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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 statement of sort, and to my surprise not much can be found. No big text, no photos, no video, except for the content that was published months ago...
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 journalist Soulaimane Raissouni, who has been on hunger strike for 64 days, was Thursday again postponed to June 15 after a tense hearing where his...
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 with Rabat, left Spain overnight and flew to Algeria, a government source said Wednesday. He's "in Algeria," the source told AFP. Late on Tuesday,...
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 month would take place in the disputed region of Western Sahara. Prime Minister Saad-Eddine El Othmani said last week on Twitter that the training "marks...
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 under investigation in Spain for torture and genocide, be taken into custody. Brahim Ghali, who heads the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, denied the...
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, six months after the two countries reached a US-backed normalisation deal. "The first flight will take place on July 19 from Tel Aviv to Marrakesh,"...
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 the disputed desert region of Western Sahara. Last year, under former US president Donald Trump, Washington recognised Moroccan sovereignty over...
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 conference at a Spanish court hearing next week, judicial sources said Wednesday. Brahim Ghali, who leads the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, has...
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 population against coronavirus, the kingdom's prison authority said Wednesday. The aim of the campaign, started several weeks after the national...
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 biggest producers of hashish a step closer to green-lighting the major reform. The lower house of parliament adopted the text on the lawful use of...
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 minister on Thursday accused Morocco of "aggression" and "blackmail" after more than 8,000 migrants poured into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta this...
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, with Daniel Silva in Madrid - Migrants were still trying to cross from Morocco into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta on Wednesday after a record 8,000 people...
Morocco: Growing bad blood with Europe over the disputed Western Sahara
Rabat directs its anger at Spain Moroccan media calls the current state of affairs between Morocco and Spain as “a crisis.” This is because apparently Madrid could have stopped a hospital in La Rioja from treating Brahim Ghali, the secretary general of the Sahrawi...
Migrants from Morocco resort to swimming to flee to Europe
Around 100 migrants tried to swim to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta from neighbouring Morocco, Spanish police said Monday. The migrants set off Sunday from beaches in Fnideq, a few kilometres south of Ceuta and "some" managed to reach a beach in Ceuta on their own while...
MENA region more vulnerable to Covid-19 with the start of Ramadan
The World Health Organization expressed concern Wednesday that the Covid-19 pandemic could worsen in the Middle East and North Africa during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Detected cases of Covid infection in the region rose 22% last week, while deaths rose 17%,...
Morocco: Victim of sexual assault during protest, Nezha Majdi gets jailed instead
A Moroccan teacher and 19 peers have been charged with "outrage" against security forces after she accused the latter of sexual assault during a protest against employment conditions, her lawyer said. Nezha Majdi, aged around 20, and her fellow teachers were charged...
Covid-19: France and Spain evacuate their citizens from Morocco
Spain and France are chartering planes and ferries to bring home thousands of their nationals stranded in Morocco because of the pandemic, their embassies said on Twitter. Rabat last week decided to suspend all passenger flights to and from the two European countries...
Morocco: 3,000 Spaniards stranded in Morocco after Rabat banned flight from Spain
Madrid said Wednesday it was working to help repatriate some 3,000 Spanish tourists who are stranded in Morocco after it suddenly imposed a blockade on passenger flights to Spain because of the pandemic. The Moroccan government announced on Monday that all passenger...
Moroccan farmers in Algeria’s Laaroda oasis: Victims of a neglected conflict
Moroccan farmers in an isolated oasis on the Algerian border are bearing the brunt of regional tensions after Algiers expelled them from date groves they have worked for generations. The border between the arch-rivals has been closed since 1994, but Algeria had...
Algeria expels Moroccan farmers from its territory, courtesy Western Sahara crisis
NAJ | 19 March 2021: The Algerian authorities have issued an ultimatum to Moroccan farmers working of the Laaroda Oasis palm grove, located in Beni Ouenif, province of Bechar. The ultimatum was to leave the region by 18 March. AFP reported that the withdrawal happened...
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