In 2024, Moroccan authorities reported blocking 78,685 irregular migration attempts, according to data from the...
Book: Lafarge Group and the Islamic State
Lafarge’s indictment for financing terrorism reveals corporate entanglements with ISIS to maintain operations in...
Is Morocco Quietly Preparing for Royal Succession?
The issue of succession in government is extremely important in that clear rules of engagement are required for...
More from the Maghreb
Algeria boosts defense budget to tackle cross-border threats
Algeria’s draft Finance Law for the year 2025 earmarks record spending for its military and defense. The Ministry of...
Libya’s fragmented military and competition for its control
While the world is focused on the crises in the Middle East and Ukraine, a power struggle continues to destabilize...
Algeria: Diphtheria and Malaria outbreak in southern border regions claims at least 40 lives
Algeria's southern provinces are experiencing an outbreak of malaria and diphtheria, with the authorities working to...
Algeria: Former head of police in custody for allegedly conspiring with foreign officials
An Algerian military court ordered the provisional detention of a former national police chief, Farid Bencheikh, who...
Morocco: First Mpox case reported in Marrakech, health authorities activate emergency protocols
With dense ties to West Africa, Morocco now has its first Mpox case, identified in the tourism city of Marrakech. This...
Algeria: Despite “winning” reelection, President Tebboune denounces “irregularities”
By MondAfrique: The three candidates in the Algerian presidential election, including President Tebboune, who was...
Libya: As Crises Pile, Libya has no Clear Path to Stability
Libya is back in the news again, and it is not good news. At the center of it all, once again, are the two types of...
Morocco’s Agriculture Facing Headwinds
Morocco's agricultural sector is a major engine of economic activity. It is also the biggest source of employment,...
Business: Morocco’s attraction to Chinese tea makes it its biggest customer
Moroccans love a good cup of tea. Mint tea is their favorite, and it is often prepared by first brewing green tea and...
Libya: The Haftar family seeks to impose dynastic rule on Libya
By Arezki Daoud: If you were born in 1990, you are now 34 years old. This means in 2011 you just turned 21 and unless...
Energy: Algeria’s Oil and Gas Ambitions in Niger Makes Trans-Sahara Pipeline More Likely
Algeria is making progress in convincing Niger and Nigeria to go ahead with the construction of the trans-Saharan gas...
France-Algeria: Emmanuel Macron stuns President Tebboune
Algeria and France are now going through another diplomatic crisis, culminating with the recall of Algeria's...
Morocco: King Mohammed VI gets France’s support on Western Sahara, pardons some jailed journalists and activists
King Mohammed VI is celebrating 25 years on the throne. The event was celebrated nationwide in Morocco, and in a...
Tunisia: Harsh Conditions for Migrants in North Africa as they Seek Path to Italy
Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, has been active seeking the participation of North African nations to stop the...
Flurry of Major Infrastructure and Energy Projects in West Maghreb
North Africa is experiencing record temperatures, and yet, despite the debilitating climate, infrastructure projects...
Elections in North Africa: No Excitement Ahead, No Change in Course
It’s a big political year worldwide. Many countries have already experienced or will have elections this year, and...
Drought Disrupts Wheat Sector in Morocco, Uncertainty with French and Russian Supplies
By Arezki Daoud | LinkedIn | An analysis from Bloomberg suggests that Morocco’s wheat harvest this year is likely to...
How to MEGA or ‘Make Europe Great Again’
By Arezki Daoud | LinkedIn | “Make France Great Again” -MFGA- that does not sound as an effective slogan as MAGA. How...
Algeria’s strengthening EU gas market pushes Morocco to look for its own gas
By Olivier Vallée | MondAfrique: Algeria was in the spotlight at the G7 summit in Bari in Italy in mid-June. New...
North Africa Confronted with New Security Concerns
Security issues in North Africa have been in the news recently. There is news coverage in Spain about Morocco stepping...
Tunisia’s weak economic performance compounded by late data releases
Tunisia’s political system is still compromised, but the economy is showing some signs of minimal recovery. However,...
Algeria-Morocco: The Dividing Kaftan
The Kaftan or Caftan, is now source of new tension between Morocco and Algeria. The two countries have been monitoring...
Libya’s Abnormal New Normal
By Arezki Daoud: Since 2011, Libya has been engulfed in a bloody civil war after the death of Muammar Gaddafi. Over...
From a Russian Grain Export Onslaught to a Ban on French Cattle: Agricultural Trade Between France and Algeria in Standstill
Agricultural trade between France and Algeria is experiencing challenges that are primarily affecting French...
Morocco: Health workers go on strike, demand implementation of reforms
While the healthcare sector is undergoing strikes and tensions between health workers and the government rise, Morocco...
Algeria: President announces early election, no one knows why
Algerian President, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, ordered the holding of an early presidential election on 7 September 2024,...
Algeria: Beware of forgery. New law seeks to reduce fraud and white collar crime
(Photo: Magistrates at the Court of Auditors) - Algeria must have some serious problems with official document...
Morocco: Price of butane gas to increase by 25% in April
(Photo: Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch) Morocco will stop subsidizing butane gas in 2026, but prices will begin to...
Brief: Tunisia: The Lazy Governors
Funny news this week from Tunisia where the Presidency of the Republic announced the dismissal of two governors. They...
Algeria: Opposition leader Zoubida Assoul announces presidential bid
Algerian opposition and pro-democracy lawyer Zoubida Assoul has announced that she will run for the presidential...
Agriculture: Spanish farmers say Moroccan strawberries carry virus, as Morocco surpasses Spain as tomato supplier to EU
Agriculture is the theater of another kind of war where there are winners and losers. Worth billions of dollars, the...
Algeria-Morocco Competition for Regional Influence Shifts to Economic Affairs
Opinion By Arezki Daoud: Up until now, enemy brothers, Algeria and Morocco have been trying to impress and disrupt...
Morocco: Consumers to pay more for Netflix, Airbnb and other online services courtesy 2024 state budget
Morocco is overhauling its taxation system to generate more revenue from online services, in particular the ones...
Tunisia’s Slide Toward Autocracy: The Erosion of Democratic Institutions
By Arezki Daoud | Photo: Abir Moussi: Tunisia has been experiencing a fast moving drift towards autocracy, marked by...
Germany to get Algerian gas for first time
Germany is to get Algerian gas with the signing on 8 February of a contract tying gas producer Sonatrach to...
Western Sahara: Escalating Tensions Between Morocco and the SPLA
The North Africa Journal: With global attention focused on the Middle East and the Ukrainian crises, the Western...
Profile: The Controversial Legacy of Saddam Haftar: A Portrait of Corruption and Abuse
By Arezki Daoud: Khalifa Haftar, the powerful figure dominating eastern Libya, has orchestrated a regime where his...
Growing pressure on Algeria and UAE to break ties: Can their leaders bypass pressure groups
A diplomatic crisis between Algeria and the United Arab Emirates has been brewing for some time, and it has now taken...
Trade: Israel-Morocco trade takes a hit amid extreme instability in the Middle East
Last year, Morocco and Israel have had a strong run on their bilateral trade, as the two countries put into effect the...
Moroccan authorities destroy homes without warning or relocation offers ($)
In a series of surprise operations, coastal communities in Morocco have been experiencing the forceful destruction of...
Energy: US oil companies explore opportunities in Algeria but no deal yet after months of talks
Junior executives of Oxy and Chevron, affiliated with the US-Algerian Business Council (USABC) traveled to Algiers on...
Morocco’s water woes deepen as rationing takes hold
By The North Africa Journal: The entire sub-region of North Africa is the hardest hit by a drought that is causing...
22 Islamist militant suspects arrested in Tunisia ($)
Morocco-Israel trade figures collapsing
Defense: Morocco orders armored vehicles from Turkey ($)
Algeria: Six members of the same family die of carbon monoxide in MSila
Six members of the same family died on Sunday, 14 January 2024, at their home in the municipality of Ain El Melh in...
Algeria: Judicial Supervision of Former Head of RCD Party: Political Pressure or Legal Procedure?
The former president of the opposition party, the Rassemblement pour la Culture et la Démocratie (RCD), Mohcine...
Algeria-Spain: Despite diplomatic disconnect, Algeria-Spain maintain strong energy ties ($)
Mauritania: Sudden customs tax increase at border with Morocco jolts food markets in Mauritania
Households and consumers in Mauritania are experiencing spikes in food prices. A the Nouakchott fruit and vegetable...
Tunisia: Journalist Zied El-Heni released from jail, gets six-month suspended sentence
Tunisian journalist El-Heni was released from prison on Wednesday, 10 January 2024, but he was given a six-month...
Four Mauritanian gold miners were killed last weekend near Gleibat El Foula ($)
Tunisia: Phosphate company signals recovery after a three-year decline (S)
Morocco-Mauritania relations: Tensions after killing by drone of Mauritanian civilians
The Moroccan media said the Mauritanian authorities have abruptly increase by 171% the customs duties applied to...
Algeria fires head of police, arrests 11 Oran Airport security officers
Farid Bencheikh, the head of gigantic police and security agency, the Director General of National Security (DGSN),...
Tunisia neutralizes human smugglers
The Tunisian police reported on January 7, 2024 the dismantling of an alleged human trafficking network in the Sfax...
Libya: Protesters force closure of El Sharara oil field over local economics
The North Africa Journal - Protestors seeking social and economic development for the Fezzan region, located in the...
Drought is pushing North African economies to the brink and to social unrest
Drought is wreaking havoc on North Africa’s water supply and on its agriculture. All countries in the region are...
Libya: The king is dead, long live the king
Opinion by Arezki Daoud: Pardon me if I am not convinced that Libya's eastern leaders have any interest in the rule...
Franco-Moroccan relations likely to remain strained as ties between Paris and Algiers strengthen
There has been noticeable strain in relations between France and Morocco, with the ties between the two being once...
Morocco: Belgian investigators in Morocco in probe over alleged bribery case
Several Moroccan officials have been questioned as part of a high-profile investigation into alleged bribery by the...
Tunisia: Three workers assigned to historic World Heritage wall in Kairouan killed after wall collapsed
A section of the historic walls around the Old City of Kairouan collapsed on Saturday, killing three masons carrying...
UN rapporteur on human rights pressures Algeria to release jailed activists
The United Nations special rapporteur on human rights defenders on Tuesday urged Algeria to release all jailed human...
Libya releases four Hamas members held since 2016
Libyan authorities on Friday released four members of the Palestinian militant group Hamas who were arrested in 2016...
North Africa’s use of drones in the agricultural sector
By Aymen Jamli: A drone buzzed back and forth above rows of verdant orange trees planted near Nabeul, eastern Tunisia....
Middle East: Wounded children from war-torn Gaza airlifted to UAE
By Mumen KhatibB and Giuseppe Cacace: Clutching a blown-up surgical glove as a makeshift toy, a Palestinian child is...
Morocco: Managem denies hazardous levels of arsenic at Bou Azzer cobalt mine
Moroccan mining company Managem, controlled by Morocco's royal family, has refuted allegations linking its mining...
Algeria: Year before election, president picks new prime minister
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune dismissed his prime minister on Saturday, replacing him with a seasoned...
Libya: Companies flock to Benghazi for reconstruction projects
More than 260 Libyan and international companies on Wednesday attended a forum in Benghazi organised by the country's...
In the Media: Morocco: After the quake, water!
France24 says a rare geological phenomenon has occurred in Morocco's Atlas Mountains following a large earthquake on...
In the Media: Pressure grows on Moroccan leaders over conflict in the Middle East
US World & News Report discusses the public pressure and protests in Morocco and other Arab nations in response to...
Tunisia: Prison escape rattles President Saied
Tunisia's president said Wednesday that the escape of five prisoners convicted of "terrorism" was a well-planned...
Anger in the Arab world over strike on a Gaza hospital
In Libya: Several hundred people protested in Tripoli and other Libyan cities late Tuesday over the deadly strike on a...
Tunisia’s economy minister sacked amid unprecedented financial crisis
Tunisian President Kais Saied sacked the economy minister on Tuesday and appointed the finance minister to the role on...
Tunisia: Strike on Gaza hospital ignites protest in Tunis
Thousands of angry protesters gathered outside the French embassy in Tunisia on Tuesday, also denouncing the US, after...
Tunisia: Rally in Tunis to free jailed opposition leader Abir Moussi
Hundreds of supporters of Abir Moussi, a prominent opponent of the Tunisian president, gathered on Sunday in the...
Morocco: Appeals court reduced prison sentence to rights activist Saida El Alami, but conviction remains
A Moroccan appeals court on Wednesday reduced to eight months the sentence for a human rights activist convicted of...
Libya: Revisiting Derna a month after the floods: mental trauma and thousands still missing
By Rim Taher: Nearly a month after floods hit Derna in eastern Libya, survivors are struggling to overcome the...
Algeria fires CEO of energy giant Sonatrach
Corruption and Politics: By Arezki Daoud: Oil company Sonatrach is once again going through turmoil. This week, CEO...
Libya: Divisions deepen among Libyan leaders over flood relief
By Imed Lamloum: More than three weeks after Libya's deadly flood disaster, the divided country's two rival...
Spain: Migrants arrested in Spain for alleged mutiny on rescue ship
Nine migrants were arrested in the Canary Islands on "piracy" charges for forcing the ship that rescued them to change...
Libyan ambassador to Brussels dismissed and arrested over alleged corruption
Libya's prosecutor general ordered the detention of the country's ambassador to Brussels on Tuesday over alleged...
Migrations: Italy wants rescue ships to return migrants to own countries
First migrants in a week land on Italy's Lampedusa A small group of Tunisians arrived by boat on the Italian island of...
Libya: Decade-long Libya-Europe flight suspension ends with new Tripoli-Rome route
A Rome-bound aircraft departed on Saturday from Libya's capital, restarting flights to Italy after a nearly...
Libya: More arrests in Libya-related floods
Libya's prosecutor general has ordered the arrest of four more officials, bringing to 12 the number held as part of an...
Libya: Warlord Haftar in Moscow
Libya's eastern strongman Khalifa Haftar travelled to Russia on Tuesday for talks on the situation in the war-and...
Algeria: While pro-democracy Hirak movement represents no risk to regime, Algeria continues to hold people in prisons
A United Nations expert on Tuesday urged Algeria to pardon people convicted or detained over their involvement in the...
Algeria and Morocco on opposite sides of the Western Sahara conflict, face off at UN
Moroccan and Algerian representatives to the United Nations sparred over the fate of Western Sahara on Tuesday, with...
Tunisia: Eight migrants killed in Kairouan road accident
A road accident overnight in central Tunisia killed nine people including eight sub-Saharan African migrants,...
Libya orders 8 officials arrested after flood
By Rim Taher: Libya's prosecutor general has ordered the arrest of eight officials as part of his inquiry into the...
Libya’s latest official death toll exceeds 3,800
Nearly two weeks after a flash flood devastated the Libyan port city of Derna, the official death toll keeps rising,...
Tunisia suffers hours-long power outage
A sudden power outage hit Tunisia Wednesday, causing a nationwide blackout for about three hours due to technical...
Morocco’s five-year plan to rebuild quake-hit areas will cost the state US$12 billion
Quake-hit Morocco's government announced on Wednesday a budget of more than $11 billion for reconstruction, rehousing...
Libya flood: As death toll exceeds 3,300, tens of thousands of people are displaced
Libya's flood disaster, which killed thousands in the city of Derna, also displaced more than 43,000 people, the...
Tunisia’s foreign migrant problem
Thousands of migrants are living without proper shelter north of Tunisia's port city of Sfax after many were driven...
Libya: Ancient Greco-Roman city of Cyrene faces risk of collapse
Floods that killed thousands in the Libyan city of Derna also inundated one of the country's premier ancient sites,...
Libya: Incompetent eastern authorities tighten control on media, block communications access
Communications were severed Tuesday to the flood-hit Libyan city of Derna and journalists were asked to leave, a day...
Tunisian island of Djerba gets added to UNESCO World Heritage list
UNESCO announced Monday it was adding the Tunisian resort island of Djerba to its list of World Heritage Sites because...
Week after quake hit Morocco, survivors worry about dire hygiene conditions
By Anne-Sophie Labadie: In her earthquake-hit Moroccan town, Zina Mechghazzi has improvised a sink by placing a pink...
Libya: Entire families of Syrian migrants perished in flood
More than 100 Syrians, including entire families, died in flash flooding that killed thousands in Libya's eastern city...
Libya: ‘Worse than war’: Flood trauma haunts survivors
By Fulya Ozerkan: Grief etched into her face, 15-year-old Ibrar struggled to find the words to describe her pain at...