Ten years after Niger’s government and insurgents signed an accord to end the Tuareg rebellion, authorities have launched an economic assistance program for more than 3,000 ex-combatants in the country’s north—the final phase as laid out in the peace pact…. Read moreLong-delayed peace deal for Niger’s restive Tuaregs
Moroccan troops killed six undocumented African migrants attempting to reach the Spanish-controlled enclave of Melilla on the Mediterranean coast Oct. 6. Citing Abdellah Bendhiba, the governor of Nador province, news accounts said the Africans were killed in a “violent” assault… Read moreMoroccan security forces kill African migrants; crisis grows over Spanish enclaves
Morocco’s leading independent human rights group called on the government Aug. 29 to start talks to try to end a hunger strike by prisoners from Morocco-occupied Western Sahara who are demanding better conditions. The Moroccan Human Rights Association (AMDH) said… Read moreWestern Sahara prisoners on hunger strike
After more than 20 years in captivity, 404 prisoners of war have returned home to Morocco, the last of more than 2,400 freed by Western Sahara’s Polisario Front independence movement. Two privately chartered planes carrying the prisoners, some of them… Read moreLast Moroccan POWs freed by Western Sahara guerillas
In an Aug. 1 statement, Amnesty International expresses concern about the recent arrest and detention of six human rights defenders in Western Sahara, and reports that two of them had been tortured. Some of those arrested are former “disappeared”, others… Read moreMore arrests, torture in Western Sahara
It seems that Mommar Qaddafi’s Libya, of all places, has been overlooked by the current Bush “regime change” offensive. Now that sanctions have been lifted, an opposition is starting to emerge, and appears (in contrast to its counterparts in Syria,… Read moreLibyan opposition meets to demand Qaddafi’s ouster
Excerpt from a report by Moroccan news agency MAP (via M&C News): Laayoune, 19 June: Hundreds of citizens today Sunday held a protest at the Hassan I Airport in Laayoune against the scheming intentions and provocative attempts of the Spanish… Read moreCollaborationist protests in Western Sahara
Speaking in Algeirs, Polisario Front leader Mohamed Abdelaziz called for a negotiated settlement to the conflict in Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara. “We won’t opt for violence. We will continue to fight through peaceful means,” he told a news conference. But he… Read moreMorocco bars Western Sahara investigation
France will “soon” offer Libya a cooperation agreement to help Tripoli develop its civilian nuclear energy program, the French foreign ministry said today. “The principle of cooperation in the area of peaceful applications of nuclear energy is a given, but… Read moreFrance-Libya nuclear cooperation seen
The British oil company Dana Petroleum announced May 26 it has acquired a large interest in the ongoing oil explorations offshore Morocco’s town of Safi. Dana, based in Scottish Aberdeen, produces oil in the British sector of the North Sea… Read moreOil industry eyes disputed African offshore zones
Thirty-seven Islamists have been charged in Mauritania with belonging to an illegal group after being arrested last month on suspicion of links to a organization tied to al-Qaeda. Another 14 were released May 27, and some accused the authorities of… Read moreCrackdown on Islamists in Mauritania
Spain’s foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos began talks May 30 with his Moroccan and Algerian counterparts in the latest attempt to find a solution to the decades-long conflict in Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara. Mohamed Benaissa of Morocco and Algerian Abdelaziz Belajadem… Read morePolisario Front demands UN action on Western Sahara
