FOCUS ON
MOROCCO
Click here to sign up for free weekly email
Email recaps are sent every Thursdays.
Sign up today
Opinion: Morocco and Algeria wasting their money on useless military hardware
Transcript: Opinion by Arezki Daoud: 4 June 2020: Just like Algeria has been doing, Morocco is spending the money it does not have to procure more military equipment it will never use and without major security logic. The country is facing a collapsed economy due to...
Morocco: Former Premier El-Youssoufi dies at 96
Former Moroccan Prime Minister Abderrahmane El-Youssoufi, well known for his pro-Maghreb political views, died on 29 May in Casablanca of an illness. Born in Tangier on March 8, 1924, Abderrahmane El-Youssoufi was one of the craftsmen of the conference in Tangier...
Will Covid-19 mark the end of kissing and hugging in the Mediterranean?
May 28, 2020 (By Isabelle Ligner and Isabelle Wesselingh, photo: Anastasia Vityukova) - To greet friends and acquaintances by kissing, hugging and shaking hands is considered part of the essence of Mediterranean identity. But the coronavirus pandemic has put an abrupt...
Maghreb: Conservatives control the court systems, religion dominates over civil liberties
(Photo: rally in Tunis in support of Emna Charki) - Rabat, May 27, 2020 - A Moroccan movie star has been prosecuted over "blasphemous" remarks against Islam, a court official said, while Amnesty International called Wednesday for similar charges to be dropped against...
Moroccan authorities attack more journalists of Akhbar Al-Yaum
Rabat, May 25, 2020 - A Moroccan judge on Monday placed the head of an independent daily newspaper in pre-trial detention for suspected sexual assault, his lawyer said. Soulaimane Raissouni, 48, editor of Akhbar Al-Yaum, was arrested on Friday after allegations...
How the image of the United Arab Emirates in the Maghreb is taking a beating ($)
The United Arab Emirates has made no effort to fix its image abroad, as its involvement in crisis regions has been cemented by the UAE's leaders need to project some kind of strength in the Middle East and Africa. In North Africa's Maghreb region, the UAE's image has...
Morocco: A population under stress, tired of confinement
Rabat, May 20, 2020 - Almost half of Moroccans are "anxious" under the mandatory lockdown enforced in mid-March to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, an official survey published Wednesday found. "Being confined and the health threat of COVID-19 are likely to have a major...
Morocco: The hardship of foreign migrants in Morocco
By Hamza Mekouaz - Deprived of work and access to aid, thousands of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa living in Morocco are struggling to make ends meet under COVID-19 restrictions. "The misery is across the board," said Ousmane Ba, head of the Collective of...
Algeria and Morocco bickering again
Algiers, May 14, 2020 - Algeria said Thursday it had summoned Morocco's ambassador after a video circulating on social media appeared to show a Moroccan diplomat calling Algeria an "enemy" country. Relations between the North African countries have long been tense,...
Morocco: RSF said TV crew attacked by police near Rabat
Rabat, Marocco, May 8, 2020 - Moroccan authorities said Friday they would investigate a case of an attack on television journalists filming a report, as police denied any involvement in the incident. Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said Thursday that a...
Maghreb: A Ramadan unlike no other
Algiers, May 7, 2020 (By Abdelhafid Daamache) - North Africans say they are missing the taste of Ramadan, as coronavirus restrictions deprive them of traditional mealtime gatherings, evening outings and beloved sweets during the Muslim holy month. "It's not the usual...
Morocco: After launching spy app, Morocco deploys surveillance drones
Rabat, May 6, 2020 - Morocco has rapidly expanded its fleet of drones as it battles the coronavirus pandemic, deploying them for aerial surveillance, public service announcements and sanitisation. "This is a real craze. In just weeks, demand has tripled in Morocco and...
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...
Connect
You can find us on a few social media platforms. Feel free to connect with us there.