First Independent Mena Newspaper
Over $30 billion worth of gold was smuggled out of Africa in 2022, primarily to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Turkey, and Switzerland, according to a new ground-breaking report by Swissaid that calls for more transparency and traceability in the gold supply chain to improve local conditions and artisanal miners’ working conditions throughout the continent. […]
The combined Moroccan-American exercise “African Lion 2024” wrapped up on Friday at Cap Draa (north of Tan-Tan), with air and ground military maneuvers involving units from the Moroccan and US armed forces. During the maneuvers, which took place in the presence of Inspector General of the Royal Armed Forces and Commander of the South Zone, […]
Morocco and France have signed an action plan providing for strengthening cooperation relations in the judicial and technical fields, and promoting the exchange of expertise and best practices in legislative and legal reform. The plan, initialed by Justice Minister Abdellatif Ouahbi and his French counterpart Eric Dupond-Moretti, who is on a visit to Morocco, covers […]
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres honored two peacekeepers from the Royal Armed Forces during the annual ceremony paying tribute to the memory of civilian and uniformed personnel who died in UN peacekeeping operations in 2023. The ceremony coincided with the commemoration on May 29 of the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers, an occasion to […]
Newly elected Senegalese president Bassirou Faye started a regional visit with Mali and Burkina Faso in a bid to strengthen ties with neighbors that quit the regional bloc ECOWAS in protest over sanctions following their consecutive coups. In Bamako, Faye held talks on the ECOWAS with Mali’s leader Col. Assimi Goita. Following the talks, he […]
The Nigerian army said a separatist militia killed 11 people in the country’s southeastern Abia state. Five soldiers and six civilians were killed in the attack by separatists in a series of raids to commemorate an anniversary of their short lived self-proclaimed Biafara republic, AP reported. The separatist militia, called the Indigenous People of Biafra […]
Japan has welcomed this Friday Morocco’s “serious and credible efforts” within the framework of the autonomy initiative to settle the Sahara issue. This position was expressed by Japan’s Foreign Minister, Yoko Kamikawa, during talks in Tokyo with her Moroccan peer Nasser Bourita, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Based on Japan’s “consistent” position, […]
“If we don’t act now,” the humanitarian crisis that is unfolding in the Sahel will “become a problem for the world,” a senior UNHCR official has warned, echoing a senior UNICEF official that has condemned a “distressing” 70% rise in grave violence against children in several strife-torn countries in the region plagued by jihadists and […]
Arab and Chinese Foreign Ministers expressed, their support for the efforts of King Mohammed VI, Chairman of the Al Quds Committee, in defending the Palestinian issue. This position was expressed in the “Joint Communiqué between China and Arab States on the Palestinian issue”, published Thursday by the 10th Ministerial Conference of the China-Arab States Cooperation […]
The plan to build a Chinese naval base in Gabon, as agreed by the country’s ex-ruler Ali Bongo and Beijing in 2023, has stalled after the coup last year, but transitional president Oligui Nguema has cultivated deliberate ambiguity about the project’s future, much to the displeasure of the West. China’s efforts to seek a military […]