Tunisia’s political system is still compromised, but the economy is showing some signs of minimal recovery. However,...
Algeria-Morocco: The Dividing Kaftan
The Kaftan or Caftan, is now source of new tension between Morocco and Algeria. The two countries have been monitoring...
Libya’s Abnormal New Normal
By Arezki Daoud: Since 2011, Libya has been engulfed in a bloody civil war after the death of Muammar Gaddafi. Over...
More from the Maghreb
Tunisian president scores big wins with military support and Islamist party doing soul searching
Ennahda party looking for new directions Tunisia's Ennahdha party ready for 'self-critique' Tunisia's...
Covid-19 in the Maghreb: More restrictions in Morocco, peak infection in Tunisia and panic in Algeria
Coronavirus: Latest global developments Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis: - China outbreak –...
Tunisian police arrest more parliamentarians critical to the president
Tunisian security forces have arrested two MPs from an Islamist party opposed to a power grab by President Kais Saied,...
Refugees: Hundreds rescued from drowning off the coast of Libya
By Estelle Emonet Rescue ships picked up more than 700 people trying to cross the Mediterranean in makeshift vessels...
Libya gets 2 million Sinopharm doses with more expected
Libya called Monday on people to come forward to be vaccinated after it received two million doses of the Chinese...
Tunisia: Critic of president, Parliamentarian Yassine Ayari arrested
Tunisian security forces on Friday arrested a member of parliament who condemned President Kais Saied's power grab as...
Libya: Seif al-Islam wants to become the next ‘Kadhafi’
Anyone supporting Seif is a foolish person: Opinion by Arezki Daoud A decade ago, Seif had the opportunity to save his...
Podcast: Understanding Tunisia’s political crisis in ten minutes
There has been unusual interest in the west about the political crisis engulfing Tunisia this week. Naturally Tunisia...
French nuclear tests in the Sahara in the 1960s remain a toxic issue in Algeria-French relations
By Amal Belalloufi with Philippe Agret in Paris More than 60 years since France started its nuclear tests in Algeria,...
Algeria: Delta variant is driving Covid cases to new records, but fear is accelerating vaccinations
And in the Mideast too The World Health Organization said Thursday the Delta variant has led to a "surge" in...
Western Sahara: Spanish court closes case against Polisario leader Brahim Ghali
Spain's top criminal court said Thursday it had archived a case involving genocide allegations against the leader of...
Tunisia: Weakened, Islamist leader Ghannouchi struggles to respond to presidential action
Tunisia's Ghannouchi says he wants democracy By Caroline Nelly Perrot, AFP Tunisia's parliament speaker Rached...
Tunisian president accuses hundreds of businessmen of corruption
By Romain Fonsegrives: Tunisia's President Kais Saied accused 460 businessmen of embezzlement as he declared a...
Tunisia: President fires more senior officials
By Caroline Nelly Perrot ; Tunisia lurched further into political uncertainty Wednesday, as President Kais Saied...
Tunisia: Three political parties under investigation over alleged foreign funding
Tunisia's judiciary has opened an investigation into allegations political parties received foreign funding ahead of...
Libya: Militia gang leader Mohammed al-Kani gunned down
A Libyan militia gang leader accused of major human rights violations has been shot dead at a farm in the eastern city...
Tunisia: Islamist party Ennahda calls for new legislative and presidential elections
By Kaouther Larbi: Opponents of Tunisia's President Kais Saied, who sparked a crisis by ousting the premier and...
Covid-19: Libya announces night curfew to stem rise of coronavirus, but not in Haftar’s controlled territories
Libya's government Monday announced a two-week overnight curfew in the areas it controls in the centre and west of the...
Tunisia’s largest party protests outside army-blocked parliament
The head of Tunisia's Islamist-inspired Ennahdha, the largest party in parliament, led a sit-in protest Monday in...
Political Crisis in Tunisia: Continued Coverage
More on Tunisia and the region Updated continuously [bookmark this page] Reactions abroad...
Tunisia: Political crisis intensifies as President suspends parliament and dismisses Prime Minister
Islamist ruling party slams president's decision to suspend parliament as 'state coup' Tunisia's ruling party, the...
Tunisia: Protests erupt in Tunisia against mediocre government
Thousands of Tunisians marched in several cities protesting against the ruling party Sunday, criticising what they...
Covid-19: Sputnik V and Sinovac vaccines will be manufactured in Constantine, Algeria
Algeria will manufacture the Chinese coronavirus vaccine Sinovac locally, the government announced Saturday, in a...
Covid-19: Rush to vaccinate in Libya as pandemic continues to spread
Libyan authorities on Saturday stepped up their vaccination campaign around the capital Tripoli, as coronavirus cases...
Covid-19: Tunisia gets global support to combat crippling pandemic
The exhausting fight against Covid in Tunisia By Cecilia Sanchez In Tunisia's Mediterranean resort of Sousse,...
Reporters Without Borders retracts accusation that Algeria used Pegasus spyware
Algeria said Friday it filed a defamation claim against media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) after it...
Tunisian government in crisis amid exploding Covid-19 cases
Tunisia's government stumbled deeper into crisis on Wednesday over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic, after...
Tunisia: 16 migrants die off the coast of Zarzis
Tunisia rescued Thursday 166 migrants stranded at sea for nearly a week, recovering the bodies of 16 others who died...
Morocco grapples with the Pegasus spyware problem
Morocco files French libel suit over Pegasus spyware claim Morocco has filed defamation claims against Amnesty...
Morocco punishes journalist Omar Radi, sentences him to six years in prison
By Kaouthar Oudrhiri: A Moroccan court on Monday sentenced journalist and human rights activist Omar Radi to six years...
Libyans facing an expansive Eid El-Adha holiday
Muslims in war-scarred Libya mark Eid al-Adha from Tuesday, but few will be able to afford the sheep or goat...
Morocco accused of spying on its journalists with Israeli spyware
Morocco said Monday it "categorically rejects" claims its intelligence services had used Israeli spyware Pegasus to...
Algeria-Morocco: Diplomatic tension over Moroccan diplomat’s support of Kabyle autonomy
Algeria recalled its ambassador in Morocco for consultations on Sunday as a new diplomatic spat broke out between the...
Libya’s normalization efforts at an impasse
The UN envoy for Libya, Jan Kubis, on Thursday warned of an impasse in the political, security and budgetary plans for...
A secret trial in Morocco
A Moroccan judge on Tuesday took the trial of journalist and rights activist Omar Radi behind closed doors, a move his...
Morocco: Heightened migration crisis in western Med Sea
More than 300 migrants rescued off the coast of Morocco Morocco's navy has rescued 344 migrants, including women and...
Algerian Sahara: Unemployment and poverty riots erupt around Algeria’s southern oil and gas hubs
There has been escalating unrest in several localities in the northeast Algerian Sahara. The oil hubs of Ouargla,...
Libya: Migrants returned to Libya by Europe suffer “horrific violations’
Amnesty International on Thursday condemned the "horrific violations" being committed against migrants returned to...
Covid-19: Covid cases in Libya hit new high, country faces critical situation
Libya on Sunday imposed sweeping restrictions to stem the spread of coronavirus as recorded cases hit a new high, with...
Morocco experiencing scorching heatwave
Morocco was hit by a fiery weekend heatwave that saw temperatures reach nearly 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees...
Algerian regime jails pro-democracy figure Laalami for two years
An Algerian court on Sunday jailed for two years Chems Eddine Laalami, a leading figure from the pro-democracy Hirak...
Moroccan journalist Raissouni sentenced to five years in jail
Detained Moroccan journalist Soulaimane Raissouni was sentenced on Friday to five years in jail for indecent assault...
Tunisia: Despite poverty and hardship, southern Tunisians are welcoming of migrants
By Zeďneb Boughzou In the front row of a small classroom, three women, all different nationalities, avidly learn...
Migrants: Rescue ship Ocean Viking docks in Sicily with almost 600 migrants
Italy on Thursday authorised the Ocean Viking migrant rescue ship to dock in Sicily after the group urged EU members...
Tunisia: At least 60 migrants drown off the coast of Sfax
More than 60 migrants of sub-Saharan origin have been lost at sea off Tunisia since Saturday, after two Europe-bound...
Covid-19: Algeria is confronting a more virulent third wave
The North Africa Journal - Daily confirmed positive cases in Algeria rose sharply on Wednesday, 7 July, crossing the...
Migrants: The deadly waters of the Western Mediterranean
Spiking sea crossings on makeshift boats lead to increase of undocumented Algerian migrants arriving in Spain and...
Algeria: Regime reinforces its powers with government of continuity and a Bouteflika-era foreign minister
[Photo of Ramtane Lamamra, former FM of Bouteflika regime] - Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune unveiled a new...
Algeria: Forest fires, food poisoning, and polluted beaches underscore mediocrity of Algerian regime
200 people admitted in hospitals after bathing in polluted beach Nearly 200 people were hospitalised briefly after...
Covid-19: Official says Tunisia’s health system has collapsed
Tunisia virus situation catastrophic: health ministry Tunisia's health system has "collapsed" under the weight of the...
Algeria arrests opposition figure Fethi Ghares
Algerian authorities arrested the head of an opposition party for allegedly insulting President Abdelmadjid Tebboune...
Libya: Russia and Turkey signaling willingness to pull tiny number of their mercenaries from Libya
By Hui Min Neo and Shaun Tandon Hopes grew Wednesday for Libya's stability following a decade of bloodshed as Russia...
Tunisia’s model seaweed farming
By Kaouther Larbi Wading knee-deep in the calm waters of a lagoon, workers in northern Tunisia harvest red seaweed, in...
Tunisia: With a destabilized Libya, Tunisia grapples with migrant crisis
Tunisia authorities on Thursday rescued 267 migrants, most of them Bangladeshis, who tried to sail from neighbouring...
Libya: Sexual slavery in Libya’s 21st century
By Caroline Nelly Perrot For Aisha, sexual slavery was something you only heard about happening to others in...
Algerian regime maintains dominance over national assembly
Algeria's incumbent National Liberation Front (FLN) won the most seats in legislative elections held earlier this...
Morocco: Jailed journalist Soulaimane Raissouni in critical condition
A detained Moroccan journalist is "close to death" 76 days into a hunger strike, his family said as his trial resumed...
Migrant crisis: 3,000 mostly Moroccan migrants still inside Spain’s Ceuta
A month after more than 10,000 people surged across the Moroccan border into Ceuta, around 3,000 of them are still...
Algeria: Human rights activist Fatiha Briki arrested by Algerian police
Algerian human rights activist Fatiha Briki has been detained by authorities and no official reason has been given for...
Algeria’s legislative elections: from a laughable joke to an embarrassing derision
The most most hated political party in Algeria, the FLN, “wins” assembly elections Algeria's National Liberation Front...
Tunisia releases former presidential candidate Karoui after half year in detention
Tunisia on Tuesday released media mogul and former presidential candidate Nabil Karoui from more than half a year in...
Morocco: Military drills led by US underway, 30 miles from Algeria’s Tindouf border
Quiet on the media front After reading the AFP dispatch, I spent some time searching for a US Africom press release or...
Tunisia: Clashes in Tunis over police brutality
Photo credit: @YassineGaidi Youths clashed with officers again Saturday evening, hours after a demonstration in the...
Algeria: Now that the fake elections are over, time to pick a rubber-stamping Prime Minister
And now what? By Arezki Daoud: President Tebboune has had his election and it turned out to be a disaster. The man was...
Algeria: President’s interviews with foreign media backfire with factual errors and alarming statements
By Redouane Benmehdi The Algerian presidency launched this week a campaign to communicate with global community and a...
Morocco uses judicial harassment to punish journalists
Jailed Moroccan journalist tells judge: “I want to go back to die in prison." 11 June 2021: The trial of Moroccan...
Algeria: Police arrest journalists and opposition figures ahead of sham elections
Algeria to elect parliament amid protest movement boycott By Philippe Agret Algeria holds a parliamentary election...
Tunisia: Outrage over police beating of minor captured on video
A video of what seems to be officers in civilian clothes beating a naked minor has sparked outrage in Tunisia, two...
Tunisia media mogul and ex presidential candidate Nabil Karoui hospitalized after launching a hunger strike
Tunisian media mogul and former presidential candidate Nabil Karoui has been hospitalised three days after launching a...
Libya: Efforts to stabilize Libya stymied by persistent violence
Two members of Libya's security forces were killed and five others wounded Sunday evening in a car bomb blast at a...
Libya: Red Crescent official kidnapped in Ajdabiya
The Libyan Red Crescent said Sunday that unidentified assailants abducted one of its local officials several days ago...
Algerians shun subdued campaigning ahead of legislative elections
Algeria Political Outlook Algeria is organizing its third elections since late 2019 with the population continuing to...
US offers cash rewards to locate Al-Qaeda’s Al-Annabi
The US State Department posted a $7 million reward Wednesday for information leading to the location or identification...
Libya: In sign of reconciliation, Tripoli and Tobruk resume air link
Flights have resumed between Libya's capital Tripoli and the eastern city of Tobruk after a break of several years, as...
Tunisia: Two migrants drown, others missing
At least 23 migrants were missing and two bodies recovered from the sea off Tunisia, the Red Crescent reported...
Western Sahara: Polisario chief leaves Spain to Algeria
The leader of Western Sahara's independence movement, whose presence at a Spanish hospital sparked a diplomatic row...
Western Sahara: US’ Africom says no drills will take place in disputed Western Sahara
The US military on Tuesday denied a tweet by Morocco's prime minister that US-led African military exercises this...
Western Sahara: Spanish court will not detain Polisario chief despite pressure from Morocco
By Marie Giffard A Spanish judge on Tuesday declined to order that the leader of Western Sahara's movement, who is...
Libya: Warlord Haftar wants to stay relevant, but no one cares anymore
By Jihad Dorgham and Hamza Mekouar Libya's military strongman Khalifa Haftar is polishing his political image ahead of...
Morocco: Israir to link Tel Aviv to Marrakesh in July
Israir will launch direct flights between Israel and Morocco's Marrakesh in July, the Israeli carrier said on Tuesday,...
Libya: With Libya struggling to expel mercenaries, Germany wants another conference to help out
By Hui Min Neo Germany will host a new set of Libyan peace talks on June 23 in Berlin, with Libya's transitional...
Maghreb: Tension likely to rise in Maghreb after Morocco announced US military exercises to take place in Western Sahara
Morocco's prime minister has said that US-led multi-nation African military exercises this month would take place in...
Tunisia: Former presidential candidate and media owner Karoui still in prison
Tunisia's Qalb Tounes party, a member of the governing coalition, on Thursday demanded the release of its leader and...
Tunisia Islamists demand probe into ‘coup plot paper’
Tunisia's main Islamist party Ennahdha demanded Tuesday a probe into a document purportedly drafted by advisers to...
Libya: Pressure on Libya and Europe to review their rescue operations in the Med Sea
By Robin Millard The United Nations urged Libya and the EU to overhaul their search and rescue operations in the...
Polisario leader to testify remotely in Spanish court probe
The Western Sahara independence leader, whose presence at a hospital in Spain has angered Rabat, will testify by video...
Morocco accelerates Covid vaccination campaign, targets prison population
Morocco has vaccinated nearly 4,000 inmates as part of a campaign launched in March to inoculate the incarcerated...
Morocco is finally about to legalize use of cannabis, but not for recreational purposes yet
Moroccan lawmakers on Wednesday approved a law legalising the therapeutic use of cannabis, bringing one of the world's...
Algeria: Hundreds detained as regime seeks to prevent protests
Algeria rights group blasts pre-election 'repression' An Algerian rights group Monday decried "escalating repression"...
Morocco: Despair and Western Sahara politics fuel migration drama in Morocco
Spain accuses Morocco of 'aggression' and 'blackmail' over migrant crisis Madrid, May 20, 2021 (AFP) - Spain's defence...
Algerian regime ratchets up repression against opposition groups and journalists
The Algerian government has sharply increased its attacks on all groups and individuals who have been calling for...
Morocco uses threat of migrants to force Spain to change its position on the Western Sahara conflict
Morocco-Spain relations facing new challenges as Morocco focuses solely on Western Sahara politics By Hazel Ward,...
Tunisian army clashes with insurgents in Mount Chaambi, kills five suspects
Tunisian forces on Monday killed five suspected jihadists in an air and ground operation targeting a rugged mountain...
Libya: UN decries lack of progress in withdrawal of mercenaries from Libya
Libya has seen "no reduction of foreign fighters or of their activities" in the center of the country, says UN...
Tunisia: 17 Europe-bound migrants drown off Tunisia
At least 17 migrants drowned as a boat sank off Tunisia, the International Organization for Migration said Thursday,...
Libya’s latest unity government faces uphill battle
(Photo: Libya's interim PM Dbeibah) - By Hamza Mekouar - A new unity government in Libya had raised hopes the...
Libya: 78 jailed pro-Haftar insurgents released in reconciliation move
Seventy-eight prisoners who fought on the side of eastern Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar in his year-long offensive...
Algeria: Unable to govern, unpopular regime uses repression to stay in power
(Photo: Policemen in plain clothes assaulting an elderly man in Algiers) - The UN voiced alarm Tuesday at reports of...
Libya warns Italy over illegal fishing after incident with Italian trawlers
Libya's coastguard on Sunday warned against "illegal" fishing in its waters, denying Italian claims it had wounded a...
Covid-19: Tunisia PM warns of risk of collapse of health facilities, announces new restrictions
Coronavirus: Latest global developments Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis: India's rocketing...