FOCUS ON
MOROCCO
Click here to sign up for free weekly email
Email recaps are sent every Thursdays.
Sign up today
Morocco: Casablanca shuts down again as Covid-19 infections surge
Morocco imposed a lockdown on Casablanca and shut its schools Monday, the day pupils were due to return to classes, in a bid to stop the spread of Covid-19. The new measures, which include restrictions on movement and a night-time curfew, would be in place for two...
Morocco and Algeria turn to Russia and China for a Covid-19 vaccine
North African governments are once again relying on foreign sources to help them deal with their crises. After recognizing that their focus on the hydroxychloroquine, supplied by foreign sources, was the wrong approach and led to nowhere, they are now turning their...
Espionage: Former head of Parisian airport’s police info unit accused of spying for Morocco
Créteil, France, Aug 25, 2020 - A French border policeman will stand trial for transferring hundreds of highly confidential documents on wanted people to Moroccan secret services in exchange for luxurious holidays abroad, judicial sources told AFP Tuesday. The...
Morocco: New anti-covid measures in Casablanca and Marrakesh as infections spike
Moroccan authorities Thursday slapped tight controls on movement in Casablanca and Marrakesh, the North African country's economic and tourist capitals, following a spike in coronavirus cases. Several districts of the two cities were to be sealed off, and opening...
Immigration: More migrants die trying to reach Spanish islands
Madrid, Aug 21, 2020 - Five African migrants have died trying to reach Spain's Canary Islands by boat, officials said Friday, two days after another vessel was spotted near the archipelago with 15 dead migrants on board. A Spanish air force patrol plane detected the...
Morocco: Migrants storm border fence separating Morocco to Spain’s Melilla
Madrid, Aug 20, 2020 - One African man died and eight people were injured when around 300 migrants tried to storm the border fence separating the Spanish enclave Melilla from Morocco on Thursday, local authorities said. The man, whose identity and nationality were not...
Morocco travel sector facing a daunting outlook
The resumption of domestic flights at the end of June in Morocco, followed by a partial reopening of borders on July 15, all in a context of easing of containment measures, had given the travel industry hope. But the announcement on July 26 of the closure of eight...
Generalized repression in the Arab world
Repressive Arab regimes are taking advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic to crack down on the opposition, freedom of speech, independent media, and anything they consider a threat to their control of power. Almost no country in the region is spared by the other virus,...
Morocco braces for Eid al-Adha in the middle of a pandemic
Skhirat, Morocco, July 29, 2020 - Moroccan farmer Hamid had pinned his hopes on selling his sheep for the Eid al-Adha feast, to make up for a year of drought and the economic paralysis linked to the novel coronavirus pandemic. But snap domestic travel restrictions...
Morocco: Chaotic travel as government announces ban on inter-city traffic
Morocco's roads and transport hubs saw chaotic scenes after authorities announced snap movement restrictions affecting eight cities and towns to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. The measures shutting off all entry and exit to the cities, which together...
More than 143,000 cumulative Covid-19 infections in North Africa, at least 6,000 deaths so far, Egypt worst hit
The cumulative confirmed infections of Covid-19 in the North African countries of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt reached 143,258 over the weekend ending 26 July 2020. The combined death toll since the outbreak of the pandemic reached 6,144. Egypt, which...
Moroccan court orders journalist Soulaimane Raissouni to stay in prison
Rabat, July 20, 2020 - A Moroccan court has ordered that the chief editor of Moroccan independent daily Akhbar Al-Yaoum remain in custody over charges of "indecent assault" on another man, his lawyer said Monday. Soulaimane Raissouni, 48, detained since the end of...
Portrait: Reflections on Omar Himmi of Toubkal, Morocco, by Yossef Ben-Meir
By Yossef Ben-Meir* : Recently, I had a moment of self-reflection brought about by the passing of someone who made a difference in the trajectory of my life. Years ago, I lived in the home of Omar Himmi Ait Omrar in the village of Amsouzerte in the High Atlas...
Morocco: Second outbreak of Covid-19 forces shutdown of Tangiers
The city of about a million inhabitants was locked down from Monday at noon local time, with public transport suspended, cafes and public spaces closed and movement restricted. Residents are only allowed to leave their homes “in cases of extreme necessity”, the...
New influx of migrants raises concern in Italy
The recent arrivals have sparked protests by locals in some areas, after a few dozen migrants tested positive for the coronavirus after disembarking. Italy is facing a surge in migrants, with arrivals almost one-third higher so far this year than last, interior...
Morocco: Four arrested in Nador on suspicion of terrorism
Rabat, July 7, 2020 - Morocco on Tuesday arrested four alleged members of a "terrorist cell" linked to the Islamic State group who had plotted to attack "sensitive sites" in the kingdom, the interior ministry said. The men, aged between 21 and 26, were arrested in...
Moroccan authorities’ relentless harassment of journalist Omar Radi
Moroccan authorities have arrested a journalist for "public drunkenness and violence", authorities said Monday, days after opening an investigation into his alleged links to foreign intelligence services. Omar Radi has been at the centre of a spat between Morocco and...
Morocco and Algeria report record numbers of Covid-19 cases
Rabat (AFP) - Morocco reported Sunday 698 additional novel coronavirus infections, the highest one-day increase since the outbreak began in early March, with numerous cases discovered in a port city factory. The new figures bring the official total in the North...
How despair and misery fuel North Africa migration
"Here, I don't exist -- I die little by little. My only hope is to leave for Europe." Algiers, June 25, 2020 (By Amal Belalloufi with Aymen Jamli in Tunis) - "Here, I don't exist -- I die little by little," said Hamid, a young Algerian, his gaze fixed on Mediterranean...
Morocco cracks down on abortion practice
Rabat, June 24, 2020 - Moroccan police said they arrested 11 people Tuesday for "illegal abortions" in the kingdom, where prison sentences for terminating pregnancies remain a topic of fierce public debate. National security said it had opened an investigation after...
Connect
You can find us on a few social media platforms. Feel free to connect with us there.
