First Independent Mena Newspaper
Russian President Vladimir Putin said he supported Egypt’s Field Marshall Abdul Fattah al-Sisi in his bid for presidency. Mr Sisi visited Moscow in order to discuss an arms deal while Mr Putin used the occasion to mention that he was “aware” of Sisi’s presidency bid. Cairo has not delivered an official statement on the issue. […]
Three years down the road from the wave of Arab Spring revolutions that affected the Middle East and North Africa region, MENA economies remain depressed. Egypt’s gross domestic product contracted by about 3 percent in the second quarter of 2013 while the growth rate amounted to only 2 percent last year, when compared to 2.3 […]
Questions have been raised among presidential candidates and former government officials on whether Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s ailing condition would permit him to run a fourth term in office. Among those who raised concern is presidential candidate and retired Algerian Navy commander Mohamed Al-Taher .In his criticism against the election process he said “preparations for […]
A Red Cross team working in northern Mali has been kidnapped by an al Qaeda-linked Islamist group known as the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), a spokesperson for the militants said earlier this week. The MUJAO official also told the media by telephone fromm the country’s capital, Bamako, that the members […]
Libya has become free of all chemical weapons it inherited from dictator Muammar Gaddafi, after having destroyed these banned deadly weapons and completed the disarmament process which begun under the former regime but interrupted by the war that rocked the North African country According to Libyan foreign minister Mohamed Abdelaziz, “this achievement would not have […]
On a two-day visit to Moscow, Egyptian army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was on Wednesday accompanied by Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy to seal a lucrative arms deal and discuss areas of cooperation “in multiple fields”. The US$2 billion arms deal will mainly be funded by Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The expected Russian […]
Muslims in the Central African Republic (CAR) were facing “ethno-religious cleansing” as French troops struggle to contain the Christian ‘anti-balaka. militias, warned UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, in an interview with FRANCE 24 earlier this week. This warning comes after an alarming discovery by French troops on patrol in a rural region west […]
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has placed a great deal of interest in the Egyptian private sector and with a total budget of €688m dedicated to investments in 30 projects in Egypt and other regional countries such as Morocco, Tunisia and Jordan. With nine projects over the past 18months, the bank has […]
Spain’s minister of state for security, Francisco Martinez Vázquez, recently completed his visit to Mauritania and Senegal that started on 4 February. The aim of his tour of the region was to bolster Sahel ties and discuss ways to tackle imminent threats to the region such as clandestine immigration, crime, drug trafficking, and cross-border terrorism. […]
France on Monday made an announcement refusing Niger’s appeal, last week, for western military action against Islamist fighters who have established bases in Southern Libya since the 2011 overthrow of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. Niger’s call for help is a desperate one as Islamist attacks and kidnappings on its mineral-rich soil have posed a threat to […]