Business Finance

Morocco: More than 3 million people to benefit from microloans by 2020

Morocco, which is already a regional leader in microcredit, is poised to develop its strategy in the sector, the aim being to increase the number of beneficiaries to 3.2 million people and to create some 2 million part time jobs by 2020. The announcement was made last week on the sidelines of the international conference […]

Business Emerging Markets

Foreign Investors Courting Libya

Few months after the collapse of the despotic regime of Muamar Gadhafi and despite the difficult democratic transition the new Libya is experiencing, several foreign businessmen operating in various industrial and services sectors are packing and preparing for their return to this North African country, dubbed “land of opportunities”. Despite the recent unrest, there is […]

Headlines Mauritania

Mauritania’s Wounded President Appears on TV

Mauritania president has appeared on his country’s state TV on Sunday after he was shot and wounded in what was described as a “friendly fire” by soldiers who were said did not recognize the presidential convoy as it passed by. During his TV appearance from hospital, president Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz called Mauritanian people to […]

Features Op Eds Opinions

On the Right Track? Post-Arab Spring EU Policy towards the Maghreb

The creation of a new post of EU Special Representative for the Southern Mediterranean Region in July 2011 symbolizes the importance the region has gained in European eyes. Focusing specifically on the Maghreb, there are a number of reasons why it is vital for the Union to engage closely with this region located on its […]

Features Headlines Portrait Profile

Ismail Serageldin, an enlightened scholar brought to court

Ismail Serageldin, the director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, is being sued for squandering public funds after library staff accused him of abuse of power claiming he unfairly appointed advisors and gave them huge salaries. He was also accused of embezzling donations destined to the library and illegally transferring them to a bank account controlled by […]

Lifestyle Technology

Tamazight Windows: Good News for North Africa Berbers

The newest version of Microsoft Operating system Windows 8, which has generated a lot of buzz in the IT industry, offers to the Berber-speaking populations across North Africa (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Libya) the possibility of using their personnel computers in their native spoken language. A preview of Windows 8, to be officially launched in […]

Eating out Lifestyle

Medical Tourism Booming in North Africa

Despite the unrest rocking several Arab countries, many foreign tourists are still heading to North Africa not only for holidays but also for plastic surgery which has become a big business namely in Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco. The pyramids of ancient Egypt, the antiquities & beaches of Tunisia and the mystical city Marrakesh (Morocco) are […]

Headlines Mauritania

Mauritania increasingly worried about mounting terrorism in the Sahel

Mauritania is increasingly worried about the mounting terrorist threat in the Sahel that has become a safe heaven for organized crime and terrorism networks. Mauritania’s worries were recently expounded before the 67th session of the UN General Assembly by Mauritanian Foreign Minister Hamadi Ould Hamadi who warned that the Sahel region has become “a safe […]

Egypt Features Op Eds Opinions

Frenemies? Egypt’s Foreign Policy Recalibration

When, in 1949, Mao Zedong forced Chiang Kai-Shek’s army to retreat from mainland China, thus consolidating the Communist Party’s grip over the People’s Republic, the reverberations could be felt across the world. In the United States, Republicans put forward a poignant, yet rhetoric question: Who Lost China? In the eyes of the Republicans, the answer […]

Algeria Headlines

Algeria to Invest US$71 Billion in Energy Sector by 2017

Algeria is expected to invest US$71 billion in the energy sector over the five coming years, becoming thus the third largest investor in the sector in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region. According to a report released earlier this week by the Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP),  with its USD 71 billion worth […]