First Independent Mena Newspaper
Morocco has been described as one of the few safest countries in the globe for travelers by the US travel advisory issued by the US Department, while Algeria has been included in tier 2 danger requiring “increased precaution” due to the threat of terrorism. The contrast reflects the security gap in the Maghreb between oil-rich […]
Battered by a sharp decline in its international reserves, Algeria made of tourism a key sector to relieve its economy from an acute dependency on oil revenues. However, little is done to boost the contribution of tourism in GDP, which remains limited to 1.4% in 2016 with most tourists being Algerian expatriates returning to visit […]
The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, has warned the Polisario of obstructing commercial traffic flow between Morocco and Mauritania, after the Algerian-sponsored separatist group deployed militiamen in an area that is supposed to remain demilitarized under the UN brokered 1991 ceasefire agreement. “Regular civilian and commercial traffic should not be obstructed and no action should […]
The Polisario is set to occupy the border crossing linking Morocco to Mauritania through its repetitive acts of banditry in the area that is supposed to remain demilitarized under the UN sponsored 1991 ceasefire agreement in the Sahara. Few days after barring the road to participants in a desert rally departing from Dakhla and bound […]
After the ban imposed by the US Federal Aviation Administration on Air Algérie, China followed suit banning the Algerian flag carrier from landing in its airports. The ban was issued by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), which has barred Air Algérie along with China United Airlines, MIAT Mongolian Airlines and Ariana Afghan Airlines […]
The Chilean parliament adopted with a sweeping majority a resolution supporting Morocco’s initiative to grant the Sahara a substantive autonomy. Sixty-six Chilean MPs voted in favor, 11 against and 22 abstained. This outspoken support for the autonomy initiative, which Morocco presented to the UN in 2007 as a lasting solution to the Sahara dispute, is […]
Emboldened by Algeria’s military and diplomatic cover, the Polisario inaugurated 2018 with a resumption of provocations in the Guerguarat area, the southernmost tip of Morocco’s southern provinces, the Sahara. Three armed Polisario men have barred the road for an hour and a half to participants in the Desert Sahara Challenge rally competition departing from Dakhla […]
Algeria has earmarked $9.37 billion to military expenditures in 2015, the US Department of State said in its 2017 World Military Expenditures and Arms Transfers report. The report notes that Algeria slashed military spending in 2015, compared to $11 billion in 2014 and $9.89 billion in 2013. Cash-strapped Algeria, which faces an impending depletion of […]
Algeria has announced its plan to increase its car production capacity to 260,000 by 2018, a goal that remains hard to attain in light of the absence of a clear-cut strategy. The development of the car industry sector in Algeria was an attempt to reduce the country’s soaring import bill. Algeria imported 605,000 cars in […]
Algerian government mouthpiece, Algeria Press Service, and other pro-separatist websites have been inflating news regarding military exercises by the Polisario separatists, east of the berm in the region of Aouserd, as a sign of the militias’ readiness and capacity to wage war against Morocco. Following the diplomatic setbacks it has received- whether at the UN, […]