Vol 56 No 18 | EGYPT First laws, then parliament 10th September 2015 The election of a parliament may place some limits on the regime but much of what it wants to do has already been accomplished by decree By the time the new Parliament holds its first session following the two-round general elections in October and November, more than 500 laws will already be on the statute book. Th...
Vol 56 No 16 | EGYPT Mote and beemer 6th August 2015 Egypt’s Customs Department has unilaterally raised the price of imported BMW vehicles by 18% in a move that appears intended to favour local car factories owned by the influential ...
Vol 56 No 16 | ALGERIA Attack prompts security reshuffle 29th July 2015 A presumed attempt on President Bouteflika’s life is being put to good use by intriguers in the ruling elite The attack on President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s seaside residence has resulted in the dismissal of security officers judged responsible for compromising the safety of the head of st...
Vol 56 No 15 | ALGERIA Southern discomfort 22nd July 2015 The regime is on the defensive as protests in the south compound a major renewed threat from Islamists Details are scant, but reports suggest that terrorists launched a rocket attack on President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s seaside home at Zeralda, outside Algiers, at dawn on 16 July. No...
Vol 56 No 15 | ALGERIA The franchise war between Al Qaida and Da’ish 22nd July 2015 Shaken by the January 2013 raid on the BP-Statoil-Sonatrach gas plant near In Amenas, which Mokhtar Belmokhtar’s Al Mourabitoun group carried out, security chiefs have mobilised fo...
Vol 56 No 14 | EGYPT Attacks bring 'state of war' 10th July 2015 A new phase of Islamist violence and brutal retaliation by the regime shakes Egypt to the core The modest security gains which President Abdel Fatah el Sisi's military regime could claim have all but dissolved in a deluge of violence initiated by Islamists and unmatched sinc...
Vol 56 No 11 | EGYPT Taxing tensions 29th May 2015 The government’s promises of tax-free investment sit ill with a Finance Ministry desperate to increase revenue President Abdel Fatah el Sisi has thrown his weight behind a campaign to launch a strong economic recovery by attracting billions of dollars of private investment. This includes ev...
Vol 56 No 11 | EGYPT Crashing car barriers 29th May 2015 A new free trade regime threatens car-makers. Some are trying to keep global competition at bay This month, Mercedes-Benz became the first of several major motor-manufacturers which are expected to halt assembly work in Egypt. Under the country's trade treaty with the Europea...
Vol 56 No 10 | MOROCCO Outward bound 15th May 2015 Morocco has been busy buying influence in Washington, extending it in Francophone Africa and tightening its grip on Western Sahara Officials and business leaders are celebrating their successful but costly campaign to outflank regional rival Algeria in the long dispute over Western Sahara. Morocco has also bes...
Vol 56 No 10 | MOROCCO Sufism’s soft power 15th May 2015 The monarch uses the country’s long Sufi tradition to help its foreign policy and neutralise its enemies The effort by King Mohammed VI to extend Moroccan influence in West Africa depends in part on the country's historic Sufi ties with turuq (brotherhoods or orders) across the region...
