First Independent Mena Newspaper
The Sahel region, long a hub for trade between sub-Saharan Africa and the Maghreb, has now become a hotspot for illicit activities, with organized criminal gangs exploiting the instability caused by political unrest. Smuggling, human trafficking, and drug trade have flourished amid weak governance, fueling violence and displacement. In Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, the […]
Liberia’s incumbent President George Weah, who is seeking a second six-year term, faces off against 19 other candidates in Tuesday’s (10 October) election, whose result will be determined by debates around the economy, corruption, drug use and the civil war. Over 2.4 million voters in Liberia will head to the polls on 10 October to […]
Guinea-Bissau’s President Umaro Sissoco Embalo escaped a coup attempt on Tuesday, the latest in a series of coups across West Africa. Mr. Embalo, a former general who arrived in 2020 at the head of this country with a political history marked by such events, appeared Tuesday evening before the press unharmed and serene, after having […]
Moroccan authorities have seized more than 1.4 tons of cocaine in 2021 and arrested 103,000 people, including 261 foreign nationals, during their relentless battle engaged against narcotics and drug dealers. According to latest data released by the National police, the security services processed during the same period more than 80,000 cases related to the possession […]
Moroccan security services have announced this weekend the seizure of over 13.7 tons of cannabis at the Tangier-Med port. The drugs were concealed in a semi-trailer truck registered in Morocco. An investigation was opened by the police for the arrest and trial of all those involved in this major drug trafficking operation. Last December, Moroccan […]
Predictions made years ago by many a pundit about the Tindouf-based separatists’ schemes to lay hand on the drug trafficking market in the Sahel-Sahara region have been confirmed once and again, and most recently by a Mauritanian official. Ahmadou Abdel Malek, the official spokesman in France of the Mauritanian ruling Union for the Republic, told […]
Arab Interior ministers have pledged to tighten borders security and control to prevent arms smuggling in the Arab world at the current turbulent and fragile regional and international juncture. At the end of their meeting held lately in Tunis, top Arab security officials stressed the need to enhance coordination and information sharing between Arab counter-terrorism […]