Daily Maghreb

Libya invites UN experts amid 'kidnap' dispute

2009-11-09T09:05:00.000Z

Swiss protestors calling for the release of their two countrymen UN spokesman says working group has suggested to Libya visit take place in February 2010. GENEVA - Libya has invited UN experts on arbitrary detention to visit the country amid a dispute with Switzerland over the "kidnapping" of two businessmen, a UN official said Wednesday. "Libya has invited the working...

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Libya says two Swiss held in 'good' conditions

2009-11-06T10:06:00.000Z

Bern accuses Tripoli of repeatedly failing to honour pledges Deputy FM says two Swiss businessmen are being held in safe location amid diplomatic spat between two countries. GENEVA - Two Swiss businessmen who are at the centre of a diplomatic tussle between Libya and Switzerland are being held in good conditions, Libya's deputy foreign minister was reported as saying on...

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RSF: Morocco's press faces 'real hard line'

2009-11-02T06:32:00.000Z

'We thought we'd seen the last of journalists in prison in Morocco' Reporters without Borders seek US pressure on 'real degradation' of freedom of press in Morocco. CASABLANCA - Morocco has seen "a real degradation of the freedom of the press," the secretary general of Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF - Reporters without Borders) Jean-Francois Julliard said Tuesday. "In our...

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Ben Ali wins landslide in Tunisian election

2009-10-30T18:58:00.000Z

Ben Ali's party won 161 of the 214 parliament seats Tunisian President re-elected with 89.62 percent of election vote for fifth term in office. TUNIS - Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was re-elected with 89.62 percent of the vote in Sunday's elections for a fifth term in office after two decades in power, according to final results released Monday by the interior...

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Mauritana locust infestation spreading to Morocco

2009-10-30T18:56:00.000Z

Mauritania was hit by a locust invasion in 2004 UN official warns situation will worsen further if there is strong rainfall in coming weeks. GENEVA - An invasion of crickets in Mauritania has spread to Morocco and the western Sahara, and could worsen if there is strong rainfall in coming weeks, the United Nations warned Friday. "The larvae and locusts are gathering in...

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Gathafi: Arabs should have nuclear weapons

2009-10-30T18:52:00.002Z

'If we don't want this situation, so we'll have to disarm the Israelis' Libyan leader says as long as Israel has nuclear weapons, so should Arab countries. LONDON - Arab nations and "even the Palestinians" should be allowed nuclear weapons as long as Israel's nuclear weapons are tolerated, Libyan leader Moamer Gathafi said in an interview out Monday. Israel is the Middle...

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Rabat sentences journalists over royal reporting

2009-10-30T18:44:00.000Z

Anzoula (L) says he deserves to be acquitted Anouzla, Eddou of Al Jarida Al Oula given suspended jail terms, fines for falsely reporting Moroccan King was sick. RABAT - A court in Morocco on Monday sentenced two journalists to suspended jail terms and fines for falsely reporting that the North African nation's King Mohammed VI was sick. The editor of the daily Al Jarida...

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Polisario threatens to quit Western Sahara talks

2009-10-30T18:41:00.002Z

Ghali: 'human rights abuses in the occupied Sahrawi territories' Western Sahara's independence movement wants its activists freed from Moroccan jails. ALGIERS - Western Sahara's Polisario Front independence movement on Tuesday threatened to pull out of negotiations with Morocco unless seven detained activists were freed, its Algiers representative said. "The detention of the...

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Algeria seeks builders for world's third largest mosque

2009-10-30T18:31:00.001Z

Algeria calls for offers to build Grand Mosque of Algiers, which could cost several billion dollars. ALGIERS - Algeria on Tuesday called for offers to build a Grand Mosque of Algiers, which would be the third largest mosque in the world after those of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia. Candidate companies should have an annual turnover of at least one billion euros (1.48...

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Algeria, Britain sign defence accord

2009-10-30T18:24:00.000Z

More cooperation between the two countries in defence matters Deal paves way for more Algerian military officers’ training in Britain, joint military exercises. ALGIERS - More Algerian military officers could be trained in Britain under a new defence agreement, the British Embassy said on Tuesday. The outline accord, signed by British Defence Minister Bob Ainsworth on...

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Mauritanian officials jailed for embezzlement

2009-10-29T09:55:00.000Z

Mauritania is lauded by World Bank as exemplary for fighting AIDS Project coordinator, executive director of national anti-AIDS program detained for embezzling public funds, corruption. DAKAR - Two senior officials of Mauritania's national anti-AIDS program, a project funded by the World Bank, have been imprisoned for embezzling funds and corruption, a legal source said...

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HRW: Morocco must allow freedom of association

2009-10-28T08:06:00.000Z

Educational associations should be supported to fight illiteracy Human Rights Watch accuses authorities of doing what they like in dealing with associations’ registration. RABAT - Morocco's government must put an end to abuses of power that prevent associations from functioning properly and compel civil servants to follow the law, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday. In a report,...

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Libya to buy Russian fighter jets

2009-10-26T12:04:00.000Z

The contracts could be signed at the end of 2009 Tripoli is planning to buy more than 20 Russian fighter jets for one billion dollars. MOSCOW - Libya is planning to buy more than 20 Russian fighter jets in a billion-dollar arms deal with Moscow, the Interfax news agency reported on Monday, citing a military-diplomatic source. "Libya is planning to buy 12 to 15 Su-35...

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Morocco blocks Le Monde over royal cartoons

2009-10-25T21:48:00.000Z

Khalid Gueddar Rabat will not accept 'systematic attack on national symbols' on freedom of expression grounds. RABAT - Morocco on Thursday blocked distribution of the Thursday and Friday editions of the French newspaper Le Monde over cartoons deemed unrespectful to the royal family, a senior Moroccan official said. The Thursday edition carries on its front page a sketch by Le...

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Libya to free 45 Islamist prisoners

2009-10-25T15:47:00.000Z

More Islamist prisoners are expected to be released Report prisoners will be released after talks with Gathafi Foundation headed by Libyan leader’s son. TRIPOLI - Libya will free on Thursday 45 members of the Al-Qaeda-linked Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), according to the Oea daily newspaper, close to Seif al-Islam, the son of Libyan leader Moamer Gathafi....

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Gathafi names son second-in-command

2009-10-24T07:57:00.003Z

The post is equivalent to head of state Seif al-Islam appointed as 'coordinator of social and popular committees' in Libya. TRIPOLI - Libyan leader Moamer Gathafi has presented his son Seif al-Islam as head of state with powers second only to those of the long-ruling colonel, an online newspaper reported on Tuesday. Islam, widely seen as heir apparent, was expected to...

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Swiss envoys in Libya to rebuild diplomatic ties

2009-10-24T07:56:00.002Z

Ongoing attempts at normalising relations Swiss foreign ministry says talks aim to normalise diplomatic relations between two countries. GENEVA - Swiss diplomats arrived in Libya Monday in a bid to rebuild diplomatic ties after a row erupted last year when a son of Libyan leader Moamer Gathafi was arrested in a Geneva hotel. "A delegation of several people from...

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'Sahrawi Gandhi' awarded New York peace prize

2009-10-24T07:49:00.000Z

'I have been threatened with arrest on my return' Champion of peaceful resistance in Western Sahara wins leading international peace award. NEW YORK - Aminatou Haidar, a champion of peaceful resistance in the disputed African territory of Western Sahara, won Wednesday a leading international peace award. "This prize gives me the courage to pursue the non-violent struggle that I ...

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Libya seeks Security Council meet on Gaza

2009-10-20T07:08:00.000Z

'Libya's step is supporting the Palestinian people's rights' Tripoli pushes for emergency meeting of UN body to consider Goldstone's Gaza report. UNITED NATIONS - Libya on Tuesday pressed for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to weigh a UN report that condemned the Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip, diplomats said. Libya's deputy ambassador Ibrahim...

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Morocco urges relocating West Sahara refugees

2009-10-18T17:09:00.000Z

Hilale: 'Inform the people in the camps of their right to leave' Morocco's UN ambassador in Geneva: Algeria blocking solutions for 'voluntary repatriation'. GENEVA - Morocco on Monday called for the United Nations refugee agency to propose to Western Sahara refugees living in Algerian camps relocation to a third country. Morocco's UN ambassador in Geneva, Omar Hilale, said...

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Details of old Britain-Libya secret dealing emerge

2009-10-10T07:21:00.000Z

Former British PM Harold Wilson Britain secretly offered Libyan leader 14 million pounds to end Tripoli's support for IRA. LONDON - Britain secretly offered to pay 14 million pounds to Libyan leader Moamer Gathafi as part of a deal to end his country's support for Irish paramilitary group the IRA, according to a report Monday. The offer, worth 500 million pounds (800 million...

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Moroccan musical fest to focus on Jewish heritage

2009-10-08T16:08:00.000Z

Azoulay is Jewish Moroccan Poets, musicians, singers will gather at Atlantic Andalusias which will highlight Matrouz. RABAT - This year's festival of the Atlantic Andalusias, held in the Moroccan port of Essaouira, will focus on a Moroccan Jewish musical tradition known as Matrouz, organisers announced Thursday. During the festival, to be held from October 29 to...

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HRW: Morocco must allow freedom of association

2009-10-08T16:02:00.000Z

EU: Mauritania back to constitutional rule

2009-10-08T16:00:00.000Z

EU will decide on renewed cooperation with Mauritania in few weeks EU official says return to constitutional order during consensual process of ending crisis has formally been achieved. NOUAKCHOTT - Constitutional rule has been restored in Mauritania, according to an evaluation team sent by the European Union, which imposed sanctions after a military coup in August 2008....

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Gathafi seeks official job for son Seif al-Islam

2009-10-08T15:53:00.003Z

Seif al-Islam Libyan leader asks administration for official position for son to allow him to implement reforms. TRIPOLI - Libyan leader Moamer Gathafi has asked senior administrators to find an official position for his second son Seif al-Islam to allow him to implement reforms, an online newspaper reported on Wednesday. Islam, widely seen as heir apparent, has no official role...

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