Sunday, February 10, 2019
Ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika declared he will seek a fifth term in April elections in a message published by state media Sunday, after he was endorsed by his party and the ruling coalition. The 81-year-old head of state uses a wheelchair and has rarely been...
Sunday, February 10, 2019
Algiers, Feb 10, 2019 – Algeria’s ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is to seek a fifth term in April elections, state media announced Sunday, despite health issues that have kept him largely out of the public eye for years. The 81-year-old head of...
Wednesday, February 6, 2019
Tripoli, Feb 6, 2019 (AFP) – More than 16,000 migrants returned home from conflict-wracked Libya in 2018 under a “voluntary return” programme run by the International Organization for Migration, the agency said Wednesday. “16,753 irregular...
Wednesday, February 6, 2019
Tunis, Feb 6, 2019 – Thousands of Tunisian teachers took to the capital’s streets Wednesday to demand bonuses and improved working conditions months into a strike that has disrupted schools across the country. The demonstrators, heeding calls to protest by...
Wednesday, February 6, 2019
Paris, Feb 6, 2019 (AFP) – French warplanes have carried out fresh attacks against an armed convoy which crossed into Chad from Libya, after initial strikes over the weekend failed to halt its advance, the French army said Wednesday. Acting in conjunction with...
Wednesday, February 6, 2019
Libya, Feb 6, 2019 (AFP) – A force led by Libyan military strongman Khalifa Haftar, engaged in an offensive in southern Libya, said late Wednesday it had seized one of the country’s biggest oil fields without a fight. Ahmad al-Mesmari, spokesman for the...
Tuesday, February 5, 2019
Ouagadougou, Feb 4, 2019 – Fourteen civilians were killed in a jihadist attack in northern Burkina Faso near the Mali border, the military said on Monday. The army conducted raids in three northern provinces in response and said it had “neutralised”...
Monday, February 4, 2019
Niamey, Feb 4, 2019 – The United States turned over a communications and operations centre to the Niger army on Monday to help the African nation battle Boko Haram, a statement said. The planning and operations control centre, worth $16.5 million (14.4 million...
Monday, February 4, 2019
Ouagadougou, Feb 1, 2019 – Authorities in Burkina Faso told mining companies on Friday to toughen up “anti-jihadist” security measures in the wake of the kidnapping and killing of a Canadian geologist last month. The body of Kirk Woodman was...
Monday, February 4, 2019
Paris, Feb 4, 2019 – French warplanes on Sunday struck twice to halt an armed group that crossed into northern Chad from Libya in a column of 40 pickup trucks, the French military said, adding it acted at Chad’s request. A rebel group opposed to President...
Monday, February 4, 2019
Rabat, Feb 2, 2019 (AFP) – An outbreak of swine flu in Morocco has left nine people dead in the past week, the kingdom’s health minister said Saturday. The spread of the H1N1 virus was “normal” for the time of the year, said Anas Doukkali,...
Monday, February 4, 2019
Cairo, Feb 2, 2019 (AFP) – Egypt’s military said Saturday it had killed eight jihadists in air strikes in the Western Desert, as it leads a major campaign against the Islamic State group. “The air force targeted the terrorist base… the...
Sunday, February 3, 2019
Cairo, Feb 3, 2019 – Egyptian lawmakers on Sunday tabled proposed constitutional changes that would allow President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to extend his rule beyond 2022, legislators said. The bill submitted to speaker Ali Abdel Aal calls for several amendments to...
Wednesday, January 30, 2019
The president of the Constitutional Council of Algeria, Mourad Medelci, 76, died early on 28 January after battling illness. As head of the Constitutional Council, which monitors and supervises presidential elections, Medelci had a central role in ensuring smooth...
Wednesday, January 30, 2019
Tunis, Jan 30, 2019 – Election fever is sweeping Tunisia well ahead of parliamentary and presidential polls set for late 2019. President Beji Caid Essebsi has accused Prime Minister Youssef Chahed of seeking power through a secret deal with an Islamist party....
Tuesday, January 29, 2019
Tunis, Jan 29, 2019 – Tunisia’s president on Tuesday accused the prime minister of seeking power through a secret deal with an Islamist party, the latest sign of tension at the top ahead of elections. Prime Minister Youssef Chahed had gained the backing of...
Tuesday, January 29, 2019
Opinion by Arezki Daoud – January 29, 2019: There could be as many as 15 million stray dogs roaming the streets of Egypt, and in the past four years, no less than 231 people died from rabies. Egypt does not believe in decentralized governance, which means the...
Tuesday, January 29, 2019
Niamey, Jan 29, 2019 – Boko Haram militants have shot dead at least four people in a town in Niger near the border with Nigeria, a local official said Tuesday. Three other people were wounded in the attack on Monday night in Bosso, a town near the Lake Chad...
Tuesday, January 29, 2019
Algiers, Jan 26, 2019 (AFP) – Algeria’s main Islamist party, the Movement for the Society of Peace, said Saturday it has decided to take part in April’s presidential election. During the night of Friday to Saturday “the consultative council...
Monday, January 28, 2019
Jendouba, Tunisia, Jan 25, 2019 – Tunisian divorcee Latifa counts herself lucky — she has a modest home that boasts a neat vegetable garden, a fig tree, and a pomegranate tree, along with a panoramic view of neighboring farmland. “Without this land...
Monday, January 28, 2019
Season 1, Episode 2 Tunisia 2019 Election Preview Tunisia, despite its troubles, is an exciting place. A lot is happening there, somethings are good, others need adjustments. The country is headed to the poll at the end of this year, in a new test to check if Tunisia...
Monday, January 28, 2019
Season 1, Episode 3 Algeria 2019 Election Preview Algeria’s secretive politics makes very hard to predict what’s next. But what is certain is that its constitution remains work in progress, considering that there is no definite rule on what to do when a...
Monday, January 28, 2019
Season 1, Episode 4 Nigeria 2019 Election Preview Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country. With a nearly $401 billion economy in 2017, Nigeria surpasses all African countries and is a substantial metric on how Africa is generally doing economically and...
Monday, January 28, 2019
Season 1, Episode 5 Mozambique 2019 Election Preview Over the past two years, Mozambicans have been negotiating peace and on how to implement democracy in a country that has long been dominated by a single party. The Frelimo party-dominated government appears to have...
Monday, January 28, 2019
Ouagadougou, Jan 28, 2019 – At least four Burkinabe soldiers were killed Monday when gunmen raided a military base in the north, security sources said, a day after 10 people died in a separate attack in the same region. The pre-dawn attack saw heavily-armed...
Sunday, January 27, 2019
Al-Gawalesh, Libya, Jan 27, 2019 – “Our town has been looted, homes wrecked and olive trees torched,” Moftah Mohammed said in dismay on returning home to Al-Gawalesh in western Libya after years wandering from place to place. Al-Gawalesh, perched on...
Saturday, January 26, 2019
Bamako, Jan 25, 2019 – Two UN peacekeepers from Sri Lanka died and six wounded in central Mali Friday when their vehicle hit a mine, the UN mission in Mali (MINUSMA) announced. “This morning… a vehicle in a MINUSMA logistics convoy hit a mine near...
Saturday, January 26, 2019
The North Africa Journal – 26 January 2019: A cold snap and floods killed two in Tunisia and two others in Algeria. Affected regions include Tunisia’s Kef, Jendouba, Siliana and Kasserine, and Algeria’s Annaba, El Tarf, Tizi Ouzou and Tipaza. Details...
Friday, January 25, 2019
Rabat, Jan 25, 2019 (AFP) – Chafik Lafrid’s life has become a nightmare since footage of his arrest in Marrakesh on New Year’s Eve, wearing a dress and a wig, went viral on social media. Homosexuality is illegal in Morocco, and the 33-year-old, who...
Friday, January 25, 2019
The North Africa Journal – 28 January 2019: Algerian courts have ordered the release of two journalists who were obviously arrested for the wrong reasons. Adlene Mellah was arrested on 9 December for taking part to a rally in support of a jailed singer. Mellah...
Thursday, January 24, 2019
Algiers, Jan 24, 2019 (AFP) – An Algerian television producer died from severe burns Thursday more than two weeks after setting himself on fire over unpaid wages, his son told AFP. Youcef Goucem, 61, doused himself in flammable liquid and lit it in the offices...
Thursday, January 24, 2019
The North Africa Journal – January 24, 2019: President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has convened the electoral committee last week, hence ruling out the postponement of the presidential election of 18 April 2019. Members of the opposition had tried to push a...
Thursday, January 24, 2019
Algerian military officer (1940–2019) Ahmed Gaid Salah (: أحمد قايد صالح; 13 January 1940 – 23 December 2019) was an Algerian military officer and chief of staff of the from 2004 to 2019. In 2004, he was appointed by then-President to the position of of the army. On...
Thursday, January 24, 2019
Algerian politician (born 1944) Ali Benflis (: على بن فليس; born 8 September 1944) is an Algerian politician who was from 2000 to 2004. In 2003, he became the general secretary of the party. Benflis was a candidate in the 2004 presidential election, but the poll...
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
Bamako, Jan 22, 2019 (AFP) – A former officer with Slovak intelligence service SIS has been abducted from his home in the Malian capital Bamako, his Malian lawyer and supporters told AFP on Tuesday. “Lubos Kosik, my Slovak-nationality client, an ex-officer...
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
The North Africa Journal: Threat and security assessment and tracking company MEA Risk LLC said the Algerian authorities continue to tally the weapons they have confiscated from the general public. Although illegal, many of what is confiscated are hunting rifles and...
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
Tunis, Jan 23, 2019 – Tunisia’s powerful UGTT trade union confederation, locked in a dispute with the government over economic reforms, has said it is open to compromise ahead of February strikes — “but not at any price”. Secretary...
