As the International Monetary Fund delays approval of a jumbo loan and Cairo quarrels with Saudi Arabia, a key source of cheap cash, the government's economic strategy is...

On a swing through Rwanda and Tanzania late last month, King Mohammed VI used the trip to promote his main causes: getting back into the African Union and...

It should have been a dramatic general election on 7 October, pitting the Islamist-led government's record of social conservatism and economic stagnation against a Westernised liberal and managerial...

The political process set up by the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) has buckled under the weight of the country's multiple divisions, leaving Western governments confused...

International lawyers for Seif el Islam Gadaffi, son of the late dictator Moammar el Gadaffi, have made a U-turn in their defence strategy at the International Criminal Court...

Anxious to repair the damage to relations with Riyadh, the government has launched an appeal against a surprise court ruling that two Red Sea islands may not be...

The latest episode in the Red Sea islands saga has seen a judge make a ruling in open defiance of President Abdel Fatah el Sisi. When El Sisi...

Two years into his second term as President, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz is promoting Mauritania as a key pillar of regional security. He enjoys warm relations with neighbouring...

Amid the more relaxed atmosphere of the month of Ramadan, political soothsayers in Algiers are swinging from one forecast, such as the revived ruling clique beginning serious economic...

Egypt has reacted with annoyance to further undiplomatic remarks from Ethiopia about the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) being a fait accompli that everyone else will have to...

Veteran Islamist leader Rachid Ghannouchi has surprised many by announcing that, henceforth, his Hizb Ennahda would separate politics from religious work. It would operate as a 'democratic and...

King Salman bin Abdul Aziz al Saud's 7-12 April official visit to Egypt celebrated economic closeness and demonstrated how open the kingdom's wallet was for aid, trade and...

Last month's visit to Moscow by King Mohammed VI had echoes of the political manoeuvres favoured by his late father, King Hassan II, who liked to play both...

The government feels it needs to show a new face when it presents its programme – as required by the new constitution – to parliament on 27 March....

Signs are emerging that another major Western intervention in the Arab-African world is on the horizon. United States President Barack Obama is telling his National Security Council to...

In January 2011, young Tunisians fuelled the Jasmine Revolution. Today, the country looks more and more like a gerontocracy. Disappointment at the outcome of the revolution, especially among...

On 12 January 2015, in the run-up to Egypt's parliamentary elections, President Abdel Fatah el Sisi invited the heads of 15 of the newly formed political parties to...

Foreign interests, led by the United States and France, favour military intervention in Libya to curb the expansion of 'Islamic State' (IS/ISIS/Da'ish). The Islamist militia's attacks in Paris...

To little fanfare and amid speculation that President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's health has worsened again, Algeria finally unveiled its new constitution. It offers a clearer separation of powers, a...

The election of a new Parliament at the end of 2015 marked the culmination of a political transition mapped out in July 2013 by Abdel Fatah Khalil el...

With Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal and the presidency's favourite businessman, Ali Haddad, among those talking up an agenda for change, some diplomats and analysts see prospects for accelerated...