First Independent Mena Newspaper
Former Algerian billionaire tycoon, Rafik Khalifa, has been extradited to his homeland after living in Britain for more than a decade. Once considered the “golden boy” of Algeria, the 47-year-old Khalifa rose from obscurity to build an empire including a bank, an airline and television stations, at one point employing an estimated 20,000 people in […]
Algeria and France have intensified their cooperation at the end of French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault’s and nine ministers visit to the country by signing 9 partnership agreements. Much of the agreements were focused on economic and trade activities as France position as the biggest investor in Algeria comes under pressure from Chinese investments. Jean-Marc […]
A new fisheries agreement between the European Union and Morocco has finally been approved on Tuesday by the European Parliament after two years of long and arduous negotiations. The new four year fisheries agreement, approved at a plenary session by 310 votes to 204, with 49 abstentions, will allow fishing vessels from 11 EU countries, […]
Africa must first “ensure its own security” so it can realize its “destiny”, asserted French President François Hollande when addressing some 40 African leaders as a key Franco-African security summit opened Friday in Paris. French President Hollande also pledged to help with the creation of a special African rapid-reaction force that would train as many […]
“France must double its trade with Africa,” Hollande called on French business leaders during a major conference of French and African business leaders in Paris on Wednesday (4 December). If France can manage to achieve this, some 200,000 jobs will be created in France over the next five years. Hollande’s comments came ahead of a […]
Algeria’s 76-year-old President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has been nominated by his ruling National Liberation Party (FLN) to run for a fourth term in April 2014. The ailing leader, who was hospitalized in France last April after suffering what official reports described as a stroke, has been in power since 1999. He presided over a cabinet meeting […]
France has launched the commemorations for next year’s 100-year anniversary of the start of World War I. In his solemn speech, French President François Hollande said that he wanted the program of commemorative events to unfold in a spirit of national unity, as well as friendship between all the countries involved in the conflict that […]
While recently attending a conference in Benin, the crisis in Mali still loomed large. The conflict in Mali had threatened to unravel the entire security situation in the Sahel and Western African nations spent much of the last year bickering whether a military intervention to save Bamako from approaching Islamist militias was feasible. In the […]
King Mohammed VI of Morocco participated Thursday in the inauguration ceremony of the new president of Mali Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, along a number of other heads of state, including France’s François Hollande. The presence of the Moroccan King at this ceremony did not go unnoticed because it was the first time that the king attended […]
President Bouteflika has carried a major political decision since returning from his treatment in France by reshuffling his cabinet. Principal ministerial posts such as interior, defense and foreign affairs ministries have been affected. Critics claim that the reshuffling is aimed at strengthening the 76 year old president’s grip to power while enthusiasts believe that it […]