Vol 61 No 7 | MOROCCOCOVID-19 King takes charge 2nd April 2020 In the first week of Morocco's lockdown, King Mohammed VI ordered a show of force his late father King Hassan II would have approved, calling troops and tanks...
Vol 61 No 6 | EGYPTETHIOPIASUDAN Cairo and Addis split over dam 19th March 2020 Ethiopia has pulled out of US-hosted talks on the Blue Nile project as bitterness and mistrust grow Ethiopia is courting regional states and the African Union to bolster its diplomatic position after pulling out of United States-mediated talks on the filling and operations of the...
Vol 61 No 6 | MAURITANIA All is forgiven 19th March 2020 Nouakchott is abuzz with reports that ex-President Maaouiya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya, deposed in a 2005 coup but now in poor health in exile in Qatar, may be on...
Vol 61 No 6 | LIBYA In search of an envoy 19th March 2020 The signs point to an African being appointed UN special envoy to Libya after the surprise resignation of Lebanese Ghassan Salamé on 2 March. On 10 March, the...
Vol 61 No 5 | TUNISIA Relief today, trouble ahead 5th March 2020 On his second attempt, President Saïed secured his chosen prime minister. But the new man’s tenuous coalition will be sorely tested Nearly five months after the 6 October general elections delivered a highly fractured parliament, Tunisia has a new coalition government. On 26 February, parliament approved Elyes Fakhfakh to...
Vol 61 No 5 | EGYPTETHIOPIAUNITED STATES That dam problem 5th March 2020 The tortuous negotiations between Addis Ababa and Cairo over the building and filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam have lurched into an acrimonious finale. Ethiopia's Foreign Minister...
Vol 61 No 4 | MOROCCOWESTERN SAHARA Territorial armies 20th February 2020 An unresolved but dormant decolonisation dispute risks flaring up into renewed violence, threatening a 29-year-old ceasefire Forty-five years into the conflict over Western Sahara, Morocco remains implacable in its determination to retain what it argues is its historical sovereignty over the disputed former Spanish...
Vol 61 No 3 | LIBYAEUROPEAN UNION A game of many nations 6th February 2020 Turkey's agreement to support the UN-recognised government has upsets the geopolitics of the eastern Mediterranean The political backing of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey for the UN-recognised regime in Tripoli is well-known, but less so are the subsidiary clauses in the pact...
Vol 61 No 2 | ALGERIA Desperately seeking legitimacy 23rd January 2020 The new President will struggle to assert himself and break free from the military and the Deep State The sudden death on 23 December of military strongman Lieutenant-General Ahmed Gaïd Salah may prove more significant for Algeria's future than the election on 12 December of a...
Vol 61 No 2 | LIBYA Life as a client state looms 23rd January 2020 As the US leaves the scene, Russia and Turkey may be about to carve up the country between them Whether General Khalifa Haftar will this year enter Tripoli in triumph – which he continually predicted for most of last year – is in doubt now that Libya's...