Vol 63 No 17 | MOROCCOUNITED NATIONSWESTERN SAHARA Rabat and Algiers cross swords over UN role 11th August 2022 Western Sahara remains in limbo while the two states tussling over it step up guerrilla diplomacy The latest skirmishes in the long-running struggle between Morocco and Algeria over Western Sahara have drawn in the UN as they exchange fire over allegations of impropriety by the...
Vol 63 No 16 | EGYPTMALIUNITED NATIONS Egypt adds to Minusma's misery 4th August 2022 Egypt plans to withdraw its combat convoy units from the Mission multidimensionnelle intégrée des Nations unies pour la stabilisation au Mali (Minusma) UN peacekeeping force in Mal...
Vol 63 No 16 | LIBYA Dubaiba woos UAE and Haftar with about-turn on oil 26th July 2022 Dubaiba tries to end embargo and undercut his eastern-based rival Bashagha by naming Bengdara as the new state oil chief The latest arena of conflict between the country's two opposing governments is the crucial position of head of the National Oil Company (NOC). A complex political game between the ...
Vol 63 No 14 | TUNISIA Saïed ratchets up the autocracy 7th July 2022 Oppositionists are divided on how to respond to the President’s proposed authoritarian constitution With less than three weeks before a referendum to decide on President Kais Saïed's new constitution, political parties and civil society are rejecting it as a gateway to unbri...
Vol 63 No 14 | MOROCCOSPAINEUROPEAN UNION Death at the border 7th July 2022 The death of over 25 migrants on 24 June after more than 2,000 people tried to jump the fence separating the enclave of Melilla and Nador, in northern Morocco, has prompted a furio...
Vol 63 No 13 | LIBYA Plan mooted to settle east-west split 23rd June 2022 The country is back to rule by two governments – but support is growing for devolution instead of the stalled international push for national elections Libya looks more divided than at any time since the 2011 revolution. It boasts one government in Tripoli ruling the west, and another in Sirte which is recognised in the east &ndas...
Vol 63 No 9 | ALGERIAMOROCCORUSSIA Navigating through the fog of cold war 28th April 2022 Only one national cause defines policy in Algiers and Rabat – and it isn't Ukraine For Algeria and its ally, the Polisario Front, as for their bitter rival Morocco, a 'national cause' remains their main preoccupation. For Algeria it is independence of the Saharan...
Vol 63 No 8 | TUNISIA United by dissolution 14th April 2022 Dozens of parliamentarians have been hauled in for questioning since last week's online parliamentary session that voted to rescind President Kaïs Saïed's rule by decree....
Vol 63 No 7 | EGYPT Back to the IMF…again 31st March 2022 Egypt is looking for a bailout for the third time since 2016, as the Ukraine war hits the economy and foreign portfolio investors head for the exit The unfolding economic damage from Russia's war on Ukraine has again exposed Egypt's vulnerability to rising food and oil prices and the fickle money markets. On 23 March, the Inte...
Vol 63 No 7 | MOROCCOUNITED STATESISRAEL Rabat strengthens Sahara grip 31st March 2022 Morocco is exerting an ever-tighter grip on the diplomacy over the disputed territory of Western Sahara, after Israel's Foreign Minister Yair Lapid became the latest to endorse its...