North Africa News

[MAP] Casablanca -- The Casablanca Stock Exchange opened higher on Monday, with its benchmark index, the MASI, gaining 0.17% to 10,422.51 points.

[VOA] The bodies of at least 29 people, many of them sub-Saharan Africans, were recovered from the Mediterranean Sea over the weekend off the coast of Tunisia, according to the Tunisian National Guard. Eleven people were rescued.

[CAF] Algeria coach Djamel Belmadi is unhappy over his team's finishing after they came from a goal down to defeat visitors Niger on Thursday night in Algiers.

[MAP] Rabat -- His Majesty King Mohammed VI received a message of congratulations from the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, President of the Council of Ministers, HRH Prince Mohammed Ibn Salman Ibn Abdelaziz Al-Saud, on the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan.

[MAP] Rabat -- His Majesty King Mohammed VI received a congratulatory message from the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques of Islam, King Salman Ibn Abdelaziz Al-Saud, Sovereign of Saudi Arabia, on the occasion of the advent of the holy month of Ramadan.

[African Union] The AU-EU-UN Tripartite Taskforce on the Situation of Migrants and Refugees in Libya met in Brussels. The international community and Libyan authorities must work together to improve the plight of migrants and refugees in Libya.

[Dabanga] Argeen, Northern State -- An extensive fire consumed an as yet unspecified number of shops, businesses, and homes in and around the Argeen crossing market on the border between Sudan's Northern State and Egypt on Saturday afternoon.

[SPS] Santo Domingo -- President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, has asked Spain to invite Western Sahara to the Ibero-American summit, while calling for African countries with different ties to Latin America to be granted the status of observer countries, including Western Sahara, which is he says the victim of an "injustice".

[Nile Post] As Ethiopia continues to receive applause from the rest of the countries in Africa, for singlehandedly (without foreign funding) together with its people, constructing a $5-billion mega-power plant, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), Egypt is doubling on efforts to fail it.

[allAfrica] Cape Town -- The activities in Africa of Russia's Wagner Group, the private paramilitary group which deploys mercenaries to support the Kremlin's foreign policy objectives, are coming under increased American scrutiny as the United States, Russia and China compete for strategic advantage on the continent.

[Tunis Afrique Presse] Tunis/Tunisia -- Exports of the textile-clothing sector have increased by 16.69% in dinars to TND 1,698.08 million and by 13.93% in euros (Ꞓ509.9 million) during the first two months of 2023, compared to the first two months of 2022.

[JusticeInfo.net] Tunis -- The former president of Tunisia's Truth and Dignity Commission is accused of having received bribes to make additions to the commission's final report. At the heart of the controversy is the Franco-Tunisian Bank, an emblematic case of corruption that led to the conviction of the Tunisian state. Was this real falsification, or is this a tactic to put an end to transitional justice?

[Tunis Afrique Presse] Tunis/Tunisia -- The eight teams that will play for the title in the Elite handball championship are now known, after the matches of the 22nd and last day of the first phase played Wednesday.

[CAF] Senegal and Egypt made good use of home advantage to register wins in the first leg of the last phase in the TotalEnergies U23 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Morocco 2023 qualifiers.

[Tunis Afrique Presse] Tunis/Tunisia -- The Executive Board of the Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT) decided at its meeting on Wednesday, March 22 to keep the Bank's key rate unchanged at 8%.

[MAP] Rabat -- Bank Al Maghrib's (BAM) decision to raise the key interest rate to 3% (by 50 basis points) will take effect from March 23, 2023, the central bank said in a statement.

[Algerie Presse Service] The President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune said that the "strategic" relations uniting Algeria and Italy were based on a "strong" and "transparent" friendship that dates back to the Liberation War.

[Egypt Online] Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation El Sayed Al Qusseir met on Wednesday with Meskerem Burhan, the Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa for Sustainable Development Groups at the World Bank and her accompanying delegation.

[Egypt Online] Egypt denounced Wednesday Israeli Knesset's approval of lifting ban on entering four West Bank settlements evacuated in 2005.

[Tunis Afrique Presse] Tunis/Tunisia -- The European Union and Tunisia share a "win-win" partnership and the EU is willing to scale up bilateral cooperation in the green hydrogen field, said Director General of the Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (NEAR) Gert-Jan Koopman

[Tunis Afrique Presse] Tunis/Tunisia -- Strengthening of Emerging Civil Society Organisations in Tunisia (ROSE) project was the theme of an information session at the local section of the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES) seat, in Ksibet Madiouni (Governorate of Monastir)

[Tunis Afrique Presse] Tunis/Tunisia -- US Monastir, defending champions, missed the qualification for the finals of the Basketball Africa League, after their defeat to AS Douanes of Senegal (60-76), at a day 5 game of the Sahara Conference played Tuesday night at the Dakar Arena, Senegal.

[Nyasa Times] After their Saudi Arabia training camp, Malawi national football team coach Mario Marinica has named his 27-member final squad for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers against Egypt in back-to-back fixtures -- starting with Match Day 3 away on Friday, March 24 at Stadium Air Defence in Cairo.

[Tunis Afrique Presse] Tunis/Tunisia -- Remittances from Tunisians abroad rose to TND 9,468.4 million in 2022 against TND 8,617.8 million in 2021, up 9.9%, according to a document published by the Office of Tunisians Abroad (OTE) on the evolution of remittances from Tunisians abroad for 2021 and 2022.

[UNHCR] Joint Press Release

[Tunis Afrique Presse] Tunis/Tunisia -- Tunisia finished second in Algiers African Open 2023 (March 18-19) after bagging 12 medals (6 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze). Hosts Algeria took the title with 25 medals (6 gold, 6 silver and 13 bron0ze), while Cyprus finished 3rd with 1 gold and 1 silver.

[Tunis Afrique Presse] Tunis/Tunisia -- The trade balance in fishery products was in a surplus of TND 464.8 million in 2022, up 26.3% on 2021, preliminary data provided by the National Observatory of Agriculture (French: ONAGRI) show.

[Tunis Afrique Presse] Tunis/Tunisia -- US Monastir, defending champions, have qualified for the final phase of the Basketball Africa League, thanks to their win over Rwanda Energy Group, who also advanced (84-79), at a day 4 game of the Sahara Conference, played Monday night at the Dakar Arena, Senegal.

[Tunis Afrique Presse] Tunis/Tunisia -- "It is imperative to avoid Tunisia's economic and social collapse and to support the Tunisian people," the European Union High Representative of for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said at a press conference Monday.

[MAP] Geneva -- The Moroccan delegation deplored, on Monday at the United Nations Palace in Geneva, the attitude of the South African delegation, which is working for a well-known agenda in the region, by supporting the vain destabilizing aims of an armed separatist group.