First Independent Mena Newspaper
International Anti-Corruption Day was celebrated all across North African earlier this week with dismal news on the fight against bribery. Overall, the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) from Transparency International showed little to no improvement in graft around the region. For example, in Libya, the situation got even worse when the country was ranked as […]
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 […]
Khalid Ould Addah, third in command of the terrorist network operating in North Africa, has been killed by after plans to capture him alive failed. Terrorists use the Sahara desert as their base and hideout due to its favorable nature. Algeria has been engaged in a serious battle against them since the Ain Amenas attack […]
The ongoing military action in Mali may soon be over, but the crucial task of protecting the Sahel and the Maghreb region from terrorists and traffickers is just getting started. Terrorist groups and international criminal gangs who are still roaming in northern Mali are still a source of concern among political and security establishment in […]
Mauritanians voted in an election over that weekend that was boycotted by most of the radical opposition. While the country’s current President, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, is expected to retain power, the formerly banned Islamist party Tewassoul that wants to establish Sharia law looks poised to win seats in parliament. It was the first time […]
As changes continue to redesign the landscape in the Middle East-North Africa region and in Africa, Morocco’s longstanding, friendly relationships with these two regions open new avenues for U.S.-Morocco cooperation, all the more so as the two countries have a shared vision on a set of regional issues, ranging from economic development to stability, from […]
The EU’s defense ministers are to discuss next week the call for the Union to consider equipping African armies. This highly controversial idea that was put forward by a group of countries led by Germany is likely to trigger a sharp debate within and between the EU’s institutions. Proponents of the idea argue that the […]
Morocco has renewed determination to foster cooperation and partnership with African countries and to help fulfill the aspirations of African peoples to development and stability. “Out of faithfulness to its African belonging, Morocco has sought since independence to promote a fruitful cooperation and active solidarity with those (African) countries, and to contribute to the fulfilment […]
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 […]