The Moroccan election: plus ça change
Summary: low turnout, blank ballots and the resurgence of an Islamist party are signs that all is not well in Morocco even as the ruling elite retains its hold.
Algeria
Algeria-UAE rupture shows a region rearranging its alliances
Summary: Algeria’s severing of diplomatic relations with the UAE is a statement that the North African country has lost patience with what it sees as Abu Dhabi’s meddling in its neighbourhood.
Morocco needs a new economic growth model
Summary: despite promises to be the ‘King of the Poor,’ Morocco’s Mohammed VI has embraced an economic model that is impoverishing a majority, particularly young Moroccans, whilst further enriching a privileged elite.
The UAE’s Extradition Machine: How African Warrants Are Testing Dubai’s Global Image
Summary: for years, Dubai was known as a place where fugitives could disappear behind the city’s wealth, skyscrapers and international connections. Increasingly, it is becoming the opposite: a place where foreign governments can have people arrested and sent home.
MENA and the flaws in FATF
Summary: five MENA countries are on the Financial Action Task Force’s grey-list “for increased monitoring for strategic deficiencies in their anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing, and counter-proliferation financing frameworks”. Getting off the list may be down more to politics than process.
Algeria Loses its Way
Summary: a record low turnout in Algeria’s recent election is a reflection of how the North African state has failed its citizens while benefitting a select elite through a crony capitalist system and a stagnant status quo backed by the military.
Tunisia’s economic mirage
Summary: stock exchange exuberance belies the dire straits of the Tunisian economy.
Pope Leo XIV visits Algeria and revisits St Augustine
Summary: the upcoming visit by Pope Leo to Algeria is both historic – he is the first pope to visit the country – and symbolic, a statement that in a region and a world plagued by violence the rejection by St Augustine of unjust wars is the only path to take.
Europe’s Untapped Gas Opportunity: North Africa’s $6 Billion Flares
Summary: the US/Israel war on Iran creates a big gas opportunity for North Africa and Europe. By capturing its wasted gas North Africa can generate around US$6 billion in additional export revenues while Europe can diversify its supply and strengthen energy security and the planet benefits from lower CO₂ and methane emissions.
MENA youthquake
Summary: the MENA’s youth bulge and the highest youth unemployment rates globally poses major challenges for much of the region now and in the future.
Algeria’s gas potential: critical reforms needed
Summary: although there is more European demand for Algerian gas, exports to Europe have declined in recent years. The key issue is whether its state-owned oil and gas company, Sonatrach, will be able to increase both production and exports.
Huge challenges for Libya’s gas ambitions
Summary: Libya is a broken state which means its plans to develop its gas fields, especially offshore, face major obstacles. The power games currently unfolding on land and at sea suggest that it is wishful thinking to expect Libya to offer more gas to Europe in the years ahead.
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