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Tunisia: Partial easing of lockdown measures revealed
Tunis, April 29, 2020 - Tunisian officials on Wednesday announced a partial easing of lockdown measures in place to curb the spread of novel coronavirus, although schools will largely remain closed until September. Education Minister Mohamed Hamdi, Health Minister...
WHO advises MENA region against loosening confinement measures
Cairo, April 28, 2020 - The World Health Organization warned Tuesday of the impact coronavirus could have in Middle Eastern conflict zones and urged other countries in the region against loosening confinement measures. "This fight has become even more challenging with...
Week-in-review podcast: Lockdowns, curfews and government abuse
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...
Tunisia taps into its tech resources to fight Covid-19
Tunis, April 25, 2020 (By Caroline Nelly Perrot) - The feared impact of coronavirus on Tunisia's fragile public health system has provoked a flurry of innovation from robotics to digitalisation efforts to bolster the North African country's pandemic response. The...
Tunisia: How Tunisian hospitals are coping with Covid-19
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...
Tunisia: Blocked border prevents Tunisians from returning home
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...
Tunisia sees progressive easing of confinement after 3 May
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...
Tunisia: A Tunisian initiative to identify potential Covid-19 carriers
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...
Tunisia gets emergency loan from the IMF
April 10, 2020 - The International Monetary Fund on Friday approved a $745 million emergency loan for Tunisia as it continues to roll out an unprecedented number of aid packages to countries battling the coronavirus. "These resources will help address urgent fiscal...
Public health: Inside North Africa’s healthcare systems
By Hamza Mekouar: The coronavirus pandemic has put the spotlight on shortcomings in health care in several North African countries, even as governments moved quickly to announce restrictions to limit the spread of the virus. "Our fate is in the hands of a health...
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...
Tunisia’s zero-tolerance stance on those breaching containment measures
Tunis, April 7, 2020 - Tunisia's interior ministry warned Tuesday that people infected with coronavirus could be prosecuted for manslaughter if they contaminate others by disobeying the health ministry's instructions. "If someone who is sick does not self-isolate as...
Tunisia: Untested Prime Minister gets super powers thanks to Covid-19
Tunisia's parliament on Saturday gave the prime minister special powers for two months to allow for the accelerated adoption of measures to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus. Prime Minister Elyes Fakhfakh will be able to issue decrees without referring to the...
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...
Tunisia wants global approach to pandemic, but Security Council in disarray
April 1, 2020 - Tunisia has proposed a UN Security Council resolution calling for "urgent international action" to curb the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, a draft obtained Wednesday by AFP shows. In broad terms, the draft resolution echoes UN Secretary-General...
Maghreb: Anger in Tunisia and Morocco over poorly managed lockdown
Mnilha, Tunisie, March 31, 2020 - Several hundred Tunisians demonstrated in a working class district of the capital Tuesday, demanding government support and protesting a week-old lockdown against the coronavirus pandemic that has disproportionately impacted the...
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...
Tunisia: The women behind the mask
Tunis, March 26, 2020 - By Caroline Nelly Perrot: In Tunisia, 150 people -- mostly women -- have isolated themselves in a factory for a month to make protective gear like masks to help their country's fight against coronavirus. Due to strict measures to prevent...
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...
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