[This is a roundup of news articles and other materials circulating on the Maghreb and reflects a wide variety of opinions. It does not reflect the views of the Maghreb Page Editors or of Jadaliyya. You may send your own recommendations for inclusion in each roundup to maghreb@jadaliyya.com]
Algeria
Algerian ruling party asks ailing president to run for fifth term Leaders of the National Liberation Front (FLN) have asked President Bouteflika to run for his fifth consecutive term, but the President faces significant health concerns and has not spoken directly to the Algerian people since May 2012.
«Personne ne connaît les causes du crash» Doubts loom over the cause of Algeria’s deadliest plane crash since independence, claiming the lives of 257 people.
Algeria seeks to cut energy consumption after oil earnings fall Energy revenues from oil and gas halved since 2014 in Algeria, a significant decline in the country’s largest export. As a result, the government has offered incentives to motorists to switch to natural gas-run cars.
Le RPK appelle à une marche «rassembleuse» The Assembly for Kabylie calls for a march to commemorate thirty-eight years since the “Amazigh Spring.”
لوكال: "البنوك ملزمة بالحصول على فتوى" شرعية بشأن منتجاتها الاسلامية Algerian central bank governor, Mohamed Loukal, discusses questions on the compatibility between finance and Islamic law, such as the need for banks to obtain fatwas on Islamic products, while keeping the banking system safe and secure.
«Le vrai débat c’est la constituante, la présidentielle est un faux débat» Louisa Hanoune, head of Algeria’s Party of Workers, gives an interview about the country’s forthcoming elections.
تحذير أم تخدير President Bouteflika issued a series of warnings about “foreign threats” against Algeria with the aim of consolidating support and heading off widespread opposition against the government and its policies, amidst greater concerns of economic disparities and social disintegration.
Libya
Libya's Foreign Militias In addition to the Libyan National Army (LNA) and various groups associated with the Government of National Accord (GNA), Libyan citizens also must face often-overlooked non-Libyan fighting forces from Sudan and Chad, particularly in the southern region.
Le maréchal Haftar, homme fort de la Libye, hospitalisé à Paris Veteran Libyan military commander and head of the eastern-based Libyan National Army is hospitalized in Paris amid rumors of a coma.
Geographic area of anti terror operations is free from terrorists: Serraj spokesperson A spokesperson for the Presidency Council claims that, after eight days of ongoing activity, the Nation’s Storm anti-terrorism operation has completely cleared terrorist elements from the operation’s geographic area without any participation by foreign forces.
Libye : Seif el-Islam Kadhafi, le candidat fantôme Despite questions about his whereabouts, reports have emerged that Muammar Gaddafi’s son, Saif al-Islam, will be running as a candidate in the country’s upcoming elections.
تحركات أممية متسارعة لإنهاء الأزمة The United Nations accelerated its attempts to reconcile opposing forces in Libya in preparation for upcoming elections through a planned series of meetings across the country between citizens and members of conflicting parties.
Libye : à quand l’élection présidentielle ? Doubts remain on the exact date of Libya’s presidential elections.
خالد المشري رئيسا لمجلس الدولة في ليبيا The Libyan High Council of State, an advisory body created by the Libyan Political Agreement, elected Khalid al-Mashri as its new chairman with sixty-four out of 109 votes in the second round, ousting former chairman Abdul Rahman al-Suwaheli.
Mauritania
Development conference in Nouakchott a success In a development conference organized jointly by FIFA and the Mauritanian Football Association (FFRIM), around thirty French-speaking African FIFA member associations met in Nouakchott, the first event of its kind.
Mauritanie : Implosion de l’opposition ? With a politically-diverse composition that includes groups and parties with opposing views, will the Mauritanian opposition be able to remain unified?
Entire country taken offline for two days after undersea internet cable cut After the African Coast to Europe (ACE) submarine cable was severed, Mauritania lost the entirety of its internet access for forty-eight hours, and nine other West African countries faced partial loss of coverage.
ولد اجاي يمثل موريتانيا في اجتماعات البنك الإسلامي بتونس The Minister of Economy and Finance, Mokhtar Ould Aghay, represented Mauritania at a meeting of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) in Tunis, attended by 1,000 representatives of Arab, regional, and financial institutions.
Mauritanie : le chef de l’armée, un "héritier potentiel" du pouvoir As President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz’s tenure comes to an end, sources say that existing criteria exceedingly favor a military leader as a possible successor.
قصر جديد يسابق الزمن قبل القمة الأفريقية Construction on the new “Palace of Conferences” continues in preparation for Mauritania to host the African Union summit this July.
Accords de pêche Mauritanie-Sénégal : Poissons contre Opposants The fisheries agreement between Mauritania and Senegal has been suspended since 2015, and reports claim that the agreement will only resume if Senegal agrees to extradite Mauritanian opposition members.
Morocco
Morocco blasts FIFA's last minute changes to World Cup Hosting Criteria The head of Morocco’s Football Association accused FIFA of favoring the joint North American bid to host the World Cup by changing the scoring criteria to add new technical requirements for prospective host countries just forty-eight hours before the bid deadline.
Défense. L'African Lion 2018 démarre ce lundi 16 avril Annual American-Moroccan joint military exercises begin on Monday, 16 April amid rising tensions between Morocco and the Polisario Front.
'Day zero' water crises: Spain, Morocco, India, and Iraq at risk as reservoirs shrink A satellite early warning system tracking reservoirs around the world indicates that Morocco, among others, faces extreme declines in water levels at reservoirs such as Al Massira, which saw a sixty percent decrease in water level over three years due to drought.
El Othmani: "J'ai quitté les Affaires étrangères à la demande de Benkirane pour céder la place à Mezouar" Morocco’s Prime Minister Saadeddine El Othmani reacts to an interview former prime minister Abdelilah Benkirane gave to Moroccan magazine TelQuel.
Morocco mulls ‘all options’ over its Western Sahara truce threat claim In ongoing disagreements with UN peacekeepers over whether or not Polisario independence fighters have moved into the UN-mandated buffer zone, Moroccan officials repeatedly claim “all the options are under consideration” for a potential response.
La réforme de Bank Al-Maghrib arrive au Parlement: l'indépendance en marche ? Parliament begins deliberating on the new legal statute on the central bank, which aims to grant the institution greater independence from the government.
Accord de pêche Maroc-UE: Les négociations vont commencer et incluront le Sahara marocain Despite the European Court of Justice’s ruling that called for the exclusion of the Western Sahara from any fisheries agreement between Morocco and the European Union, the European Commission has disregarded the verdict and included the disputed territory during negotiations.
في الجامعة الربيعية بمراكش.. عاقل يبسط تقنيات الفوتوغرافية السجنية امام سجناء المغرب University professor Jafar Aqel discusses with his students prison photography in Marrakech and how it speaks to themes of power, security, and the identities of Moroccan prisoners.
هكذا اختارت الامانة العامة ل"مصباح" التحكم في مؤتمر نسائها The leading Party of Justice and Development (PJD) faces scrutiny over alleged attempts to control the election of the president for the party’s women’s branch, which has its second conference approaching.
Tunisia
Tunisia must increase investment and push through reforms says OECD The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) released a report noting positive economic changes in Tunisia, such as declining poverty while advocating for the facilitation of increased investment and reforms to allow for free entrepreneurship.
Ayara: le port commercial de Rades ne sera pas privatisé Tunisia’s transportation minister denies reports that the government plans to privatize the commercial port, Rades, asserting that the government will pursue a partnership with the private sector to build two new platforms.
Oasis tunisiennes : L’urgence d’encadrer l’exploitation de l’eau How climate change and desertification are impacting Tunisia’s desert oases, and what can be done about it?
Reforming Tunisia's law on associations: towards a lockdown on freedoms? While Tunisia attempts to reform the legal framework governing associations in order to fight against money laundering and terrorism, many fear that the reforms will simultaneously erode rights and freedoms in the nonprofit sector.
Tunisie : L’exportation de l’huile d’olive en hausse de 124,57% (31 mars) Tunisian olive oil exports increase by over 120 percent in the first quarter of 2018, with primary destinations in Canada, France, and the United States.
في العاصفة" لحسن المؤذن: لماذا شكسبير في تونس اليوم؟" At the National Center for Puppet Art, the new play “In the Storm,” directed by Hassan al-Muezzin, incorporates Shakespeare and puppetry amidst larger discussions on referential theater and the direction of the center.
La Tunisie accueille le 30ème sommet de la Ligue Arabe 2019 During the Arab Summit in Saudi Arabia, Tunisian president Béji Caïed Essebsi announces that his country will be hosting the next meeting of the Arab League.
تونس ترفع أسعار المحروقات من جديد The government of Tunisia announced a new rise of three percent in fuel prices for the second time in three months as part of a larger package of reforms designed to reduce the deficit.
Littérature : Kamal Riahi, l’écriture de soi à l’œuvre A review of Kamal Riahi’s latest novel, Un zéro pour le mort.
Western Sahara
اللجنة الوطنية لمتابعة مراسيم تشييع ودفن فقيد الشعب Following a deadly military plane crash considerations have begun for the follow-up to the organization of the funeral, burial, and memorials of the Sahrawi crash victims.
الرئيس إبراهيم غالي يستقبل ممتل المفوضية السامية لشؤون اللاجئين بالجزائر President Brahim Ghali received a representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Algeria, along with the President of the Sahrawi Red Crescent to discuss the difficulties facing Sahrawi refugees, such as a lack of humanitarian assistance.
Antonio Guterres : « Le conflit sur le Sahara occidental n’a que trop duré, il faut y mettre un terme » An analysis on the United Nations Secretary General annual report on the Western Saharan conflict to the Security Council.
Morocco threatens UN buffer zones in disputed Western Sahara Morocco threatened to take control of the UN-monitored buffer zones in Western Sahara due to the claim that Polisario Front independence fighters infiltrated the buffer zones of Bir Lehlou, Tifariti, and the Guerguerat border region near Mauritania.
Sahara occidental : premières discussions mardi sur le projet de résolution US sur la Minurso Discussions begin on the upcoming UN Security Council resolution to renew the peacekeeping mission in the territory.
Morocco threatens Algeria with intervention in Western Sahara Using diplomatic channels, Morocco informed Algeria that it would intervene militarily in Western Sahara if alleged Sahrawi incursions into the buffer zone continued, combining pressure on Algeria with threats issued to the United Nations and the Polisario Front.
Le Front Polisario condamne le feu vert de l'UE à l'inclusion du Sahara occidental dans l'accord de pêche UE-Maroc The Polisario Front condemns the European Union’s decision to include the Western Sahara in the fisheries agreement with Morocco.
Latest from Jadaliyya
Samia Henni, Architecture of Counterrevolution: The French Army in Northern Algeria (New Texts Out Now) An interview with Samia Henni on her latest book that examines the often neglected aspects of France’s efforts to maintain Algeria under French rule during the Algerian War of Independence.
The Life Span of Alternative Media: Cases of Lake and Mamfakinch in Morocco Journalists and activists in Morocco helped to launch a new wave of alternative online media before, during, and after the 2011 Arab Spring; two alternative media in particular, Lakome and Mamfakinch demonstrate in their life cycles trends of interaction between alternative media, politics, and economic powers.
Jeffrey R. Halverson and Nathaniel Greenberg, Islamists of the Maghreb (New Texts Out Now) Jeffrey Halverson and Nathaniel Greenberg discuss their book, Islamists of the Maghreb, in light of the central role that Maghreb countries played in the "Arab Spring."
زحف الثورة المضادة Seven years after the "Arab Spring" began in Tunisia, issues of revolution and counterrevolution persist, as does the urban-rural divide.
James McDougall, A History of Algeria (New Texts Out Now) Interview with historian James McDougall on his latest book entitled A History of Algeria.
Tunisia and the International Community since 2011: Rentierism, Patronage and Moral Hazard Despite perceptions of a democratic Tunisia, the incoming flow of loans has upheld a undemocratic practices of patronage, failing to address protesters’ dominant socioeconomic grievances.