Special to WorldTribune.com The United States is supporting a resolution to restore the UN mission in Western Sahara. The UN said the resolution addresses an “urgent need” to restore the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) after Morocco recently expelled 75 UN staffers. Morocco maintains that Western Sahara is an integral […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — Five years after the onset of the pro-democracy revolts against authoritarian rulers in much of the Middle East, the heady warm breezes of the Arab Spring have been replaced with swirling ill winds sweeping the region from Tunisia to Iraq. Governments were toppled, chaos ensued, […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Algeria, the number one arms purchaser on the African continent, has voiced concerns that the number two arms purchaser, Morocco, is purchasing too many arms. After reports that Morocco had acquired Russian-made missile batteries, the Algerian newspaper Al-Shorouq accused Morocco of stirring up conflict and threatening its neighbors. Further fraying Algeria’s nerves […]
Special to WorldTribune.com A petition recently launched in Morocco calls on Google to correct its map of the kingdom by removing the so-called “Polisario Front.” The current Google map shows Morocco divided by a line that separates the kingdom from the Sahara. Moroccans say the southern part of the country, named Western Sahara on the […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Yossef Bodansky, Senior Editor, Global Information System / Defense & Foreign Affairs The consolidation of a self-proclaimed Caliphate in eastern Libya provides the jihadist camp with springboard into Africa and southern Europe. That strategic thrust, supported strongly by Qatar, Sudan, Iran, and Turkey, has already begun, and highlights the transformation of […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — The vast swath of nine countries bordering the southern reaches of the Sahara desert are marked by poverty, drought and chronic instability. Yet these oft-forgotten lands are increasingly making the headlines as in the case of Mali a few years ago, when militant Muslim factions […]
Special to WorldTribune.com CAIRO — Algeria plans to establish a network to monitor the flow of nuclear material along its borders. Officials said the government has approved a plan to install equipment to inspect incoming goods for radiation. They said the equipment would be installed at border posts amid concern that Al Qaida or Islamic […]
Special to WorldTribune.com CAIRO — Algeria plans to invest at least $70 billion to develop its shale energy sector. Algeria’s state-owned energy monopoly Sonatrach has drafted a 20-year plan to develop natural gas from shale. Sonatrach intends to explore and develop shale reserves in the central Sahara Desert in wake of successful tests in December […]
Special to WorldTribune.com CAIRO — Algeria has begun confronting the new presence of Islamic State of Iraq and Levant. Security sources said ISIL has been organizing cells and conducting operations in remote areas of eastern Algeria. They said ISIL was working through existing Islamic militias, some of them linked to Al Qaida. “The cells were […]
Special to WorldTribune.com LONDON — The church has helped block German arms exports to the Middle East. Leading churches have joined with the opposition to lobby against major German weapons deals with Middle East allies. Clergymen said the lobbying reduced deliveries of weapons and components to Saudi Arabia. “There has been a drastic reduction in […]