First Independent Mena Newspaper
Shell Trading Rotterdam B.V., a subsidiary of Shell plc, has signed a long-term products offtake agreement with Green Sky Manara LLC for a planned facility at Port Nador, Morocco. The agreement gives Shell exclusive offtake rights for approximately 150 000 tons per year (tpy) of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) or an equivalent volume of hydrogenated […]
In a statement released on Sunday, Russian diplomacy blamed the United States for the end of the UN mission in the Moroccan Sahara known as the MINURSO. The commentary omits any mention of Russia’s veto that blocked the only resolution capable of extending the mission and pushing forward the peace process on the basis of […]
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has formally acknowledged the end of the United Nations mission in the Moroccan Sahara (MINURSO) and announced the start of its liquidation. The statement, which makes no reference to a referendum, marks that the mission is now part of history. Guterres called on the parties to facilitate MINURSO’s orderly departure […]
Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said the non-renewal of the UN mission MINURSO mandate marks a decisive shift from managing the Sahara issue under outdated rules to changing them, presenting Russia’s veto as an anticipated opportunity rather than a setback. Speaking on a special 2M broadcast on 31 October, Bourita recalled King Mohammed VI’s doctrine […]
Morocco’s date palm sector is set for a record harvest of 177,000 tonnes in the 2026-2027 agricultural campaign, an 11% increase from the previous year, injecting more than 3 billion dirhams in added value into the national economy. The surge is driven by improved weather conditions and the progressive entry into production of modern farms. […]
U.S. Congressman Joe Wilson has lambasted Russia, Algeria and Polisario after Moscow vetoed a widely supported US draft resolution endorsing Autonomy plan in the Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty and restructuring the UN Mission. “The goal of Russia is further destabilization of Africa”, said the Congressman in a comment posted Saturday on his X account. The […]
Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan, launched on Saturday operations of the container terminal “East” at Nador West Med port. This terminal is the first of the industrial-port complex, which mobilized $ 5.5 billion of public and private investment. Prince Moulay El Hassan has launched on this occasion the first unloading operation of a container from […]
Russia’s veto of a US-draft resolution at the UN Security Council on Oct 30 has handed Morocco a decisive diplomatic triumph. By blocking a text that enshrined autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty as the sole basis for resolving the Sahara question, Moscow inadvertently terminated the mandate of MINURSO. The mission, long criticized in Rabat as a […]
After 35 years, the United Nations Mission in the Sahara (MINURSO) has outlived any justification for its existence. Established in 1991 to oversee a ceasefire and organize a referendum that never happened, the mission has become a symbol of bureaucratic inertia, financial waste, and the artificial internationalization of a regional dispute over Morocco’s southern provinces. […]
In a sharply worded op-ed published on 29 October 2026, the Franco-Algerian writer and intellectual Boualem Sansal argues that Morocco has decisively outpaced Algeria in the long-running contest for regional leadership and influence across Africa. The OP-ed published by le350, frames the rivalry between the two North African neighbors as an ongoing “match without a […]