By Arezki Daoud: I was in Algeria last week and it was difficult to ignore the escalating diplomatic tension between...
politics upfront Bound
France’s Far-Right Pushes to End 1968 Franco-Algerian Treaty, Escalating Diplomatic Tensions
[Photo: French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau] France’s far-right movement has been escalating diplomatic tensions...
Franco-Algerian relations set to worsen over planned military maneuvers in Morocco
On 6 March 2025, Algeria summoned French Ambassador Stéphane Romatet to convey its opposition to the planned...
Algeria: Purge of former regime operatives continues
This week, Algeria experienced a series of court decisions that have accelerated the fight against corruption....
Algeria’s president Tebboune still missing in action: power vacuum in the making
A month after Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune was hospitalised in Germany and tested positive for coronavirus,...
The unfinished Arab spring: buckle up for the next round
The Jasmin Revolution is Far from Over: buckle up for the next round. An opinion by Arezki Daoud Back in the early...
The Western Sahara conflict reignites
For three decades, a UN-monitored ceasefire has kept a fragile peace in the disputed Western Sahara. Now a row over a...
Libyans looking for an end to their conflict. Will foreign meddlers allow them?
The UN launched talks among Libyans on Monday aimed at creating a unity government and preparing for elections to...
Libya: Tenuous ceasefire in Libya as foreign meddlers ponder what to do next
Libya's two warring factions signed a "permanent" ceasefire agreement on Friday after five days of talks at the United...
Egypt: After Trump turned a blind eye to Sisi’s abuses, will US Democrats be as tolerant?
Editor's comments: By Arezki Daoud There is an election taking place in the United States and Egypt's strongman Sisi...
Prosecutors say ex French Prez Sarkozy was involved in criminal conspiracy, took money from Libya’s Muamar Gaddafi
French prosecutors said Friday that they had slapped criminal conspiracy charges on former president Nicolas Sarkozy...
Podcast: One more election in Algeria and a highly compromised economic outlook
In this episode, Arezki Daoud of MEA Risk LLC and Editor of the North Africa Journal revisits Algeria after the most...
Libya: Under US pressure, version 2.0 of the UN Mission in Libya will have a ‘Special Envoy’ and a ‘Coordinator.’ As if that matters!
The UN Security Council adopted a resolution Tuesday under pressure from the United States endorsing a change in...
Mali: North and central Mali remain tense while Bamako struggles to recover from coup
Timbuktu, Mali, Sept 14, 2020 - Malian army lieutenant Abdoul Kadri leads a patrol through the bustling streets of the...
Mali: Military junta wants to appoint its own president
Experts appointed by Mali's military junta on Friday proposed a two-year transitional government led by a president...
Mali: Uncertainty looms about Mali’s political future
Bamako, Aug 31, 2020 - Conflict-riven Mali is at a crucial crossroads two weeks after a military junta took power in a...
The Algerian regime now sends poets to prison
The Algerian regime is gripped by fear that the anti-government Hirak movement reignites. Mass arrests have...
Mali crisis not getting better: ECOWAS wants return to civilian rule, junta wants to stay
Niamey, Aug 28, 2020 - West African countries on Friday insisted on a return to civilian rule in Mali, where rebel...
Libya: Warlord Haftar not on board with ceasefire, wants war to continue
Benghazi, Libya, Aug 24, 2020 - A spokesman for eastern Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar has slammed a ceasefire...
Breaking: Libyan rivals reach agreement on ceasefire and elections
Tripoli, Aug 21, 2020 - Libya's warring rival governments announced in separate statements Friday that they would...
Mali: While Mali people want their President out for incompetence, world leaders run to his rescue
Coup leaders in Mali faced a wave of international pressure on Wednesday, a day after they forced out a president...
Mali: The military is now in charge
Bamako, Aug 19, 2020 - Mali awoke on Wednesday to a new chapter in its troubled history after rebel military leaders...
Mali: President Boubacar Keita resigns and the people are cheering
Bamako, Aug 19, 2020 - Mali's president said he was resigning to avoid "bloodshed" early Wednesday, hours after his...
Sahel: Fears of a soldiers’ mutiny in Mali as political crisis lingers
Bamako, Aug 18, 2020 - Gunfire broke out at a key army base near Mali's capital Bamako on Tuesday, officials and...
Algeria: Supporters of jailed journalist Drareni launch international appeal
Algiers, Aug 12, 2020 - Supporters of jailed Algerian journalist Khaled Drareni launched an appeal on Wednesday for...
Mali braces for more political turmoil, as calls for protests build up
Mali's opposition vowed to stage nationwide protests Tuesday seeking embattled President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita's...
Mali: Opposition rejects compromise by West African leaders, insists president must leave
Mali's opposition on Wednesday reiterated calls for President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita to resign, again spurning a...
Egypt: New election law prevents anyone from competing against Sisi in future elections
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Wednesday ratified a law banning active and former military personnel from...
Mali crisis: Opposition insists on president’s departure
A protest movement that has sprung up in Mali, shaking President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita's grip on power, on Tuesday...
Tunisia: Hichem Mechini tasked to form new government
Hichem Mechichi, who until now has served as Tunisia's interior minister, has been appointed to form the next...
Sahel: Mali crisis deepens after ECOWAS failed at mediation
Bamako, July 20, 2020 - Malian leaders are gearing up for more mediation talks on Thursday, when four African...
Mali opposition agrees to truce, announces cancellation of Friday protest
Bamako, July 15, 2020 - The Malian opposition alliance that demands President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita step down has...
Tunisia’s political crisis: Prime Minister Fakhfakh quits
Tunisia's prime minister quit Wednesday after less than five months in office, threatening fresh political deadlock as...
Tunisia: Government of PM Elyes Fakhfakh under pressure as country slides into political and economic chaos
Tunis, July 13, 2020 - Tunisia's Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party, the largest in parliament, called Monday for...
Sahel: Tense situation in Mali after two people were killed
Bamako, July 11, 2020 - Tensions ran high in Mali Saturday, a day after deadly mass protests seeking the ouster of the...
Sahel: Mali opposition wants President Keita to resign
Mali's protest leaders stepped up pressure on President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on Sunday, calling for more...
Algeria: Several opposition figures and rights activists released from prison
Editor's note: Also to be released are Samir Benlarbi et Slimane Hamitouche Algiers, July 2, 2020 - Two key figures in...
Sahel: Understanding the political crisis in Mali
Bamako, June 25, 2020 (By Amaury Hauchard and Laurent Lozano) - Mali's government is facing a rising wave of protests,...
Algeria: President chooses status quo, maintains anti-democracy hardliners in bloated cabinet
(Photo: Hardliner Justice Minister Zaghmati maintained in post) Late on Tuesday, the Algerian presidency announced a...
Egypt: Sisi regime arrests activist Sanaa Seif
Cairo, June 23, 2020 - Egyptian authorities on Tuesday arrested a prominent activist and sister of an iconic figure of...
UN gives Egypt’s Sisi a gentle nudge to stop threatening Libya
United Nations, United States, June 22, 2020 - The UN said Monday the "last thing" Libya needs is more conflict on its...