First Independent Mena Newspaper
Malta played host this weekend to the Five-plus-Five summit, gathering five Maghreb and five European countries whose heads of state or government came together to discuss ways to foster inter-Mediterranean ties. The Five-plus-Five forum, which brings together leaders from Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia, the five countries forming the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA) along […]
Results of a campaign to collect arms and ammunitions from civilians is considered to be encouraging after hundreds of them handed over their weapons to national army troops stationed in Tripoli, Benghazi, Zintan and Yefrin. The action is in line with the government’s ambitions to curb the level of insecurity in the country after an […]
US House lawmakers have blocked a $450 million emergency aid the Obama administration was planning to give to the new government of President Mohammed Morsi, facing unprecedented economic crisis, with an estimated budget deficit of $12 billion. Republican Rep. Kay Granger of Texas, chairwoman of the Appropriations subcommittee on foreign operations, says “I am not […]
Militants of Al Qaeda branch in North Africa were involved in the deadly attack that targeted America’s consulate in Libya, says U.S. intelligence agencies in their preliminary assessment of the assault that left four American diplomats dead, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens. The report confirms the link and participation of the operatives of Al Qaeda […]
The relations between the EU and Gaddafi-ruled Libya saw two important turning points over the last decade before the dictator’s regime collapsed. Relations between the EU and Libya quickly developed after many years of international isolation following Gaddafi’s pledge in 2004 to abandon Libya’s WMD program. This development was completely reversed in February 2011 when […]
Head of Tunisia moderate Islamist Ennahda party, Rached Ghannouchi, has vowed to fight and stand up to the hardline salafists who showed lately their real face when they added oil to the fire in the deadly violence that rocked the country over anti-Islam film. “These people pose a threat not only to Ennahda but to […]
The countries of the Maghreb set up in February 1989 a union that was designed to be a milestone in promoting inter-Maghreban relations on the political, economic, cultural and social scales. More than twenty years after the Arab Maghreb Union, also known by its French acronym as UMA, came into being, little has been achieved […]
Libyan authorities have reportedly asked the militias operating in Benghazi to help quell the Islamist extremists accused of killing the US ambassador to Tripoli, Chris Stevens, and three members of his staff last week. According to press reports, the acting president, Mohammed Magarief, and the new prime minister, Mustafa Abou shagour, summoned senior commanders of […]
While protest movements and demonstrations, sometimes violent, are being staged across the Islamic world to denounce the video deemed insulting to Islam’s prophet Mohammed and to Muslims’ beliefs, Washington is fearing this violence may spread to the United States. According to US media, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security have released a joint […]
Mustafa Abu Shagour, a technocrat and a leading member of Libya’s oldest opposition movement, was elected on Wednesday as the country’s new prime minister. Abu Shagour, who was holding the position of deputy Prime Minister, was elected by the 200-strong national assembly on Wednesday. He won 96 votes, against 94 votes for his challenger Mahmud […]