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Minorities: The Amazigh people remain abused by North African regimes
The Berbers of Egypt: By Hager Harabech Siwa Oasis, Egypt, Dec 2, 2020 - Youssef Diab drives his truck through the Egyptian oasis of Siwa, singing catchy songs in a local Berber dialect that clings to life despite the dominance of Arabic. The UN has classified Siwi,...
Morocco says it’s serious about Covid-19 vaccination, people still doubt it
Morocco hopes to launch an ambitious vaccination campaign against the novel coronavirus by year-end, but its efforts have sparked suspicion and rumours in the country, hard-hit by the pandemic. The North African kingdom is hoping to immunise 20 million adults against...
Western Sahara: It’s tough to run a business in Guerguerat
Kamal Zerfi has long run a junkyard in a no-man's land on the far edge of the Sahara desert. Then government soldiers came and things took a turn for the worse. Zerfi lives in a remote outpost of the Western Sahara region claimed by both Morocco and Polisario Front...
W.Sahara: Polisario says it pounded defensive wall, as Morocco reinforces position at border post
Polisario says it pounded Morocco defensive wall in Western Sahara On 19 November 2020, the pro-independence Polisario Front said it launched "massive attacks" against a Moroccan defensive wall that cuts through the disputed Western Sahara. The territory is at the...
Spain confronts more migrants with new camps in the Canary Islands
Spanish authorities want to resume migrant deportations Spain's Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska on Friday called for deportations of migrants – suspended amid the coronavirus pandemic -- to resume, after meeting his counterpart in Morocco. Arrivals of...
Spain to fast-track deportations of migrants specifically from Ceuta and Melilla
Spain's Constitutional Court on Thursday backed the rapid deportation of migrants who illegally enter the country's north African enclaves, Ceuta and Melilla, a practice criticised by rights groups. The court said in a statement that it had validated almost all of a...
Spain confronts major migrant crisis on Canary Islands
Spain's defence minister admitted Friday the government needed to look critically at its approach to the migrant crisis at an overwhelmed Canary Islands port after conditions there became "unsuitable for humans". The situation at Arguineguin port on Gran Canaria, the...
In North Africa, hospitals are in a state of war
Covid assaults the MENA region Iran, Jordan and Morocco have recorded thousands of new Covid-19 infections in recent days, the World Health Organization said Thursday, warning that lockdowns could not stamp out the pandemic. "More than 60 percent of all cases in the...
Morocco and Polisario face off in the Western Sahara, exchange fire
Morocco's army has responded to fire by the Polisario Front along the UN-patrolled buffer zone in Western Sahara, said an online report picked up by the official MAP news agency. "Since 13 November 2020, Polisario militias have fired provocative shots along the line...
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 remote desert truck stop is prompting talk of a return to war. The pro-independence Polisario Front declared the ceasefire over on Friday, after...
Western Sahara: Clashes erupt between Morocco and the Polisario Front
The pro-independence Polisario Front said Saturday that clashes are continuing in the disputed territory of Western Sahara after the Moroccan army launched an operation in the buffer zone on its southern border. "Fighting is continuing after the crime committed by...
Tensions escalate in the Western Sahara: Morocco and Polisario brace for confrontation
Polisario Front declares end of truce The pro-independence Polisario Front declared a three-decade-old ceasefire in the disputed Western Sahara was over on Friday after Morocco launched an operation to reopen the road to neighbouring Mauritania. The Polisario, which...
Podcast: Covid-19 in the Maghreb region as of mid-November 2020
In this brief podcast recorded on 12 November 2020, MEA Risk's Arezki Daoud provides an update on the Coronavirus in the Maghreb region. The state of the Covid-19 epidemic in the Maghreb looks rather bleak as we are reaching the mid-point of November 2020. As in...
Morocco announces upcoming launch of mystery Covid vaccine
Morocco's King Mohammed VI on Monday endorsed a decision by scientists to launch a nationwide vaccination campaign against the novel coronavirus, an official statement said. It was not clear however what vaccine would be used or when the campaign would start,...
Economy: Drought threatens Morocco’s agriculture
Parched fields stretch as far as the eye can see on plains overlooking Agadir in southwestern Morocco, as precious water resources are diverted from the drought-hit agricultural heartland to households. "These trees are nearly 20 years old -- they're dead, there is no...
Morocco: IS-linked inmate kills guard at Tiflet prison
A Moroccan prison guard was killed by an inmate who was in jail for belonging to a militant cell linked to the Islamic State group, prosecutors said Wednesday. The detainee on Tuesday "took captive an employee in his cell and assaulted him with a metal object" at...
Dire labor market in Morocco: government chooses mass layoffs to deal with pandemic effects on businesses
Morocco’s labor marker is in disarray. Even if you believe the government’s unreliable statistics, the country is bracing for a 15% unemployment rate by the end of this year. The projection, although bad enough, does not seem to take into account the thousands of...
Morocco: US defense chief Mark Esper in Morocco
US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper signed a military cooperation deal Friday with Morocco, his final stop on a North Africa tour aimed at beefing up the fight against jihadists in war-torn Libya and the Sahel. His visit came as talks between Libyan rivals were set to...
With Russia’s presence in Libya and turmoil in the Sahel, US seeks to reengage with the Maghreb
US Defense Secretary Mark Esper signed a 10-year military cooperation deal with Tunis Wednesday during his first stop on a regional tour, hailing US-Tunisia collaboration over the conflict in neighbouring Libya. The past decade has seen growing cooperation between the...
Morocco: Police seize cocaine and two tons of hash in separate ops in coastal north
Nearly two tonnes of cannabis and over 20 kilograms of cocaine were seized this week in three separate operations in northern Morocco, the national security body and state media said Thursday. Police seized 920 kilogrammes (2,000 pounds) of cannabis resin Thursday at...
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