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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...
Education: Studying from home amid Covid-19
Tripoli, March 24, 2020 - By Rim Tahar - Either on television as in Libya or on tablets in the IT-savvy Gulf monarchies, in the time of novel coronavirus millions of schoolchildren around the Arab world are now learning lessons at home. Governments across the region...
Covid-19: Morocco deploys troops on the streets
Rabat, March 22, 2020 - Groups of Moroccans went out to pray and to protest in the streets at the weekend, defying orders to stay at home to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus. Images shared on social networks and broadcast by local media showed people...
Editorial: 2020, the exceptional year
Editorial by Arezki Daoud: It’s official, Covid-19 is now North Africa’s biggest problem, just as it is for the entire world. In recent times, we have heard of, but from afar, diseases such as the Ebola virus in West Africa, the plague epidemic in Madagascar, and...
Despite global health crisis, Arab regimes continue to repress
March 18, 2020 - Egyptian police arrested four prominent women dissidents Wednesday after they demanded the release of prisoners for fear of a coronavirus outbreaks in jails, their families said. The four activists and academics -- sisters Mona, Laila and Ahdaf...
Morocco: Journalist gets prison sentence for criticizing judge in a tweet
Rabat, March 17, 2020- Moroccan journalist and human rights activist Omar Radi said Tuesday he had been handed a four-month suspended sentence for criticising a judge in a tweet. A court in the Casablanca district of Ain Sebaa also ordered Radi to pay a fine of 500...
Morocco arrests Salafist preacher for publicly opposing anti-coronavirus measures
The Moroccan authorities arrested Salafist Preacher Abou Naim for publicly opposing anti-coronavirus measures enacted by the government of Morocco, including the closure of mosques. The prosecution stated that he “inciting hatred and violence” as a charge against...
Morocco: Second death and 10 more tested positive for Covid-19
A 75-year-old man, who tested positive to Covid-19, died on Tuesday, 17 March in Salé, Morocco, bringing the number of people who have died from the coronavirus in Morocco to two. The first person was an 89-year-old woman who died exactly a week earlier. Also, a new...
UAE and Morocco in diplomatic freeze (§)
To the amazement of the Moroccan monarchy, the United Arab Emirates has had no ambassador in Rabat for more than a year, causing a sharp stiffening of the Moroccan position vis-à-vis the UAE, recalling their ambassador in Abu Dhabi. Relations are traditionally...
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