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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...
Moroccan King fires junior ministers: leadership or scapegoating?
The North Africa Journal - November 3, 2017 - [Photo: State auditor Driss Jettou making case against ministers before Moroccan King, leading to dismissals] In a surprise move, King Mohammed VI dismissed some junior ministers and other officials, allegedly as a...
Algeria-Morocco: Algeria’s top diplomat starts new feud with Morocco
The North Africa Journal - November 3, 2017 - Algeria’s top diplomat, Foreign Minister Abdelkader Messahel has shown very little diplomatic skills, when he recently accused Morocco of laundering "hashish" money during a debate held at the summer workshop of the...
Morocco: King seeks to deflate criticism over the unrest in the north, blaming everyone but the monarchy
The North Africa Journal- August 10, 2017: After an easing of tension at the end of July, facilitated by the withdrawal of the riot police from al-Hoceima and Imzouren and a royal pardon that benefited some 40 jailed protesters, social unrest resumed with the first...
North Africans boost security measures to prevent cheating in baccalaureate exam
The North Africa Journal: June 9, 2017: If you ask any high school student in the Maghreb to list their biggest concerns, the baccalaureate exam (currently underway) is likely going to be rated very high, if not as the number one source of stress. The baccalaureate...
Morocco risk outlook: difficult path to reconciliation in el-Hoceima, but it is not too late
The North Africa Journal: June 9, 2017: In a note to its clients, MEA Risk predicts that the Moroccan government is likely to find a reasonable way out of the crisis, in an effort to avoid the sort of outburst witnessed recently in Tunisia’s Tataouine Province....
Morocco: Massive show of force as authorities confront public anger in Hoceima
The North Africa Journal - May 30, 2017: There have been intense clashes between demonstrators and the Moroccan security forces in the northern city of al-Hoceima over the weekend and into early this week. Tension escalated after the police arrested nearly two dozen...
Morocco: Three IS suspects captured
The Central Bureau of Judicial Investigation (BCIJ) has dismantled an Islamic State-tied terror cell active in Nador, Driouch and Martil on 26 May. Three suspects were captured on charges of manufacturing homemade bombs and contacting IS operatives in the Middle-East.
Explosive social unrest across the Maghreb region
The North Africa Journal - May 24, 2017 - The Maghreb countries of North Africa are facing an unprecedented level of social and labor unrest. The Ramadan season, slated to start at the end of this month, will likely be quiet on the social front. But what we see in...
As tension eases in Western Sahara conflict, the belligerents stick to their guns
The North Africa Journal - May 4, 2017: Fighters of the Polisario Front, who are seeking statehood in the Western Sahara, withdrew from a contested area known as Guerguerat, following a unilateral withdrawal of the Moroccan troops a few weeks ago. The removal of armed...
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