First Independent Mena Newspaper
Algerian officials continue to issue statements calling for reviving the paralyzed Maghreb Union, a five-member regional grouping also comprising Morocco, Mauritania, Tunisia and Libya. Recently, President Abdelaziz Boutefika sent messages on the 29th anniversary of the Union to Maghreb leaders urging collective efforts to reinvigorate the union. Few days later, Algeria’s Foreign Minister said, during […]
If the European Court of Justice declares the EU-Morocco fisheries deal invalid in its February 27 verdict, surfing on the opinion of its advisor Melchior Wathelet, serious repercussions would ensue putting the EU in “turbulent waters” both at the institutional and foreign policy levels, said Eli Hadzhieva, Founder and Director of Dialogue for Europe. In […]
Seven years after the fall of the Gaddafi regime, Libya remains in turmoil, battered by infighting between heavily armed militias and a political crisis that has divided the country. The initial euphoria is a distant memory as little have changed since the fall of Gaddafi’s dictatorship. A 2015 UN-backed deal to set up the unity […]
The Syrian war has taken a new turn with the downing of an Israeli fighter jet conducting airstrikes against Iranian targets. The incident signals the beginning of a direct military confrontation between Israel and Iran on Syrian soil. Syria today is better described as several intersecting wars, rather than the government-versus-rebels narrative it started out […]
Israeli media is awash with reports and analyses on an upcoming war on Iran-backed Shiaa militia Hezbollah. Buoyed by inroads in the Syrian war, Hezbollah has bolstered its regional foothold, raising fears in Israel that it may have acquired and smuggled game changing weapons into its Lebanese strongholds, and prompting Israel to carry strikes inside […]
The return of Morocco to the African Union and its recent membership in the pan-African organization’s most important body, the Peace and Security Council, is vindicating the fears of the Polisario separatists and their mentor, Algeria. As the noose tightens around the Polisario in the Tindouf camps, where combustible factors of unrest, corruption and oppression […]
Morocco is making its fifth bid to host the 2026 World Cup, the first edition to involve 48 teams and 80 games packed into 32 competition days. The North African nation’s bid to host the World Cup will yet be an up-hill battle as it runs up against the joint might of the United States, […]
The worsening economic conditions and the lack of structural reforms to improve the living standards of the population is auguring ill for the MENA region, which should brace for a surge of civil unrest in 2018 says an analysis published on the website of the UK’s leading Think Thank, Chatham House. The analysis, signed by […]
The recent death of three Moroccan women in a stampede at the Ceuta border crossing, has cast light on an unsustainable situation in the Spanish-occupied city in northern Morocco. From smuggling to illegal immigration and extremism, the northern city -called Sebta by Moroccans- has become a tinder box waiting to explode with the issue of […]
Morocco has gradually entrenched its foothold at the African Union, reaping the benefits of its triumphal return with a landslide support within the pan-African organization. The election of Morocco to the AU Peace and Security Council is a step forward towards putting the AU on track of addressing Africa’s pressing issues of security and stability […]