Maghreb: Anger in Tunisia and Morocco over poorly managed lockdownF

Maghreb: Anger in Tunisia and Morocco over poorly managed lockdownF

Mnilha, Tunisie, March 31, 2020 – Several hundred Tunisians demonstrated in a working class district of the capital Tuesday, demanding government support and protesting a week-old lockdown against the coronavirus pandemic that has disproportionately impacted the...
Africa: How to lock down a 20-million-people city?F

Africa: How to lock down a 20-million-people city?F

Lagos, March 31, 2020 – Roads in Africa’s largest city Lagos were deserted Tuesday after Nigeria locked down its economic hub and shuttered its capital, in the continent’s latest effort to brake the juggernaut of coronavirus. Businesses were closed,...
Sport: Mediterranean Games pushed to 2022 due to Covid-19F

Sport: Mediterranean Games pushed to 2022 due to Covid-19F

Algiers, March 31, 2020 – The 2021 Mediterranean Games have been postponed a year until 2022 as a result of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, Algeria’s sports minister Sid Ali Khaldi said Tuesday. The Games were scheduled for Algeria’s second...
Mauritania: French-Mauritanian national dies from Covid-19F

Mauritania: French-Mauritanian national dies from Covid-19F

Nouakchott, March 31, 2020 – Mauritania has declared its first fatality from coronavirus, state media reported on Tuesday, adding to the growing death toll on the African continent. The victim is a 48-year-old French-Mauritanian dual national who tested positive...
MENA (MidEast/North Africa) regimes increase their repressionF

MENA (MidEast/North Africa) regimes increase their repressionF

Cairo, March 29, 2020 – Armoured vehicles in the streets, hundreds arrested, smartphone surveillance — sweeping measures to fight the coronavirus have raised concerns in the Middle East over the erosion of already threatened human rights. As the world...
Algeria jails more journalists despite Covid-19F

Algeria jails more journalists despite Covid-19F

Algiers, March 29, 2020 – An Algerian journalist was Sunday ordered to be held in pre-trial detention, press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and rights organisations said. “Our correspondent in Algeria, Khaled Drareni, has been...
Tunisia: The women behind the maskF

Tunisia: The women behind the maskF

Tunis, March 26, 2020 – By Caroline Nelly Perrot:  In Tunisia, 150 people — mostly women — have isolated themselves in a factory for a month to make protective gear like masks to help their country’s fight against coronavirus. Due to strict...
North Africa faces unprecedented economic crisisF

North Africa faces unprecedented economic crisisF

Listen to the podcast above or read the transcript below. Download MP3 file here. 26 March 2020: By Arezki Daoud: North Africa is bracing for an unprecedented economic contraction, even if the coronavirus crisis were to be contained soon.  The fundamentals of economic...
Libya now fighting two wars: a civil war and Covid-19F

Libya now fighting two wars: a civil war and Covid-19F

Tripoli, March 25, 2020  – Libya has reported its first case of the novel coronavirus, a particular source of concern in the North African country where civil war has badly degraded the public healthcare system.  Libya has been mired in chaos since the 2011...
Sahel: Massacre in ChadF

Sahel: Massacre in ChadF

N’Djamena, March 24, 2020 – Ninety-two Chadian soldiers have been killed in the deadliest attack ever by Bok o Haram jihadists on armed forces in the country, President Idriss Deby Itno said Tuesday. The attack is part of an expanding jihadist campaign in...
Sahel: More insurgent attacks across the SahelF

Sahel: More insurgent attacks across the SahelF

March 25, 2020 – Two soldiers in Mali and three civilians in Burkina Faso died in suspected jihadist attacks in the Sahel on Tuesday, a day after Islamist rebels killed scores of troops in Chad, security sources said. The two soldiers were killed and three...
Four more African countries announce first case of Covid-19F

Four more African countries announce first case of Covid-19F

Bamako, March 25, 2020 – Four countries led by war-ravaged Mali on Wednesday joined the lengthening list of African countries hit by the novel coronavirus as Kenya ordered a curfew and unveiled tax breaks in the fight against the pandemic. Mali, mired in an...
Sahel: Mali opposition leader Soumaila Cisse goes missingF

Sahel: Mali opposition leader Soumaila Cisse goes missingF

Bamako, March 25, 2020 – Leading Malian opposition leader Soumaila Cisse went missing in the war-torn centre of the country on Wednesday afternoon, his party said, with no-one is able to contact him since. In a statement released on Wednesday, Cisse’s...
Sahel: Mali announces Covid-19 curfew after first case was identifiedF

Sahel: Mali announces Covid-19 curfew after first case was identifiedF

Bamako, March 25, 2020 – Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita announced a nationwide night-time curfew on Wednesday to limit the spread of coronavirus, but said a parliamentary vote planned for this week will go ahead. In a televised address, Keita said the...
North Africa’s incomprehensible night curfewsF

North Africa’s incomprehensible night curfewsF

Opinion by Arezki Daoud: Persistent, logical and even unpopular policies must be implemented to fight the coronavirus. And so North African countries adopted night curfews to limit the spread of Covid-19. At first, the decision sounded OK. But then again what is the...
Education: Studying from home amid Covid-19F

Education: Studying from home amid Covid-19F

Tripoli, March 24, 2020 –  By Rim Tahar – Either on television as in Libya or on tablets in the IT-savvy Gulf monarchies, in the time of novel coronavirus millions of schoolchildren around the Arab world are now learning lessons at home.  Governments...
Concerns about Africa’s readiness to confront Covid-19F

Concerns about Africa’s readiness to confront Covid-19F

Lagos, March 24, 2020 – Equipment shortages, scarce beds and poorly-paid doctors and nurses: Africa is finding that it has few means to protect itself as a feared coronavirus tsunami looms.  Earth’s poorest continent has so far confirmed around 1,800 cases...
Covid-19:  Africa update as of March 23, 2020F

Covid-19: Africa update as of March 23, 2020F

March 23, 2020 – Democratic Republic of Congo’s second largest city began a 48-hour lockdown and three more African countries led by Nigeria announced coronavirus fatalities Monday as the disease extended its reach south of the Sahara. More African...
Covid-19: Morocco deploys troops on the streetsF

Covid-19: Morocco deploys troops on the streetsF

Rabat, March 22, 2020 – Groups of Moroccans went out to pray and to protest in the streets at the weekend, defying orders to stay at home to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus. Images shared on social networks and broadcast by local media showed people...
The latest development on Covid-19 [21 March update]F

The latest development on Covid-19 [21 March update]F

March 21, 2020 – Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis: Nearly one billion people confined to homes An estimated 900 million people are now confined to their homes in 35 countries around the world — including 600 million hemmed in by...
North Africa’s incomprehensible night curfewsF

Libya: Night-time curfew in Libya to thwart Covirus-19F

Tripoli, March 21, 2020 – Libya’s UN-recognised government declared a night-time curfew and closure of public spaces starting Sunday to keep the novel coronavirus out of areas it controls, while fighting continued south of the capital. The Tripoli-based...
Egypt suspends religious gatherings, shuts down mosques and churchesF

Egypt suspends religious gatherings, shuts down mosques and churchesF

Cairo, March 21, 2020 – Egypt’s religious authorities ordered Saturday the closure of all mosques and churches and banned communal prayer gatherings to try and stem the spread of the novel coronavirus. The decision taken by the ministry of religious...
Tunisia’s total confinement approachF

Tunisia’s total confinement approachF

Tunis, March 20, 2020 – Tunisian President Kais Saied on Friday declared a nationwide, round-the-clock self-isolation of inhabitants to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus in the country, after an increase in confirmed cases. The start date and...
Algeria: The empty streets of AlgiersF

Algeria: The empty streets of AlgiersF

Algiers, March 20, 2020 – For the first time in over a year, the streets of the Algerian capital were quiet and almost empty on Friday, the day of weekly anti-government rallies. The coronavirus threat put paid to what would have been the 57th straight Friday of...
Africa: Beware of the chloroquine rush, warn NigeriansF

Africa: Beware of the chloroquine rush, warn NigeriansF

Lagos, March 20, 2020 – Authorities in Nigerian megacity Lagos said Friday that hospitals had seen cases of chloroquine poisoning after US President Donald Trump touted the drug as a treatment against the new coronavirus. Trump on Thursday said the anti-malarial...
Literature: The Plague by Albert CamusF

Literature: The Plague by Albert CamusF

Telecharger gratuirement la version Francaise en PDF  |  Download free English version in PDF 1346–1353 pandemic in Eurasia and North Africa The Black Death was a that occurred in from 1346 to 1353. It was one of the in human history, leading to the death of up to 50...