[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:
"هددوابمقاضاةرؤساءالمصالح.. الأطباءالمقيمون: "الوزارةلاتردعلىمراسلاتنا Sources from among the resident doctors on strike confirmed that the Ministry of Health neither programmed any meetings with representatives of the group nor responded to correspondence from the doctors, contradicting claims that the minister of health made regarding a commitment to dialogue.
Réforme des subventions : Raouya apporte ses précisions Algeria’s minister of finance issues clarifications regarding the country’s recent push to reform subsidy measures.
الجزائرتستقلبعدأكثرمن ١٣٠ عاممنالإستعمار.. كيف؟ 5 July marks the anniversary of Algeria’s independence from France in 1962, inviting a retrospective on the Algerian War of Independence and other events that led to the end of 130 years of colonial rule.
Maghreb: Dream of Unity, Reality of Divisions Despite public statements calling for unity among Maghreb countries, Algeria and Morocco in particular often undermined the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU), as the two countries appear to agree on almost nothing, routinely exchange insults, and compete in everything from politics to sports.
Droits de l’Homme en Algérie : l’ONU s’interroge sur la dissolution du DRS Questions loom over the future status of Algeria’s intelligence arm, the Département du Renseignement et de la Sécurité, known by its French acronym as the DRS.
Algeria mulls joint 2030 FIFA World Cup bid with Morocco, Tunisia In the aftermath of Morocco’s loss to a joint North American bid for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Algeria’s sports minister announced the consideration of submitting a joint bid for the 2030 World Cup with neighbors Morocco and Tunisia, despite ongoing tensions between Morocco and Algeria over the Western Sahara issue.
Libya:
المجبريمنسقاللمجلسالأعلىلشبابليبيابالمنطقةالشرقية The Supreme Council of Libyan Youth commissioned Sami al-Mughrabi as the General Coordinator of its Eastern Region, and al-Mujbari reported the aim of creating local councils in cities around the region to continue the mission of helping youth.
Un canot de migrants fait naufrage au large de la Libye An account of the harsh conditions migrants face in crossing the Mediterranean from Libya toward Europe.
ثانيأمراعتقاللقائدبالجيشالوطنيالليبيتصدرهالجنائيةالدولية The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued its second warrant for the arrest of Mahmoud al-Warfali, a leader of the Libyan National Army (LNA) for executing dozens of detainees in what the court considers a war crime.
Four Libya oil ports closed amid corruption allegations Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC), backed by the United Nations, closed four oil ports held by Khalifa Haftar’s LNA based on allegations that Haftar’s allies offered contracts that directed oil revenues away from the Libyan economy, in breach of UN resolutions.
Attentat de Benghazi : un Libyen condamné aux Etats-Unis Libyan national Abou Khattala faces a conviction for his role in the 2012 Benghazi attack.
How the West and the UN Failed Libya Although regional diplomats and UN representatives publicly commend each other for developing the 2015 Libyan Political Agreement (LPA), the number of plans and agreements regarding the reconstitution of Libya have not translated to a comparable scale of results.
Mauritania:
أمطارمتفرقةعلىخمسولايات In a rare respite from the harsh drought in the Sahel, areas in five provinces received sporadic rainfall according to the Ministry of Interior and Decentralization of Mauritania; although many areas recorded only a couple centimeters of rain, two towns received as much as eighty millimeters.
Pêche : le Sénégal et la Mauritanie s’accordent à nouveau Senegal and Mauritania come to terms on the conditions for a new fisheries agreement.
الانتخاباتالموريتانيةالمقبلة: السياقاتوالاختبارات With municipal, legislative, and regional elections approaching on the first of September, analysts expect a wide range of changes due to underlying social and systemic transformations.
Why some countries are turning off the internet on exam days Mauritania joined Algeria and other countries such as Iraq, Uzbekistan, and Ethiopia in cutting off internet access across the entire country from morning until evening on the day of national exams in order to prevent digital cheating and exam leaks, while far less than half of Mauritanian students passed the exams in recent years.
Sommet de l’UA : les coulisses de la visite d’Emmanuel Macron en Mauritanie A report on French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to the recently held African Union summit hosted by Mauritania.
Radical opposition RFD to enter general elections race The Rally of Democratic Forces (RFD), led by opposition leader Ahmed Ould Daddah, announced the intention to participate in parliamentary and local elections in September, a break from the opposition’s usual trend of boycotting elections in recent years.
Morocco:
قمةنواكشوطتسدلستارها.. و٣ قراراتتهمالمغرب The African Union made three decisions related to Morocco at the now-completed Nouakchott summit: the establishment of an African mechanism to debate the issue of Western Sahara, the adoption of Moroccan-influenced methods to combat corruption, and the creation of an African Observatory for Migration based in Morocco.
Casablanca : Des milliers de personnes protestent contre les verdicts du Hirak Thousands march in Casablanca to protest against the prison sentences Hirak activists face for their role in leading the movement.
بنشماس: علىمزوارفتحنقاشحولاقتراحاتهبخصوصتحسينمناخالاستثماروتنافسيةالمقاولة The chairman of the House of Councillors, Hakim Benchamach, announced his support for the development of a legal framework to stimulate the creation of business enterprises while increasing the efficiency of related legal procedures.
Hirak Rif detainees go on hunger strike Family members of detained activists from the Hirak movement announced the detainees’ ongoing hunger strike in Oukacha Prison, and four detainees have gone against the advice of their defense teams and have refused to appeal their sentences.
Un appel à suspendre le boycott de Centrale pour "plus de pression" sur Sidi Ali et Afriquia After a boycott targeting dairy giant Centrale, water company Sidi Ali, and gas company Afriquia, a call has been released for a ten-week suspension of the boycott.
The Latest: Spain rescues 90 migrants crossing from Morocco As the maritime route from Morocco to Spain through the Strait of Gibraltar becomes more popular for migrants, Spanish maritime rescue services picked up ninety migrants, mostly from Sub-Saharan Africa, in a single day.
Tunisia:
أزمةالمتقاعدينفيتونس: بدايةإنفراجأممناورةلكسبالوقت؟ The government made promises after negotiating with the Secretary General of the General Union of Tunisian Labor (UGTT) to resolve the rising retiree crisis while also having to contend with conditions in place from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Tunisie : une attaque terroriste à la frontière avec l’Algérie fait six morts Six deaths have been reported dead following an attack in Tunisia along the Algerian border.
"صيفتونسيساخن... منتجعاتتغصبالأجانبوسياحالبلد "مشردون Local Tunisian tourists struggle to book hotels in the coming summer months due to an occupancy rate of one hundred percent in many resorts, as rising prices due to demand have overcome the spending capacity of many Tunisian families and forced them to look for alternative vacation options.
Zimbabwe's rugby union team sleep rough in Tunisia In order to protest poor hotel accommodation standards and a six-hour delay at immigration, players from Zimbabwe’s national rugby union team slept on the streets of the town of Bejaa, sixty miles west of Tunis.
Tunisie : feu vert du FMI pour le versement d’une tranche de prêt The International Monetary Fund approves the transfer of 249.1 million dollars as part of a broader credit line.
Tunisia 'making history' as capital's first female mayor takes office Tunisian municipal councillors voted to elect Souad Abderrahim of the Ennahda Party as the first female mayor of Tunis, the latest product of the first municipal elections in Tunisia since the 2011 ouster of the Ben Ali regime.
Western Sahara:
تحتالضغطالشعبي.. "البوليساريو" تعتذرللموريتانيينعنالإساءةلقياداتتاريخية Polisario Front representatives issued an apology to the Mauritanian delegation at the African Union summit in Nouakchott for comments made by Polisario Front representative Ahmed Ould Salik at the beginning of the conference accusing Mauritanian politicians of betraying their country.
Sahara occidental: Londres et Washington apportent leur soutien au plan de Rabat London and Washington reinforce their support for Morocco’s autonomy plan.
جبهةالبوليساريوتكاتبالأمينالعامورئيسمجلسالأمنحولآليةالاتحادالأفريقيالجديدةحولالصحراءالغربية The Polisario Front wrote to Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations, to inform him of the Polisario Front’s support of the African Union’s new mechanism on Western Sahara from the Nouakchott conference.
Sahara occidental: avec l’Onu, l’Union africaine déterminée à mettre un terme au conflit Alongside the United Nations, the African Union is also seeking to play a role in negotiating a resolution to the Western Saharan conflict.
Note to Correspondents: Visit by the Secretary-General's Personal Envoy for Western Sahara During Horst Koehler’s three day visit to Western Sahara, the personal envoy of the secretary general for Western Sahara met local authorities, civil society organizations, and members of the business community in order to receive briefings on the social, economic, and human rights situation in Western Sahara.
Nouakchott Summit, turning point in handling Sahrawi issue Sahrawi Foreign Minister Mohamed Ould Salek called the recently held African Union Summit a “turning point” in the issue of Western Sahara.
Latest from Jadaliyya
Revue de presse sur les élections municipales en Tunisie An overview of French media coverage in Tunisia’s recent municipal election.
Muriam Haleh Davis and Thomas Serres, eds. North Africa and the Making of Europe: Governance, Institutions and Culture (New Texts Out Now) An interview with editors of North Africa and the Making of Europe elaborates on how “marginal” areas such as North Africa have had a significant impact on the development of Europe.
No Love Lost and Love Gained: On the Morocco-Iran Rift Morocco’s decision to sever ties with Iran and accusations of Iranian support for the Polisario Front comes after decades of tensions with Iran since its 1979 revolution, but the recent changes stem more from an attempt to solidify the relationship with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the United States than it does spite for Iran.
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)Jeffry 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.
زحفالثورةالمضادة 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.
Morocco's Hirak Movement: The People Versus the Makhzen Morocco’s growing Hirak protests against the regime, now spreading throughout the country, receive a historical and political analysis.
Political Parties, Elections, and the Illusion of Opposition in Morocco As shown by the results of the October 2016 parliamentary elections, King Mohammed VI’s control over Moroccan politics demonstrates a pattern of increasing influence in the party system.
The Battleground for the Morocco-Algeria Rivalry The regional rivalry between Morocco and Algeria expands beyond conflict over Western Sahara to competition throughout Africa in light of Morocco’s foreign policy turn towards the continent.
حراكالريف: النظاميراهنعلىالحسمالامني Following months of protests in Morocco’s northern Rif region, the regime’s security forces assert their dominance in managing the ongoing crisis through widespread arrests and repression.