would threaten upstream investments. Algeria "doesn't support the idea of limiting prices", Energy Minister Mohamed Arkab said, speaking a day after EU...
France set to readjust visa issuance policy for Maghreb visitors
By Delphine Touitou: France and Morocco announced Friday they were mending fences after months of tensions over visas, and said President Emmanuel Macron would visit the North African kingdom in early 2023. Speaking in Rabat alongside her Moroccan counterpart Nasser...
Algeria: Activist Slimane Bouhafs sentenced to prison
An Algerian activist who had refugee status in Tunisia but was mysteriously returned to face trial in Algeria was jailed Friday for three years on terror charges, a rights group said. Slimane Bouhafs "has been sentenced to three years in prison without parole" and a...
While Algerian gas keeps flowing into Spain, trade between the two is frozen
By Valentin Bontemps: Six months after Algeria cut ties with Spain following a spat over disputed Western Sahara, trade between the two countries remains paralysed, much to the dismay of the worst-hit companies. With sales blocked, investment frozen and projects at a...
Algeria’s Rai music is now on the UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list
Raucous, expressive and revolutionary: Algeria's Rai music took its place on the United Nations' list of intangible cultural heritage on Thursday. "New inscription on the #IntangibleHeritage List: Rai, popular folk song of #Algeria," UN cultural agency UNESCO...
Algeria sentences stunning number of people to death over forest fires
An Algerian court Thursday sentenced 49 people to death over the lynching of a man falsely accused of starting deadly forest fires during an extended heatwave last year, state media reported. The North African country has, however, maintained a moratorium on carrying...
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