First Independent Mena Newspaper
Morocco’s ONCF has chosen France’s Alstom, Spain’s CAF, and South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem as manufacturers of its tender to buy 168 trains, including high-speed, intercity and urban trains. The new trains will help ONCF renew its existing fleet and accommodate for traffic growth, the rail operator said in a statement. It also added that the […]
President of the French Senate Gérard Larcher raised the need for an expanded French consular service that covers the Moroccan Sahara, which he called the Southern Provinces of Morocco. The call echoes a previous promise by French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot during president Macron’s visit to Rabat in October 2024. Since Paris backed Morocco’s sovereignty […]
France announced visa restrictions targeting Algerian “dignitaries” at a context of worsening bilateral relations, as Algeria continues to reject individuals ordered to leave France. A showdown went on for months between Algeria and France, since Paris declared its full support for Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara. Algeria has weaponized migration and rejected to take its […]
France’s support for Morocco’s sovereignty over its Sahara is “unquestionable”, Speaker of the French Senate Gérard Larcher said on Monday in Rabat, welcoming the Autonomy Plan proposed by Morocco as a “prospect for building the present and future of this region of the Kingdom.” Following talks with Chairman of the Royal Advisory Council for Saharan […]
The first International Federation of Fishing Tourism has been established lately in the Moroccan Saharan city of Dakhla in the presence of professional sport-fishermen, and national and foreign tourism operators. Representatives of several countries including Spain, Italy, Turkey, Greece, Tunisia and Mauritania took part in the Constitutive Assembly of this new entity which elected the […]
The arrest of novelist Boualem Sansal took place three months ago against the backdrop of worsening ties between Algeria and France, following Paris recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara. Through this arrest, the Algerian regime sent three messages to Sansal, France and Algerians, wrote former French ambassador Xavier Driencourt. In his first op-ed on […]
The French port city of Nantes is facing its complex historical role in the Atlantic slave trade through one of Europe’s most significant commemorative sites. As France’s largest slave-trading port in the 18th century and Europe’s fourth-largest overall, the city’s maritime prosperity came at an immense human cost. The Memorial to the Abolition of Slavery […]
French Senate speaker Gérard Larcher called for the development of a partnership with Morocco geared towards Africa and voiced appreciation of France’s historical stance on Sahara, as expresseed by President Emmanuel Macron last year. Speaking at a joint news conference following talks, on Monday in Rabat, with Morocco’s Upper House Speaker Mohamed Ould Errachid, Larcher […]
The European Union’s Ambassador to Libya, Nicola Orlando, reiterated the EU’s commitment to improving primary healthcare services across Libya. His comments followed a meeting with Ramadan Abu Janah, the Minister of Health in the Government of National Unity, in Tripoli, held on Sunday February 23. Orlando took to social media to share his optimism regarding […]
French President Emmanuel Macron and head of the Moroccan government Aziz Akhannouch opened on Saturday the Paris International Agricultural Fair which laid out the red carpet for Morocco as its first guest of honor. “We are very happy and proud to host Morocco as a guest of honor at the SIA, where it is represented […]