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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...
UNESCO set to give Algerian Rai music and Tunisian Harissa heritage status
The French baguette, Algerian Rai music and Tunisia's harissa condiment are among this year's contenders for recognition as intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO, which started deliberations Monday in Morocco. The United Nations' cultural agency is examining 56...
Energy: Italian companies make new gains in Algeria’s gas infrastructure sector
Algeria's national petrochemicals firm Sonatrach said Thursday it had signed deals worth around $600 million with Italian companies to extract and transport liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). Africa's biggest natural gas exporter, Algeria is seeking to fill a gap in...
Algeria continues to attack journalists and free speech
Algerian court hands over death sentence to exiled journalist for publishing “fake” and “confidential” information Attacks on journalists in Algeria have reach an alarming level. Earlier this month, a court in the capital Algiers went as far as to hand a death penalty...
Saudi crown prince MBS may not attend Arab League summit due to “ear condition”
Doctors have advised Saudi Arabia's powerful crown prince not to travel to Algiers for a summit because of an ear condition, the royal court said Sunday in a statement published by state media. The statement came nearly 24 hours after the Algerian presidency issued...
Defense: Algeria-Russia start join military drills in the Mediterranean Sea, as Morocco set defense budget to US$11bil.
Algeria and Russia are to begin military maneuvers in the Mediterranean on Saturday, 22 October 2022. The drills will last four days in what appears to be a new sign of rapprochement between the two countries. In a press release, the Algerian Ministry of Defense...
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