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Morocco: Swine flu outbreak kills nine in Morocco
Rabat, Feb 2, 2019 (AFP) - An outbreak of swine flu in Morocco has left nine people dead in the past week, the kingdom's health minister said Saturday. The spread of the H1N1 virus was "normal" for the time of the year, said Anas Doukkali, quoted by Morocco's official...
Trade: Concerns over the flooding of Turkish products into Morocco ($)
Turkish businesses are extremely competitive, with high-quality products and low prices. Despite efforts from the Moroccans to block direct entries of Turkish goods and products into its markets, Turkish exporters have been clever utilizing Arab free trade agreements...
UN conflict resolution technique: more conferences, and another one on the Western Sahara
By Arezki Daoud - 30 January 2019: The UN does a lot of good things, including humanitarian support to people in distress. One area where the institution is ineffective is bringing feuding parties in key conflicts and get them to agree no matter what. One of the...
Urban Issues: The stray dogs and wild boars of North African cities
Opinion by Arezki Daoud - January 29, 2019: There could be as many as 15 million stray dogs roaming the streets of Egypt, and in the past four years, no less than 231 people died from rabies. Egypt does not believe in decentralized governance, which means the central...
Morocco: Man fears for safety after arrested wearing a dress
Rabat, Jan 25, 2019 (AFP) - Chafik Lafrid's life has become a nightmare since footage of his arrest in Marrakesh on New Year's Eve, wearing a dress and a wig, went viral on social media. Homosexuality is illegal in Morocco, and the 33-year-old, who occasionally...
Morocco complains to UN of Western Sahara truce violations
United Nations, United States, Jan 11, 2019 (AFP) - Morocco has accused Polisario Front fighters in Western Sahara of violating a ceasefire agreement, just weeks before an expected new round of talks on ending the decades-old conflict. In a letter seen by AFP on...
Morocco: The closing of the deadly mines of Jerada
Rabat, Jan 9, 2019 - Moroccan authorities closed 2,000 illegal mineshafts last year in Jerada, an impoverished former coal town that has been the site of a string of deadly mining accidents. The closure of the "abandoned and illicitly exploited shafts" was announced...
Morocco: Killing of two tourists prompts Western authorities to caution their citizens when traveling to Morocco
Morocco has long been one of the most sheltered areas in North Africa from terror activity, largely due to the efficiency of its intelligence services and its counter-terrorism measures. But the killing of two European tourists in mid-December 2018 by suspected...
Morocco: New test of allegiance to Saudi Arabia
The North Africa Journal - November 19, 2018: In an article posted on November 4, 2018, the Washington Post reported the “the government of Morocco recently said it had extradited Prince Turki bin Bandar to Saudi Arabia to comply with an Interpol warrant. But in a...
King of Morocco proposes direct talks with Algeria: Unlikely to happen this year
The North Africa Journal - Nov 8, 2018: The fate of the contested Western Sahara territory and a regional leadership context continue to poison relations between Algeria and Morocco, two countries that have substantial similarities and massive interests in seeing...
Morocco: Central Danone and PJD minister first victims of an unusual boycott
The North Africa Journal - June 8, 2018: For several weeks now, a call to boycott three major brands in the Moroccan market is beginning to hurt the targeted businesses and has made its first collateral damage in government. Morocco’s social networks have been used...
Morocco severs diplomatic ties with Iran over Polisario support
The North Africa Journal - May 2, 2018: Morocco will sever diplomatic ties with Iran over Tehran’s support for the Polisario Front, a Western Sahara independence movement, the Moroccan foreign minister said on 1 May. Algeria has been a staunch supporter of an...
Morocco allegedly informs Algeria about possible military action in Western Sahara
MEA Risk Brief: Morocco has reportedly informed Algeria, through an unidentified European ambassador to Algeria, that it is ready to intervene militarily if the "Polisario Front continues to refuse the United Nations" and Morocco’s call to withdraw from east of the...
Morocco: More arrests in Jerada as population calls for tangible economic plan
The North Africa Journal - April 4, 2018: The end of March saw an uptick in arrests in the mining town of Jerada in northeast Morocco. Opposition groups and media accounts report at least 70 arrests since mid-March. Protests in Jerada began in December 2017 after two...
Uber withdraws from Morocco
The North Africa Journal: February 21, 2018: There is a great deal of jubilation among Morocco’s taxi drivers and the leaders of the transport sector as Uber, the ride-hailing service announced that its last ride in Casablanca will take place on February 23. Present...
Not such a happy new year for North Africa
The North Africa Journal: January 11, 2018- The new year started off on the wrong foot for North African nations, and the seeds of discontent for the years to come have been sown. The year 2017 ended with a lot of drama and lingering crises that promise to stick...
Regional politics and entrenched business interests complicate Morocco’s ECOWAS membership bid
The North Africa Journal - December 21, 2017: There has been a setback in Morocco’s efforts to join the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a process that required enormous diplomatic work and countless royal visits to West African capitals to achieve....
The Jihadists are back
The North Africa Journal - 22 November, 2017: Although authorities have so far been able to contain the militant threat in most parts of North Africa, while Libya is bearing the brunt of the violence and Egypt struggling to contain insurgents, the region at-large is...
Morocco: Fallout from el-Hoceima unrest: Royal purge of government continues
The North Africa Journal - November 22, 2017: On November 13, 2017, a second round of firings hit the Moroccan government, with King Mohammed VI dismissing no less than seven General Secretaries of ministries for their alleged incompetence in implementing the state’s...
Morocco: Food distribution in Essaouira turns deadly, over a dozen killed
The North Africa Journal - November 19, 2017: At least 15 people died when they were crushed during a stampede in Essaouira, Morocco. The victims were receiving food aid in the town of Sidi Boulaalam, near the Atlantic Ocean to the west of the country. The death toll...
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