Tunisia: Street protests and political standoff in TunisiaF

Tunisia: Street protests and political standoff in TunisiaF

Tunisia’s main parliamentary bloc Ennahdha rallied thousands of people Saturday in a demonstration of support for the government amid a tug-of-war with President Kais Saied. The Islamist-inspired Ennahdha and liberal Qalb Tounes parties pushed for a reshuffling...
Algeria’s anti-regime Hirak movement is backF

Algeria’s anti-regime Hirak movement is backF

Thousands of anti-government protesters took to the streets across Algeria on Friday, as the “Hirak” pro-democracy movement gathers renewed momentum after a year-long hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic. Despite a ban on gatherings over Covid-19, crowds...
Moroccans debating legalization of cannabis for medicinal useF

Moroccans debating legalization of cannabis for medicinal useF

Morocco, a country where large volumes of cannabis are grown illicitly, is considering legalising production for therapeutic use of the drug, the government said Thursday. The government has “begun to study a legislative bill relating to the legal use of...
Senegal braces for Jihadist spillover from the SahelF

Senegal braces for Jihadist spillover from the SahelF

Senegal’s President Macky Sall said Tuesday that his native country and neighbouring West African states must “prepare to do battle” to stop jihadist expansion beyond the Sahel. In an interview broadcast that day by French radio RFI, the president...
Sahel: Profile of Niger’s new president, Mohamed BazoumF

Sahel: Profile of Niger’s new president, Mohamed BazoumF

By Boureima Hama – Mohamed Bazoum, named the winner of Niger’s presidential election, worked for years as the right-hand man of outgoing president Mahamadou Issoufou, often doing tough or tedious jobs that earned him little prominence. But that seemingly...
Egypt: Boat capsizes on Lake Mariout, nine killedF

Egypt: Boat capsizes on Lake Mariout, nine killedF

Nine people drowned and at least four were missing Tuesday after a boat chartered for a family fishing trip capsized near Egypt’s second city Alexandria, a security source said. State newspaper Al-Ahram said a six-month-old infant was among the family members...
Sahel: People of Niger vote for a new presidentF

Sahel: People of Niger vote for a new presidentF

By Boureima Hama and Amaury Hauchard – Niger voted Sunday in a presidential run-off between two political heavyweights that is set to bring about the first democratic transition of power in the coup-prone country’s history.  But the balloting was marred by...
Tunis Air CEO dismissed after month into jobF

Tunis Air CEO dismissed after month into jobF

Tunisia’s transport minister on Monday fired the CEO of Tunisair, just over a month after naming her to revive the ailing  national carrier’s fortunes. Olfa Hamdi, an engineer educated in France and the US with experience in managing major enterprises, was...
Morocco: Police seize 9.5 tons of cannabis near RabatF

Morocco: Police seize 9.5 tons of cannabis near RabatF

Around 9.5 tonnes of cannabis resin was seized from a refrigerated lorry near Morocco’s capital Rabat, the national security service said Monday.  A police operation intercepted “a refrigerated lorry carrying 380 bales of around 9.5 tonnes of the drug,...
Libya: Interior minister Fathi Bashagha escapes assassination attemptF

Libya: Interior minister Fathi Bashagha escapes assassination attemptF

The powerful interior minister of Libya’s unity government survived an assassination attempt Sunday, an aide said, sparking fears of resurgent violence despite UN-led peace efforts. Fathi Bashagha’s convoy “was fired on from an armoured car while he...
Tunisia: IS claims killing of 4 Tunisia soldiers near Mount MghilaF

Tunisia: IS claims killing of 4 Tunisia soldiers near Mount MghilaF

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the February 3 killing of four soldiers in a rugged region of central Tunisia, SITE Intelligence Group reported.  The US monitor of jihadist groups said late Thursday that the soldiers were killed in three blasts...
Libya: Mortar attack on Sebha kills childF

Libya: Mortar attack on Sebha kills childF

The United Nations on Wednesday condemned a suspected “targeted mortar attack” in southern Libya that it said killed a child and wounded 29 people. The reported attack in the Sebha region, some 650 kilometres (400 miles) south of the capital Tripoli, took...
Covid-19: Tunisia postpones vaccination campaign to MarchF

Covid-19: Tunisia postpones vaccination campaign to MarchF

Tunisia will receive its coronavirus jabs in March, postponing the expected start of its vaccination campaign, a health official said Wednesday. The government had previously announced it was expecting an initial 94,000 doses of Pfizer and AstraZeneca-Oxford jabs to...
Libya: UN grapples with stubborn presence of mercenaries in LibyaF

Libya: UN grapples with stubborn presence of mercenaries in LibyaF

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for all foreign troops and mercenaries to leave war-torn Libya  during a meeting with the country newly appointed leader Tuesday, his spokesman said. Guterres “spoke separately with the  President of the...
Morocco: Protests in northern Morocco over social and economic despairF

Morocco: Protests in northern Morocco over social and economic despairF

The Moroccan authorities dispatched police reinforcement to the northern city of Fnideq, where protests have erupted over social and economic despair among the population. Moroccan media reported rallies as having erupted because of the closure of the border with the...
Sahel: UN peacekeepers from Togo wounded in attack near Kerena in MaliF

Sahel: UN peacekeepers from Togo wounded in attack near Kerena in MaliF

Around 20 United Nations peacekeepers were wounded in an attack on their base in central Mali on Wednesday, a UN spokesperson said, offering a provisional toll.  Unidentified militants attacked a temporary base near Kerena, a village in the war-torn centre of the...