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Tunisia: Uproar in Tunisia after doctor dies in elevator accident in Jendouba hospital
Hundreds of medics protested in Tunisia on Friday after a young doctor died in a hospital elevator accident in the country's northwest. Badreddedine Aloui, 27, plunged to his death Thursday down an elevator shaft after the lift doors opened but with no elevator in...
Minorities: The Amazigh people remain abused by North African regimes
The Berbers of Egypt: By Hager Harabech Siwa Oasis, Egypt, Dec 2, 2020 - Youssef Diab drives his truck through the Egyptian oasis of Siwa, singing catchy songs in a local Berber dialect that clings to life despite the dominance of Arabic. The UN has classified Siwi,...
How Arab people’s efforts to bring democracy are undermined by online fake news
The incompetent Arab regimes: Opinion by Arezki Daoud Arab governments have perfected the science of fake news and deceptive propaganda. Twitter and Facebook have long been inundated with tweets and posts that have been praising regimes in the Arab world, in...
Podcast: Tunisia faces a chaotic situation, as economic woes could derail political progress
Transcript Tunisia is a boiling cauldron. It is certain that the Covid-19 epidemic is having a drastic impact on the country on many fronts. But the system put in place after the 2011 Jasmine Revolution, which was praised around the world as paving the way...
Tunisia: Growing unrest in Tunisia over unemployment and poor economy
Demonstrations have spread in Tunisia's interior to demand work and investment in the traditionally marginalised region. The latest protests in the country's centre and south come after residents of the southern city of Tataouine reached a November 7 deal with the...
Tunisia slides into repression after jailing of blogger Wajdi Mahouechi
Human Rights Watch accused Tunisia on Tuesday of "regressing" on free speech after a blogger was sentenced to two years' prison over a Facebook post deemed offensive to the judiciary. Wajdi Mahouechi (photo), 31 and a frequent commentator on social media, had...
The unfinished Arab spring: buckle up for the next round
The Jasmin Revolution is Far from Over: buckle up for the next round. An opinion by Arezki Daoud Back in the early 1990s, most, if not all analysts, looked at the Algerian uprising of 1988 and concluded that the “revolution was dead and over.” The Algerian regime...
Podcast: Covid-19 in the Maghreb region as of mid-November 2020
In this brief podcast recorded on 12 November 2020, MEA Risk's Arezki Daoud provides an update on the Coronavirus in the Maghreb region. The state of the Covid-19 epidemic in the Maghreb looks rather bleak as we are reaching the mid-point of November 2020. As in...
Tunisia is still using repressive laws to punish freedom of speech
Amnesty International on Monday urged authorities in Tunisia to stop using "largely outdated, overly broad and repressive laws" to crack down on freedom of expression online. Freedom of speech is seen as one of the most solid achievements of the North African nation's...
Libyans looking for an end to their conflict. Will foreign meddlers allow them?
The UN launched talks among Libyans on Monday aimed at creating a unity government and preparing for elections to bring peace after a decade of violence in the North African country. The 75 delegates, selected by the UN to represent existing state bodies and groups...
Tunisia’s problem with its radicalized youth
The killing of three people at a church in France has focused attention on extremism in the suspected attacker's native Tunisia, where political instability has hobbled efforts to tackle radicalisation. It is unclear where Brahim Aouissaoui was radicalised in Tunisia,...
Immigration: Concern over immigration in France after Nice attack
Tunisian President Kais Saied spoke with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron Saturday about migration and "terrorism", following a deadly knife attack in Nice allegedly perpetrated by a Tunisian, the presidency said. Saied and Macron discussed by phone repeated...
Tunisia arrests police chief of town rocked by unrest over police brutality, now it needs serious reforms
Tunisia announced Wednesday the arrest of a municipal police chief after protests in an impoverished town sparked by the death of a man during the demolition of an illegal kiosk. A day after the angry demonstrations in Sbeitla, the situation was calm as security...
Tunisia: Sharp spike in Covid-19 infections prompts new curfew in Tunisia
Tunisia has reinstated curfews in several regions in recent days in a bid to rein in a sharp spike in novel coronavirus cases that threaten to overwhelm its hospitals. The North African country had imposed strict lockdown measures that practically smothered its first...
Tunisia: Unrest in Sbeitla after police killed a man sleeping in unlicensed kiosk
Tunisia: Presidency fires Governor of Kasserine and Sbeitla Delegate A press release issued by the Tunisian presidency announced the dismissal of the governor of Kasserine and the Delegate of Sbeitla. Also fired is the head of the National Security District and the...
Tunisia: Worsening economy risks destabilizing Tunisia
Tens of thousands of Tunisians have lost their jobs in a worsening economic crisis exacerbated by efforts to stem rising cases of novel coronavirus, a key employers' federation has warned. "The first wave of the epidemic (March to June) resulted in the loss of 165,000...
Tunisia: More migrants perish off the coast of Sfax
Nine more bodies have been recovered after a migrant boat sank off Tunisia, raising the death toll to at least 11 with several still missing, the National Guard said Monday. National Guard spokesman Houcem Eddine Jebabli told AFP the nine were found in the water...
Tunisia: Despite mandatory use of face masks, Tunisia to build field hospitals to cope with spike in Covid-19 cases
Tunisian authorities have warned that hospitals are struggling to cope with an influx of Covid-19 patients and urged residents to respect anti-virus measures to avoid another lockdown. "If we don't manage to flatten this curve, which is really going up, we risk being...
With Russia’s presence in Libya and turmoil in the Sahel, US seeks to reengage with the Maghreb
US Defense Secretary Mark Esper signed a 10-year military cooperation deal with Tunis Wednesday during his first stop on a regional tour, hailing US-Tunisia collaboration over the conflict in neighbouring Libya. The past decade has seen growing cooperation between the...
Tunisia’s tourism sector collapses with 60% drop in earnings
Tunisia's tourism sector has collapsed, officials warned Saturday, with earnings plunging 60 percent and swathes of hotels at risk of closing permanently. The sector, a major employer that accounts for 14 percent of the North African nation's GDP, has been hit hard by...
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