Maghreb

Articles

• Morocco Shifts Away from French Arms, Favors US Military Equipment
  20 September 2022, by Sylvanus

  Morocco is showing less interest in "made in France" weapons. It remains France’s top customer in the Maghreb, however.
  Morocco has recorded a drop in orders, particularly in France, which has gone from 425.9 million euros in 2020 to 95.2 million euros in 2021. This decline is certainly linked to the increased focus of the Moroccan Armed Forces (FAR) on American armaments, in order to improve compatibility with the United States and to be able to counter Russian armaments in Algeria, (…)

• Morocco’s World Cup Success Boosts Diplomatic Clout in Arab World and Africa
  21 December 2022, by Ginette

  Morocco’s remarkable participation in the World Cup in Qatar has allowed it to strengthen its position in the Arab world and also to assert its presence on the international stage.
  Football has the gift of opening closed doors. Hezbollah, very critical of Morocco since the normalization with Israel, was not insensitive to the wink made by the Moroccan players and supporters by displaying the Palestinian flag. Even in Algeria, the population could not help but celebrate Morocco for the (…)

• Racist Messages Expose Discrimination Against Maghrebi Workers at French Postal Bank
  27 January 2023, by Sylvanus

  In France, employees of Maghrebi origin at the post office bank are victims of racism. Messages read in a WhatsApp group show the extent of the phenomenon.
  It is not good to be an employee of Maghrebi origin - especially the subordinates - and to work at the post office bank. Racist insults rain down so much. The racist messages dating from 2018 that resurfaced in November 2022 are proof of this. "After our seminar with the orangutans and then in the savanna, I suggest a seminar in the (…)

• France Navigates Diplomatic Tightrope Between Morocco and Algeria Amid Regional Tensions
  14 February 2023, by Sylvanus

  While France tries to play a balancing act between Morocco and Algeria, it is having trouble normalizing its relations with these two Maghreb countries. Aboubakr Jamai, a Maghreb specialist and professor of international relations in Aix-en-Provence, discusses the causes.
  The files that undermine the relations between France, Morocco and Algeria are numerous: The Amira Bouraoui affair, the recall of the ambassadors of Morocco and Algeria in France, the visa crisis, the Sahara. Since the (…)

• Saharan Sand Cloud Blankets Southern France, Turning Skies Orange
  21 February 2023, by Sylvanus

  A new Saharan sand cloud has arrived in France and particularly the Pyrenees since Monday, February 20. At the origin of this phenomenon, a depression, located between the west of the Maghreb and Spain.
  The Saharan sand cloud is back in France. After the southwest of the country, the particles will reach the southern half between Tuesday and especially Wednesday where "the sand deposits will be visible, more difficult towards the north," reports Futura. It is likely that cars will be (…)

• Macron Seeks to Mend Ties with Morocco and Algeria Amid Regional Tensions
  28 February 2023, by Sylvanus

  French President Emmanuel Macron is trying to lower tensions between France and two Maghreb countries, Morocco and Algeria. He assured that he would continue to "move forward" with Rabat and Algiers, beyond "controversies".
  Emmanuel Macron wants to defuse the crisis with Morocco and Algeria. "We will move forward, the period is not the best, but that won’t stop me," he said Monday during a press conference on his strategy in Africa. His will, he will assure, is really to move forward with (…)

• Novelist Explores Isolation and Identity of Maghrebian Women in France
  21 March 2023, by Sylvanus

  "Alone", the second novel by journalist and columnist Nesrine Slaoui, plunges the reader into the universe of a Maghrebian woman in France, what she experiences and can endure at 30 and 15 years old.
  Published by Fayard, "Alone" tells the story of two Maghrebian women: Nora, a Parisian in her thirties, and Anissa at the age of adolescence, who lives in Argenteuil, both from Moroccan parents who left Casablanca and Tangier in the 1970s-1980s to settle in France. "I chose the title ’Alone’ (…)

• France Deports Over 4,600 Foreigners in 2023, Maghrebians Top List
  6 January 2024, by Sylvanus

  Maghrebians are the first foreigners to be expelled from France in 2023 in accordance with the instructions of the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron.
  In total, 4,686 people were expelled from France in 2023 to the Maghreb, sub-Saharan Africa and Central Europe, according to Gérald Darmanin, the French Minister of the Interior, specifying that these were foreigners who had been released from an "administrative detention center" and were subject to "ministerial expulsion (…)

• The Polisario attacks Morocco and France
  25 March 2024, by Sylvanus

  The Polisario, protected by Algeria, accuses France of obstructing the restoration of peace and stability in the North-West African region, and denounces its blatant complicity with Morocco, which hinders the unity of the peoples of the Greater Maghreb and cooperation and integration between its countries.
  The Polisario is unhappy with France. The source of this discontent is the statements made by the French ambassador to Morocco, Christophe Lecourtier, last Thursday in Rabat, during a (…)

• Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s Fake Olive Branch to Morocco
  31 March 2024, by Sylvanus

  In his latest periodic interview with the Algerian press, the President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, discussed the creation of the Maghreb bloc and the issue of the Sahara, while extending a hand to Morocco, a neighboring country with which Algeria, the protector of the Polisario, unilaterally severed diplomatic relations in August 2021.
  The Algerian president is changing his tone. On Saturday, during a periodic interview with representatives of the local media, he announced the (…)