WHO advises MENA region against loosening confinement measures
Cairo, April 28, 2020 - The World Health Organization warned Tuesday of the impact coronavirus could have in Middle Eastern conflict zones and urged other countries in the region against loosening confinement measures. "This fight has become even more challenging with...
Morocco: Covid-19 infections spread in Ouarzazate prison
Rabat, April 23, 2020 - More than 130 new cases of the novel coronavirus were reported in a southern Morocco prison on Thursday where 60 people had already tested positive days earlier, according to prison authorities. The infections were recorded at a prison in...
Morocco mobilizes military hospitals, braces for Covid-19 influx
Rabat, April 17, 2020 - Morocco's army has mobilised all its resources to help the health system tackle the coronavirus pandemic, beefing up facilities for a possible mass influx of patients, the military's chief medical officer said. "The crisis has prompted us to...
Moroccan government spying on its people with mobile app tracking
Rabat, April 22, 2020 - Moroccan police have started using a mobile application in recent days to track violators of the kingdom's lockdown in response to the coronavirus, according to the official MAP news agency. The application was built by developers from the...
Morocco reports Covid-19 contamination in prisons’ staff and inmates
Rabat, April 21, 2020 - More than 60 cases of coronavirus infections have been recorded in a jail in southern Morocco, mostly among staff, the country's prisons service said. The DGAPR agency, in a statement late Monday, said 60 workers and six inmates had tested...
Morocco: People helping people in time of pandemic
Casablanca, Morocco, April 12, 2020 - A small van zips through the streets of Casablanca to deliver food to single mothers, as economic paralysis caused by the coronavirus crisis puts pressure on Morocco's poor. "We have to be quick," says Bouchra, a coordinator from...
Morocco: Mass arrests for non-compliance with confinement rules
Rabat, April 13, 2020 - More than 4,300 people were arrested over the weekend in Morocco for breaching emergency rules in place to combat the novel coronavirus, according to official figures. More than half of those detained were taken into police custody. Since...
Public health: Inside North Africa’s healthcare systems
By Hamza Mekouar: The coronavirus pandemic has put the spotlight on shortcomings in health care in several North African countries, even as governments moved quickly to announce restrictions to limit the spread of the virus. "Our fate is in the hands of a health...
Food supply: The struggle to maintain normalcy in time of pandemic
Algiers, April 9, 2020 (By Abdellah Cheballah) - From an acute shortage of regional staple couscous to a surge of confidence tricks and counterfeiting, authorities in North Africa have been busy tackling coronavirus challenges that go beyond healthcare. For the past...
Diplomacy: No new UN envoys yet for Libya and Western Sahara crises
United Nations, United States, April 8, 2020 - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has begun searching for a new envoy to Libya, diplomatic sources said Wednesday, after the United States refused to endorse the previous candidate. Former Algerian foreign minister...
Morocco to get IMF loan to soften impact of coronavirus on the economy
Rabat, April 8, 2020 - Morocco on Wednesday announced it has started to draw on a $3-billion credit line from the International Monetary Fund to offset a contraction of its economy because of the coronavirus pandemic. The five-year loan has a grace period of three...
Morocco: Royal Air Maroc hit hard by the Covid-19 crisis, slashes pilot pays by 30% (s)
While air transport is one of the sectors most affected by border closings in Morocco and the declaration of a state of health emergency, Royal Air Maroc (RAM) could very quickly fall into default. According to Moroccan newspaper L’Economiste, the national airline’s...
Morocco: Migrants breach Morocco-Spain border in Melilla
Madrid, April 6, 2020 - More than 50 migrants forced their way into Spain's North African enclave of Melilla on Monday in a mass crossing of the heavily-protected border in which a police officer was lightly injured, officials said. About 260 migrants tried to storm...
Covid-19: Morocco clears its prisons to fight pandemic
Rabat, April 5, 2020 - Morocco's King Mohammed VI on Sunday pardoned more than 5,600 prisoners and ordered their release in stages to avoid contagion in the country's overcrowded jails. The justice ministry said the 5,654 detainees that would be freed were selected...
Morocco: The big scam in Casablanca
Casablanca, Morocco, April 2, 2020 (By Hamza Mekouar) - "Give us our money!", demands a group of home buyers, standing on land that should by now be finished condos -- one of many fictitious projects that together comprise what is described as Morocco's biggest-ever...
Maghreb: Media as collateral damage of Covid-19
April 2, 2020 - Measures to stem the novel coronavirus pandemic have affected the distribution and publication of newspapers across Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria, according to local media and officials. In Tunisia, seven daily newspapers and 20 weeklies have been...
MENA (MidEast/North Africa) regimes increase their repression
Cairo, March 29, 2020 - Armoured vehicles in the streets, hundreds arrested, smartphone surveillance -- sweeping measures to fight the coronavirus have raised concerns in the Middle East over the erosion of already threatened human rights. As the world battles the...
Morocco earmarks more than $200 mil. to buy equipment to face Covid-19
Rabat, March 27, 2020 - Morocco's economy ministry said Friday it had allocated two billion dirhams ($201 million) to bolster medical equipment needed to fight the novel coronavirus, including the purchase of 100,000 testing kits. The money would also be used to buy...
North Africa faces unprecedented economic crisis
Listen to the podcast above or read the transcript below. Download MP3 file here. 26 March 2020: By Arezki Daoud: North Africa is bracing for an unprecedented economic contraction, even if the coronavirus crisis were to be contained soon. The fundamentals of economic...
The disastrous confinement of the poor and the mediocrity of Maghreb regimes
March 25, 2020 (By Sophie Pons) - In Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco, workers in informal jobs fear not only the novel coronavirus, but how they will survive emergency measures that have cut off their livelihoods. "We are stuck at home, with no work and no pay," said...
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