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Morocco: Gang of human smugglers arrested in Nador
Morocco arrests 32 migrants trying to reach Spain Moroccan police on Friday arrested 32 migrants as they tried to set sail for Spain, authorities said, including six Moroccans and 26 from other African nations to the south. The group were planning to leave from the...
Morocco: Protest in Rabat over economic hardship
A trade union close to the main Moroccan Islamist party on Sunday mobilised several hundred supporters in the capital to protest against the high cost of living. The rally, outside parliament and witnessed by AFP journalists, came after several protests already this...
Defense: Algeria-Russia start join military drills in the Mediterranean Sea, as Morocco set defense budget to US$11bil.
Algeria and Russia are to begin military maneuvers in the Mediterranean on Saturday, 22 October 2022. The drills will last four days in what appears to be a new sign of rapprochement between the two countries. In a press release, the Algerian Ministry of Defense...
Morocco: Spanish court OKs deportation of alleged Salafist personality to Morocco
A court in Spain has approved the deportation of Moroccan Muslim activist, who is accused of being one of the "main advocates" in Spain of the Salafist movement of ultra-conservative Islamism. Police arrested Mohamed Said Badaoui on Tuesday in the northeastern...
Morocco annoyed by South Africa’s continued backing of Western Sahara’s independence
Morocco on Thursday blasted what it called Pretoria's "gesticulations and agitations" over the disputed territory of Western Sahara, in reaction to the South African president backing the region's independence. On Tuesday President Cyril Ramaphosa offered his...
Analysis: Maghreb Nations’ positions in the Russian War in Ukraine ($)
Analysis by Arezki Daoud: Have you even wondered what position smaller countries in the world have taken in regard to the Russian war in Ukraine? Let’s have a look at three of them today, Tuesday, October 11, 2022. The Maghreb’s biggest nations and regional rivals,...
Morocco triples migrants’ jail terms over border storming
A Moroccan appeals court more than tripled to three years prison sentences against 18 African migrants over the deadly storming of a Spanish enclave in June, a lawyer said. The migrants had been arrested after some 2,000 people, mostly from Sudan, tried to breach the...
Morocco takes new steps to bring to market cannabis for medicinal use
The Morocco government issued for the first time on October 4, 2022, 10 permits to legally roll out the cannabis use for medicinal purposes. A regulatory agency ANRAC was set up to issue such permits and monitor the sector’s activities, from cultivation and processing...
Moroccans protest “humiliating” visa issuance policy at Rabat EU’s office
Dozens of Moroccans demonstrated outside the European Union's office in Rabat on Tuesday in protest at "racist" and "humiliating" treatment over visa applications, particularly by former colonial ruler France. "We're here to express our anger at the humiliation,...
Morocco: Dozen alleged Jihadists arrested in Melilla and Nador
Moroccan and Spanish police have dismantled a jihadist cell suspected of links to the Islamic State group, officials said Tuesday. The operation led to the arrest of 11 people in raids on Tuesday morning: nine in the Spanish enclave of Melilla on Morocco's northern...
Moroccan nomads’ way of life threatened by climate change
By Kaouthar Oudrhiri In the blistering desert of Morocco, the country's last Berber nomads, the Amazigh, say their ancient lifestyle is under threat as climate change brings ever-more intense droughts. "Everything has changed," said Moha Ouchaali, his wrinkled...
Morocco: Toxic alcohol kills 19 in Ksar El Kebir
At least 19 people have died and dozens of others were hospitalised after consuming toxic alcohol from a roadside kiosk in northern Morocco, local media reported Wednesday. Police arrested a 48-year-old suspect in connection with the incident, the Directorate General...
Morocco: Death of a girl ignites debate over abortion rights in Morocco
Dozens of feminist activists demonstrated Wednesday in Morocco's capital, calling for legalised abortions after a teenage girl died following a clandestine procedure, AFP reporters said. Protesters gathered outside the parliament, some holding placards denouncing the...
Economy: Morocco’s central bank ups interest rates to slowdown surge in inflation
Morocco's central bank on Tuesday raised interest rates by 50 basis points to 2.0 percent in an effort to slow down a surge in inflation. The Bank Al-Magrib (BAM), after a board meeting, said the economy remains "deeply marked by the aftermath of the (coronavirus)...
Algeria officially invites Morocco’s King Mohammed VI to Arab summit
Morocco said Algeria on Tuesday invited its King Mohammed VI to attend an Arab League summit in Algiers in November, at a time of tensions between the North African neighbours. The foreign ministry in Rabat said visiting Algerian Justice Minister Abderrachid Tabi had...
Moroccan man who fought against Russia expresses sympathy with Ukrainian people
A Moroccan prisoner of war released as part of an exchange between Moscow and Kyiv said he wanted to draw attention to the "struggle" of Ukraine as he returned home Saturday. "I'm happy to come home after going through very difficult times," said Brahim Saadoun, 21,...
Morocco: Dozen undocumented Sudanese migrants get 3 years in Moroccan prison
A Moroccan appeals court has sentenced 12 Sudanese migrants to three years in jail over violence in the run-up to a June 24 border tragedy in which two dozen migrants died, a rights group said Friday. Around 2,000 people, many of them Sudanese, stormed the frontier on...
Moroccan court sentences French narcotrafficker Sofiane Hambli to 20 years in prison
A Moroccan court has sentenced a French drug boss to 20 years in prison on a string of narcotics charges, a court official said Friday. Sofiane Hambli had skipped bail in France in March last year while on trial over an alleged cannabis shipment, but he was...
Podcast: Algeria-Morocco rivalry intensifies, with no end in sight
The escalating rivalry between Algeria and Morocco has had a destabilizing effect on the Maghreb region of North Africa. In fact, the entire western Mediterranean region is feeling the impact of the two countries’ strange competitive postures. Instead of cooperating...
How the Western Sahara conflict has become a thorny issue for a neutral Tunisia ($)
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