First Independent Mena Newspaper
The 2016 Economic Freedom of the World Report issued by the Canadian Fraser Institute pointed out to the plummeting economic freedom in Algeria, which ranked 151st among 159 surveyed countries. The report measures economic freedom including levels of personal choice, ability to enter markets, security of privately owned property and rule of law. It analyses […]
Algeria’s ambiguity and its suspicious role in the fight against terrorism were raised during the meeting of Presidents and Speakers of Parliaments from the 47 Council of Europe member states, held on September 15-16 in Strasbourg. The remarks made at the Congress signal a growing confidence crisis between Algiers and the EU regarding the fight […]
After the spate of setbacks it suffered recently, the drumbeat of bad news for the Polisario and its self-proclaimed Sahrawi republic seems to be continuing as Jamaica has announced this week that it withdraws its recognition of the Sahrawi entity. In an official document of the Jamaican Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, dated […]
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) Advocate-General, Melchior Wathelet, contested the court’s ruling on December 10, 2015 -which partially annulled the Morocco-EU Agricultural Agreement- on grounds that the Polisario is “not entitled to defend the commercial interests of the population of the Sahara.” The ECJ’s Chief Advocate General challenged, in an opinion piece, the court’s […]
Morocco’s Permanent Representative at the UN headquarters in New York, Ambassador Omar Hilale, reiterated the Kingdom’s commitment to the UN-brokered 1991 cease-fire agreement in response to the Polisario’s recent violation of the agreement in the area of Guerguarat and its provocations by threatening to resume armed hostilities on the backdrop of the security measures taken […]
Morocco and Sweden are mending their strained relations after a row over a failed attempt last year in Stockholm to recognize the Algerian-based auto-proclaimed SADR republic. In a sign of easing tensions between the two countries, Swedish Foreign Minister, Margot Wallström, who is visiting Morocco, met on Wednesday her Moroccan counterpart Salaheddine Mezouar to discuss […]
After digging trenches on its western and eastern borders, Algeria is planning to build an electric fence on its western borders with Libya, several Libyan and Algerian newspapers reported. The 120-km fence aims at beefing up security measures on the porous borders with Libya to avert the infiltration of terrorists into Algeria amid reports of […]
The Gaza-based Islamist movement, Hamas, has received the green light from the Algerian authorities to open an office in Algiers, Algerian press reported. Following the example of its rival Fatah, which already has a representation in Algiers, Hamas has been given approval to open an office in Algeria which will be headed by Abu Al-Bara, […]
Polisario proponents at the European Parliament have suffered a new setback with the rejection of an amendment to include a new aid to the Algerian-based separatist group in the 2017 EU draft budget. Three extreme left MEPs presented the amendment to add 150 million euros in support of the Polisario sugarcoating their arguments with defending […]
The plummeting oil prices propelled Algeria in an economic crisis marked by a sharp decrease in exports and a deepening budget deficit threatening to halt several mega projects in the country, chief among which is Algeria’s mega mosque. In 2011, when global oil prices were at their peak, works started to build the mosque overlooking […]