Algeria: President Bouteflika resigns
The North Africa Journal: The Algerian President, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, officially notified the President of the Constitutional Council, his decision to end his term as President of the Republic. More details coming. Meanwhile, the leaking of the news of a secret...
Algeria: Bouteflika backer and businessman Ali Haddad arrested
Algiers, March 31, 2019 – Ali Haddad, one of Algeria’s top businessmen and a backer of ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, was arrested as he tried to cross into Tunisia, an Algerian security source said Sunday. Haddad, who Forbes magazine describes as...
Algeria: New Algerian government cabinet will fail to ease political tension
Photo: New protests in the capital Algiers after announcement of new government cabinet. Algiers, March 31, 2019 – Protest-hit Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on Sunday named a new government headed by recently appointed Noureddine Bedoui, a statement...
Algeria: Private jets banned from flying out of Algeria, amid reports of arrest of pro Bouteflika businessman Ali Haddad
Algiers, March 31, 2019 – Algeria, which has been hit by weeks of anti-government protests, on Sunday banned all private aircraft from taking off or landing until the end of the month. In a NOTAM, or notice to airmen, aviation authorities said the ban ...
Algeria: Opposition sees the General’s call for impeachment of president as a ploy to maintain regime
By Arezki Daoud – 26 March 2019: Army chief Ahmed Gaid Salah made a stunning recommendation today (March 26) when he said impeaching the president may be the best option left to keep the country stable. His statement came a day after several operatives of the...
Algeria: Central Bank seeks to appease growing public fear over capital flight as political crisis persists
There has been growing public fear over regime operatives moving money from Algeria to foreign banks. Rumors have been circulating that several businessmen tied to the regime, including the Kouninef brothers, have contracted multi-million dollar loans over the past...
Algeria: Media campaign against financial backers of Bouteflika: the Kouninef brothers
The North Africa Journal – 26 March 2019: The Kouninef brothers have been the focal point of several influential newspapers and have been under attack by social media commentators for their alleged strong ties and support of the Bouteflika regime. The Kouninef...
Algeria: General Gaid Salah proposes impeachment of Bouteflika as a way out of the crisis
March 26, 2019 – Algeria’s army chief called Tuesday for President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to be declared unfit to govern, following weeks of mass protests demanding the ailing leader step down after two decades in power. The move would potentially clear the...
Sahel: Mali fires senior army officers, disbands Dogon militia after killing of Fulanis
Bamako, March 24, 2019 – By Serge Daniel and Kassim Taore: Mali’s government on Sunday announced the sacking of senior military officers and the dissolution of an ethnic militia, a day after the massacre of more than 130 Fulani villagers, including women...
Morocco: Teachers take to the streets of Rabat to demand better conditions
Rabat, March 24, 2019 – Thousands of teachers flooded the streets of the Moroccan capital on Sunday to demand better conditions after a nighttime protest dispersed by riot police left dozens wounded. Teachers on temporary contracts have been on strike since...
Sahel: Massacre in Mali’s Mopti region claims more than 130 lives in case of ethnic conflict
Bamako, March 23, 2019 – Dogon hunters killed more than 100 people (updated to 130) in an attack on a Fulani village in central Mali on Saturday, local officials said, as a UN delegation visited the country. “The new toll is 115 dead” in the village...
Burkina Faso: Jihadists are wrecking havoc on northern Burkina
March 22, 2019 – An offensive by Islamists in northern Burkina Faso has left dozens of civilians dead and forced tens of thousands to flee their homes, Human Rights Watch said Friday. “Atrocities by Islamist armed groups in Burkina Faso’s northern...
Chad: Boko Haram launches deadliest attack on military outpost in Chad
N’Djamena, March 22, 2019 – Twenty-three soldiers were killed in southwestern Chad on Friday when they came under attack from Boko Haram jihadists, a military official told AFP. “Boko Haram elements attacked the Chadian army position at around 1 am,...
Tunisia: Army kills three Islamic State suspects in Kasserine
Tunis, March 20, 2019 – Tunisian security forces have shot dead three Islamic State-linked militants suspected of involvement in the grisly killings of shepherds in the restive Kasserine region, the interior ministry said Wednesday. “Three terrorists were...
Sahel: Former PM Boubacar announces candidacy for Mauritania presidential race
Nouakchott, March 16, 2019 – Former prime minister Sidi Mohamed Ould Boubacar on Saturday announced he would stand in Mauritania’s presidential election as an “independent candidate”, but with support from the opposition Islamist party...
Tunisia: France arrests brother-in-law of ex-Tunisia dictator Ben Ali, wanted by Tunisia
March 18, 2019 (AFP) – France said Monday it had arrested and detained Belhassen Trabelsi, the brother-in-law of ousted Tunisian leader El-Abidine Ben Ali, who had been on the run for three years after fleeing Canada. Prosecutor Xavier Tarabeux in the southern...
Sahel: Three Nigerian poachers arrested in Niger with massive haul
Niamey, March 17, 2019 (AFP) – Three Nigerian poachers were arrested in Niger with a massive haul of slaughtered game from W National Park which straddles the borders of Niger, Burkina Faso and Benin, officials said Sunday. Forestry agents discovered elephant...
Sahel: Jihadists attack army camp in Mali’s Mopti region, kill scores of soldiers
Bamako, March 17, 2019 – An attack by suspected jihadists Sunday on an army camp in central Mali killed 23 soldiers, military sources said Monday, raising an initial toll of 21. A local politician and military sources had given the initial toll after a dawn...
Sahel: Niger-Boko Haram conflict intensifies, scores killed in Diffa
Niamey, March 13, 2019 – Niger said Wednesday it had killed 33 Boko Haram “terrorists” and seized vehicles and weapons in an operation in the Lake Chad region in the country’s southeast. “Offensive actions carried out on Tuesday...
Sahel: More soldiers killed by an IED in Mali’s Mopti region
Bamako, March 12, 2019 – Six Malian troops were killed on Tuesday when their vehicles drove over improvised land mines in the centre of the West African country, the army said. Two army escort vehicles hit improvised explosive devices (IEDs) “leaving two...
MEA Risk’s 1Q2019 Sahel podcast update
Season 1, Episode 5 The Sahel 1Q2019 Update Things are moving fast in the Sahel. Libya’s LNA southwestern offensive has increased instability in parts of the Sahel and the Sahara. In Mali, insurgencies and war are accelerating. And in Nigeria, Boko Haram and its...
Another day of protest in Algeria
Algiers, March 13, 2019 – Hundreds of school teachers and students protested in the Algerian capital on Wednesday amid fears that President Abdelaziz Bouteflika plans to extend his two-decade rule. In a surprise announcement Monday, the ailing 82-year-old said...
Algeria: Despite announcing a pull out from presidential race and postponement of elections, Bouteflika is going nowhere
Algeria’s presidential message that Bouteflika is pulling out from the presidential race is 3/4th victory for protesters, one fourth no so. Bouteflika says he will not run and elections are postponed, but no other person has been appointed to manage the...
Turkey: Prez Erdogan attacks women for celebrating Women’s Day
Ankara, March 10, 2019 – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday accused International Women’s Day protesters of being led by political rivals and of “disrespect” during the Islamic call to prayer, after Friday’s march was broken...
Nigeria: Election violence forces vote suspension in Rivers state
Port Harcourt, Nigeria, March 10, 2019 – By Joel Olatunde Agoi – Nigeria’s election authorities announced the suspension of activities in volatile opposition-held Rivers State on Sunday citing violence and threats to its staff, as tensions rise in...People profile: Algeria’s Ali Haddah
Algerian businessman Ali Haddad, : علي حداد (born 27 January 1965 in ) is an Algerian Businessman. He is the co-founder and CEO of ETRHB (Entreprise des Travaux Routiers, Hydrauliques et Bâtiments; Road, Hydraulic and Building Works Company in English), and has been...
Morocco: Suspected Moroccan Jihadis back home, likely to face tough justice
Rabat, March 10, 2019 – Morocco said Sunday it had repatriated eight of its nationals from Syria, who will be investigated for “suspected involvement in acts linked to terrorism”. “The competent Moroccan authorities proceeded on March 10 to...Organization: UGTA Labor Union
Main Algerian trade union The General Union of Algerian Workers (UGTA; : الإتحاد العام للعمال الجزائريين, : al-Ittiḥād al-ʿĀm lil-ʿUmmāl al-Ǧazāʾiriyyīn, : Union Générale des Travailleurs Algériens) is the main Algerian , established February 24, 1956 with the...People profile: Algeria’s Ramtane Lamamra
Algerian politician and diplomat Ramtane Lamamra (: رمطان لعمامرة; born 15 June 1952) is an Algerian diplomat who was ' Personal Envoy for Sudan from 2023 to 2026. Lamamra previously served as the 's from 2008 to 2013 and from 2013 to 2017 and briefly in March 2019....People profile: Algeria’s Lakhdar Brahimi
Algerian United Nations diplomat (born 1934) Lakhdar Brahimi ( pronunciation: ; : الأخضر الإبراهيمي; al-Akhḍar al-Ibrāhīmi; born 1 January 1934) is an Algerian United Nations diplomat who served as the and Special Envoy to until 14 May 2014. He was of from 1991 to...
Egypt: General Sisi names another general to clean up public transport mess
Cairo, March 10, 2019 – Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday tapped a senior military officer for the post of transport minister after a recent train crash at Cairo’s central station killed 22 people. Speaking at a military gathering,...
Egypt’s Sisi frightened by Algerian protests, warns his people to not dare
Cairo, March 10, 2019 – Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned Sunday against the dangers of protesting, in the wake of widespread demonstrations in Algeria and neighbouring Sudan. Sisi, who regularly evokes political stability to draw foreign...
Franco-Algerians protest against Bouteflika
Paris, March 10, 2019 – Thousands of Algerian-origin protesters demonstrated in Paris and other cities around France on Sunday against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, calling on him not to seek another term in office. Several thousand gathered for the second...
Egyptian government likely using cyber-attacks against activists
March 6, 2019 – Amnesty International warned Wednesday that dozens of rights activists in Egypt have been put in “grave danger” by email phishing attacks that it says appear to be government orchestrated. “Dozens of Egyptian human rights...