Egypt: Al-Azhar leaders lost their minds that even top conservative cleric asked them to think a little
They lost the trust of the population and now some Egyptian leaders appear to just have lost their minds. One of them, at the no-longer respected Al-Azhar University, found it fit to expel a young female student just because she was caught on video hugging a male...
Tunisia’s youths disillusioned with outcome of jasmine revolution
Douar Hicher, Tunisia, Jan 13, 2019 – Young Tunisians say the revolution they staged eight years ago to oust their longtime dictator has failed to restore their “dignity” and ease the North African country’s economic woes. “Since the...
Violence in Algeria’s football world
Algiers, Jan 13, 2019 – More than 300 people were injured in football-related violence during the first four months of Algeria’s football season, with hundreds arrested, police said on Sunday. Algeria has for years seen nearly weekly violence at football...
Algeria wants Berber mausoleums from antiquity as UNESCO World Heritage site
Tiaret, Algeria, Jan 14, 2019 – Dating back centuries, Algeria’s pyramid tombs are unique relics of an ancient era but a dearth of research has left the Jeddars shrouded in mystery. The 13 monuments, whose square stone bases are topped with angular mounds,...
Egypt deports second German alleged ‘jihadist’
Berlin, Jan 14, 2019 (AFP) – Egypt has deported the second of two young German men who were arrested last month as suspected jihadist militants, the foreign ministry in Berlin said Monday. Eighteen-year-old Issa Ibrahim ElSabagh landed at Frankfurt airport,...
Eastern Mediterranean countries to boost energy ties
Cairo, Jan 14, 2019 – Eastern Mediterranean countries including Egypt and Israel agreed on Monday to boost energy ties through the creation of a body to strengthen the gas market. The decision came during a meeting bringing together seven energy ministers...
Egypt: Six suspected militants killed by police in Sohag
Cairo, Jan 12, 2019 (AFP) – Egyptian police killed six suspected Islamist militants in a shootout early Saturday in the country’s south, the interior ministry said. The clashes broke out during a police raid on a militant hideout in a mountainous area on...
Morocco complains to UN of Western Sahara truce violations
United Nations, United States, Jan 11, 2019 (AFP) – Morocco has accused Polisario Front fighters in Western Sahara of violating a ceasefire agreement, just weeks before an expected new round of talks on ending the decades-old conflict. In a letter seen by AFP on...
Chad’s president sacks two ministers likely over oil field licensing deal
N’Djamena, Jan 11, 2019 (AFP) – Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno has sacked two members of his cabinet, including the oil minister, a presidential decree announced Friday. Oil and Energy Minister Boukar Michel and Ndolenodji Alixe Naimbaye, minister for...
Nigeria: Despite dismal performance, President Buhari thinks he will be reelected
Abuja, Jan 10, 2019 – Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday said he was confident of winning a second term of office at polls next month. The 76-year-old former military ruler, from the All Progressives Congress (APC) party, is one of 73 candidates on...
Libya: Thousands of people detained in prisons with little government control
United Nations, United States, Jan 10, 2019 – UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is urging the Libyan government to bring all prisons under its control and fre from the grip of militias, some of whom run migrant-smuggling networks. Guterres said in a report...
Libya: Bulgaria investigates alleged illegal sale of Libyan tanker, as Libya orders seizure of Bulgarian ships
Sofia, Jan 11, 2019 – Prosecutors in Bulgaria on Friday opened an investigation into the alleged illegal sale of a Libyan oil tanker, after Libya ordered the seizure of Bulgarian ships entering its ports in retaliation. “The regional prosecution in Burgas...
Egypt arrests two Germans suspected to be joining Islamic State
Cairo, Jan 11, 2019 – Egypt has arrested two German nationals on suspicion they tried to join an Islamic State group affiliate and deported one of them, Egyptian security sources said Friday. German media reported earlier this month that two Germans had gone...
Burkina army chief sacked as jihadist attacks continue
Ouagadougou, Jan 10, 2019 (AFP) -Burkina Faso’s army chief was sacked on Thursday as the armed forces struggle to put a stop to jihadist attacks in the west African nation. Major General Oumarou Sadou was replaced by General Moise Minoungou, according to a...
International: Building boom turning to bust as Turkey’s economy slows
By Raziye Akkoc – Mudurnu, Turkey, Jan 9, 2019 – Deep in a provincial region of northwestern Turkey, it looks like a mirage — hundreds of luxury houses built in neat rows, their pointed towers somewhere between French chateau and Disney castle. Meant...
Egypt: Activist Ahmed Douma gets 15 years in prison
Cairo, Jan 9, 2019 – A leading figure in Egypt’s 2011 revolution [see profile here] was handed 15 years in prison on Wednesday after a retrial, a judicial source told AFP. Ahmed Douma was arrested in 2013 on charges of clashing with security forces in...
Profile: Ahmed Douma, Egyptian Political Activist and Blogger
A leading figure in Egypt’s 2011 revolution was handed 15 years in prison on Wednesday after a retrial, a judicial source told AFP. Ahmed Douma was arrested in 2013 on charges of clashing with security forces in Cairo two years earlier, and received a 25-year...
Morocco: The closing of the deadly mines of Jerada
Rabat, Jan 9, 2019 – Moroccan authorities closed 2,000 illegal mineshafts last year in Jerada, an impoverished former coal town that has been the site of a string of deadly mining accidents. The closure of the “abandoned and illicitly exploited...
Tunisia: Four Jihadists sentenced to death for beheading of shepherd
Tunis, Jan 9, 2019 – A Tunisian court has convicted dozens of jihadists over the 2015 murder of a teenage shepherd, but the vast majority remain on the run, a prosecution spokesman said Wednesday. Mabrouk Soltani, 17, was beheaded as his sheep grazed on Mount...
Algeria’s former and current military chiefs dragged into political infighting
The North Africa Journal – January 9, 2019: The uncertainty over the presidential election in Algeria has created new divisions within the military ranks, with current leaders, siding with the president, who is being politically attacked by retired officers. The...
Egypt: Qatar’s beIN stops broadcasting on Egypt’s CNE cable network
Doha, Jan 8, 2019 – Qatar broadcasting giant beIN said on Tuesday it will stop broadcasting programmes on its only cable network in Egypt, CNE, a move that could affect hundreds of thousands of viewers. The move comes amid a 19-month diplomatic regional crisis...
Tunisian boat and Cypriot container ship collide off Corsica
Tunis, Jan 7, 2019 (AFP) – A collision between a Tunisian boat and a Cypriot container ship that sent hundreds of tonnes of fuel spilling into the Mediterranean in October was due to an extraordinary series of human errors, investigators said Monday. The watch...
Egypt police officer killed defusing church bomb
Cairo, Jan 6, 2019 (AFP) – A policeman was killed while trying to dismantle an explosive device outside a Coptic church in Egypt on Saturday, a security source said. Two other officers were also wounded in the explosion as security personnel attempted to defuse...
Egypt’s Sisi to inaugurate Coptic cathedral after bomb blast
Cairo, Jan 6, 2019 (AFP) – Egypt’s president will inaugurate the country’s biggest cathedral on Coptic Christmas Eve Sunday, a day after a deadly bomb blast near a church in a country where jihadists have repeatedly targeted Christians. There was no...
Two minutes’ silence in Norway for hikers slain in Morocco
Oslo, Jan 7, 2019 (AFP) – Hundreds of people observed two minutes of silence on Monday in Norway in honour of two Scandinavian women hikers murdered in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains in December. Standing in the cold with flags flying at half-mast at the...Algeria: 150 more Middle Eastern refugees arrested
Algeria: Ovine rinderpest deathtoll reaches 2,000
Nigeria: Boko Haram intensifies its attacks on Nigeria
Kano, Nigeria, Jan 5, 2019 (AFP) – Nigeria’s Islamic State West Africa Province, a faction of Boko Haram affiliated to the Islamic State militant group, has intensified attacks against the army in the northeast of the country at an alarming rate, and the...