First Independent Mena Newspaper
The delay in the renewal of the EU-Morocco fisheries agreement has prompted fishing ships from EU countries to leave Moroccan ports and territorial waters. After several weeks of talks between Rabat and Brussels without reaching a new deal, Europeans vessels mostly from Spain and Portugal started leaving Moroccan ports and waters on the eve of […]
The EU has been thinking of outsourcing the management of migration and asylum to North African countries where most migrants are taking the perilous sea route to Europe. The idea of setting up migrant processing centers is winning support in the EU but has been met with utter rejection by Morocco, Algeria and tunisia. “Morocco […]
Hats off to the head of Morocco’s police and domestic intelligence services Abdellatif Hammouchi, wrote El Pais in an article that praises Morocco’s role in Europe’s security. The paper described Hammouchi, a “man who never sleeps”, as a “super-agent honored by Europe” in recognition of his qualifications. “If Morocco managed to stay at bay of […]
Libyan coastguards have picked up about 1000 African migrants on inflatable boats in several operations Sunday and recovered the body of ten others, officials at a naval base said. All migrants were given humanitarian and medical aid, and were taken to a naval base in the capital, Tripoli, and a refugee camp in Khoms town. […]
The number of Algerians who sought political asylum in Europe in the year 2017 reached 10,000, data from Eurostat, a European statistical agency, showed. According to Eurosat, the 28 countries of the European Union have registered over 750,000 asylum applications in 2017, a decrease from 2015 and 2016 figures, when applicants numbered 1,323,000 and 1,260,000 […]
Libyan coastguard vessels intercepted Monday four inflatable smuggling boats carrying in total over 500 illegal migrants. The captured migrants, off coast of the North African country, were returned to their Libyan departure point. In 2017, about 119,000 migrants and refugees arrived in Italy from across the Mediterranean while more than 3,100 died making the crossing, […]
Morocco has called on European and African countries to enhance dialogue on migration in a bid to tackle common challenges and set out a new “win-win” partnership serving the interest of the two continents, Africa and Europe. Addressing the, convened Wednesday in Marrakech within the frame of the Rabat process, Moroccan Foreign Affairs Minister Nasser […]
President of Africa’s football federation (CAF) Ahmad Ahmad called on European football associations to vote for Morocco’s bid to host the World Cup in 2026 at the open elections that will take place on June 13. “I would like to tell Europe that if they vote for us we will vote for them next time,” […]
US intelligence agencies have established a blacklist of individuals from around the world, including from Morocco, suspected of funding terrorist operations. The blacklisted are banned from accessing the US financial system. The CIA, the FBI, the US Treasury Department and the State Department coordinate their actions to hunt down a number of people from around […]
The European Bank for Reconstruction & Development has approved a €9.7 Million loan to Fondation Albaraka, one of the largest microfinance institutions in Morocco for on-lending to local micro enterprises. Access to finance through banks remains extremely limited for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Morocco. The EBRD funds will offer much-needed support for […]