North Africa Journal Weblog

Opinion par Arezki Daoud
daoud@north-africa.com

Avec un nouveau locataire dans la Maison Blanche, la politique américaine envers le Maghreb subira un rééquilibrage inévitable et important en 2009. L’importance du changement à venir est peu claire et difficile à mesurer, mais la nouvelle administration américaine étendra probablement son champ d’action dans la région au delà du pétrole et de la sécurité. Suivez ce lien afin de lire l’opinion et de soumettre la votre.

With a new tenant in the White House, the American policy toward the Maghreb is likely to undergo some important retooling in 2009. The magnitude of the changes is unclear as the new American administration will probably view the region through old and new lenses. Read our opinion and share yours by following this link.

A feud between a Touareg tribe and the government of Mali seems to be engulfing the region’s Touareg population at large like rarely before, adding more tension to a region that saw growing Al Qaeda activity. But what started as being a much localized conflict is now spreading across borders, with the Malian-based Touaregs getting the support of their brothers across borders. The situation is so alarming that the Malian foreign minister Moctar Ouane warns of a generalized conflict. Read the opinion here and post your thoughts.

In his mid-thirties, AH smiled when he described to me the joy of playing with his two young children. For him, having a safe job to provide for his family was a great achievement and something to protect. One day later on December 11, 2007, AH, a UN staffer in Algiers was tragically killed in a terrorist attack, an unexplainable event that destroyed the lives of dozens, most in their twenties. Still unaware today, his brother is in Saudi Arabia performing his religions duty of Hajj. The irony is that the killers may have been motivated by poorly interpreted religious intentions and yet they share the same religion as those they assassinated. Read this post and submit your thoughts here.

In 1981, then Tunisian president Bourguiba ratified a law banning Tunisian women from wearing the hijab in state offices. Subsequently, the Tunisian government issued more restrictive enactments, considering hijab a sign of extremism and as a result banned it. But on October 11, 2007, the law was rescinded after being deemed unconstitutional by the Administrative Court of Tunis. Read the opinion here and post yours.

Led by president Nicola Sarkozy, a few senior French strategists have embarked on the daunting task of convincing the countries of the Mediterranean basin to form yet another regional union. It’s a good idea but it is also one that has many more skeptics than believers. Even the powerful European Union sees this initiative as a distraction from the broader and more urgent European construction and is not likely to fully endorse it. Click here to read the opinion and post yours.

Algeria’s military has been scoring good successes in its offensive against the insurgent groups sheltered in the country’s rugged northeastern mountains. The latest offensive has been likened by observers on the field as a unique opportunity for the Algerian defense forces to test their new equipment. For some, it is as if the GSPC terrorist organization created an opportunity that otherwise would not have existed. Please follow this link to read Bruno’s assessment and don’t forget to post yours.

While the French leadership basks in the limelight of the deal to release the Bulgarian medics last July, Libya itself has managed to turn what was increasingly becoming the embarrassing problem of the death sentences faced by the medics and the related internal political pitfalls, into a strategic exploit no less important than the formal renunciation of ‘weapons of mass destruction’ in December 2003. Please follow this link to read Bruno’s assessment and don’t forget to post yours.

2007 will be an important year for Morocco’s political future and a test of how much progress democracy has made in spite of a potential Islamist takeover. At the heart of the current discussions and debates among the power elites in politics and business within and outside Morocco, is the future replacement of the current prime minister, Driss Jettou when this year’s legislative elections are held. The replacement of Jettou will form a government cabinet that will set Morocco’s long-term agenda with issues as important as women’s right, regional politics, relations with the EU and US, etc. As the election date approaches, tension rises among all the political parties competing for power. Citizens are also wondering who deserves their votes in a political system often seen as not so credible. To read the analysis and post your opinion, click here…

2007 will be an important year for Morocco’s political future and a test of how much progress democracy has made in spite of a potential Islamist takeover. At the heart of the current discussions and debates among the power elites in politics and business within and outside Morocco, is the future replacement of the current prime minister, Driss Jettou when this year’s legislative elections are held. The replacement of Jettou will form a government cabinet that will set Morocco’s long-term agenda with issues as important as women’s right, regional politics, relations with the EU and US, etc. As the election date approaches, tension rises among all the political parties competing for power. Citizens are also wondering who deserves their votes in a political system often seen as not so credible. To read the analysis and post your opinion, click here…