This is a retrospect on North Africa and the Sahel region, for the week ending 24 April. The review, which focuses on the latest on Covid-19 in the Maghreb, Egypt and the Sahel, is presented by MEA Risk analyst Arezki Daoud. The transcripted text is below. You can also listen in: iTunes | TuneIn Radio […]
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 reinforce medical teams so that there is proper care” as well as […]
Tripoli, April 19, 2020 (By Rim Taher) – Already tired of the tribulations of war, Libyans in the capital Tripoli are reluctant to respect intensified lockdown measures introduced on Friday to forestall coronavirus. The round-the-clock curfew was flagged by the UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) on Wednesday night and will apply for 10 days […]
Tunis, April 22, 2020 – After a month of lockdown, Tunisian hospitals have not so far suffered the overcrowding some feared from coronavirus — but the pandemic has forced a much-needed upgrade of public facilities, medics say. The intensive care ward at Abderrahmane Memmi hospital near Tunis — where the most serious COVID-19 cases are […]
Algiers, April 23, 2020 -By Amal Belalloufi: Dozens of Algerians linked to the country’s anti-government protest movement remain “forgotten” in pre-trial detention during the coronavirus crisis, with little or no legal support. Zinedine Hanane, 32, was arrested on March 1, 2019, in Algiers while returning from a demonstration, after two people from his neighbourhood allegedly […]
Niamey, April 22, 2020 (By Boureima Hama) – With the holy Muslim month of Ramadan set to start this weekend, authorities in Niger are fearing violence after several cities saw riots over anti-coronavirus lockdowns banning collective prayers. “We just want to pray in our mosques, without violence… we are determined to exercise our religious right,” […]
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 country’s national security force DGSN and its launch was confirmed by MAP […]
Washington, April 22, 2020 – Egypt on Tuesday flew a plane of medical supplies to the United States to assist in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, a role reversal for a top US aid recipient. Egypt’s general-turned-president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, has been eager to cement relations with President Donald Trump, and his country has […]
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 positive for COVID-19 at the prison in the town of […]
Ras Jedir, Tunisia, April 21, 2020 – Hundreds of Tunisians stranded for weeks in war-racked Libya due to the coronavirus have returned home after forcing their way through a border crossing, the UN and aid groups said. Tunisia’s interior ministry denied that Tunisians on Monday had crossed the Ras Jedir border point using force, saying […]
By Ali Abba Kaya, Djimet Wiche, and Camille Malplat in Libreville: The deaths by apparent poisoning of 44 suspected Boko Haram jihadists in a Chad prison were shrouded in mystery on Sunday, with observers wondering whether they were murdered or had committed collective suicide. The semi-desert country’s chief prosecutor Youssouf Tom said late Saturday that […]
Acts of intimidation and allegations of vote buying marred the final round of legislative elections in Mali on Sunday aimed at reviving confidence in embattled institutions despite a bloody jihadist conflict and a virus pandemic. In central Mali, the president of a voting station was forcibly removed and representatives of the electoral commission “chased away […]
Burkina Faso’s security forces allegedly executed 31 unarmed detainees in the northern town of Djibo, Human Rights Watch said Monday, calling for an immediate investigation. The men, all from the Fulani ethnic group, were allegedly killed just hours after being arrested on April 9 during a government counterterrorism operation, the New York-based rights group said. […]
Tunisia’s Prime Minister Elyes Fakhfakh has announced that a lockdown to fight the spread of coronavirus will be extended to May 3 before it is progressively eased. The situation will “soon be mastered”, Fakhfakh declared in a televised interview late Sunday, saying this would allow for a step-by-step re-opening of the economy and society. Tunisia […]
Niamey, April 20, 2020 – Clashes erupted in Niamey, the capital of the Sahel nation of Niger, over the government’s anti-coronavirus curfew and a ban on prayer gatherings, local inhabitants told AFP Monday. Violence broke out just after 8pm (1900 GMT) on Sunday in the rundown district of Lazaret, where security forces used teargas to […]
Cairo, April 21, 2020 -By Menna Zaki: After showing symptoms similar to those of the coronavirus, Egyptian doctor Ahmed Negm went into self-isolation in an old apartment, but before long he was hounded out by fearful neighbors. While health workers in many countries are getting cheers and applause for risking their lives in the grueling […]
April 20, 2020 – Algerian authorities have blocked a third online news website that covered the anti-government “Hirak” protest movement, stirring condemnation Monday from media watchdog Reporters Without Borders. RSF also voiced concern that a draft law on “fake news” could be used as another channel to “muzzle the press”. The draft legislation aims to […]
Abuja, April 14, 2020 (By Celia Lebur) – African countries are seething over accounts that Africans are battling stigma and discrimination in China over the coronavirus pandemic, apparently linked to a cluster of cases in the Nigerian community in the southern city of Guangzhou. The African residents say they have suffered forced evictions, arbitrary quarantines […]
Algerian former foreign minister Ramtane Lamamra on Thursday ruled himself out of becoming the next UN envoy to Libya, after diplomats said Washington opposed his nomination. In a statement to the Algerian press, Lamamra said he had been invited last month by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to take the post. “I gave my agreement […]
Algiers, April 17, 2020 – Inmates at 30 Algerian prisons are being mobilised to make personal protective equipment to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, official news agency APS reported. Authorities will “open sewing workshops for the production of 200,000 masks by prisoners in 30 penitentiaries… to meet their own needs and those of […]
Tunis, April 17, 2020 – Tunisian engineers have created a web-based platform that scans lung X-rays and evaluates whether patients are likely to be suffering from the novel coronavirus. While it’s not the first initiative of its kind in the world, its creators say it is the first to be openly available. And though not […]
Cairo, April 14, 2020 – An Egyptian policeman was killed and another wounded in a shootout Tuesday with armed militants in Cairo, a security source said. “National security received a tip-off that there was an apartment full of terrorists… An exchange of gunfire ensued,” the source told AFP. He said two policemen were hospitalised, one […]
