North Africa’s Economy
Egypt: Single container ship cripples Suez Canal traffic
By Farid Farid - The owners of a giant container vessel blocking the Suez Canal said Thursday they faced "extreme difficulty" refloating it, as Egypt temporarily closed one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's advisor on...
Tunisia launches first domestically made satellite
By Caroline Nelly Perrot - Tunisia celebrated the launch Monday of its first domestically made satellite, hoping it would inspire young engineers to reach for the stars at home rather than join those emigrating overseas. Challenge-1, built by a team from...
Business: With a choking tourism industry, Morocco’s craftsmen face daunting outlook
By Redouane Benmehdi - Hundreds of thousands of Moroccan craftsmen are facing a daunting future as the government’s Covid-19 policies have resulted in their isolation and lack of effective financial support. The pandemic has starved the craftsmen from their usual...
Libya: Finally Afriqiyah Airways resumes Benghazi-Misrata service after a seven-year state of war
Flights between the eastern Libya city of Benghazi and the western city of Misrata were restored Tuesday after a near seven year absence, the latest tentative step towards national reconciliation. An Afriqiyah Airways plane that took off from Benghazi touched down at...
Tunisia: State companies on the brink of collapse
By Aymen Jamli - Tunisia's state-owned firms are in dire straits, facing a perfect storm of debt, mismanagement, the coronavirus pandemic and a decade of political instability that could push some to bankruptcy, experts say. Ten years since a revolution that overthrew...
Western Sahara: European court to decide if Western Sahara goods are part of EU-Morocco accords
Luxembourg, Feb 28, 2021 (AFP) - The European Court of Justice is next week to discuss EU-Morocco accords allowing Rabat to export goods from Western Sahara that are contested by the pro-independence Polisario Front. It is to hold two sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday...
Moroccans debating legalization of cannabis for medicinal use
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 cannabis," it...
Tunis Air CEO dismissed after month into job
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 dismissed...
Algeria: How corruption and bad governance destroy an entire industry
By Abdellah Cheballah - Shuttered assembly plants, jailed bosses, laid-off workers. Algeria's once ambitious plans to create a flagship auto industry have turned into a fiasco. The country's recent years of political turmoil have also seen its foreign joint venture...
Sahel: Flying to Timbuktu, anyone?
A commercial flight landed in Timbuktu on Monday for the first time since jihadists captured the fabled Malian city in 2012, launching a new link for local airline Sky Mali. Carrying a delegation including two ministers, the plane landed after making the 700-kilometre...