Day: August 7, 2017

External powers targeting Arab identity, unity, says Syrian president

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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says foreign powers have desperately attempted to divide Arab nations by targeting their identity and igniting strife among them.  “The external interventions will continue with the aim of changing our identity and dividing us into communities and small groups,” Assad said on Monday, Syria’s official news agency, SANA, reported. The Syrian president made the remarks in Damascus during a meeting with a parliamentary delegation comprising members of a number of Tunisian parties headed by Mbarka Brahmi. The external powers use similar methods to divide Arab nations,…

Stability in Tunis requires stability in Libya, Tunisian president tells Serraj

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Meeting in Tunis Monday, Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi has told Presidency Council head Faiez Serraj that it was very much in Tunisia’s interests to see stability and security restored in Tunisia. He also again declared that ultimately it was up to the Libyans to make the compromises needed for peace to become a reality. The most that neighbouring countries such as Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, or the wider international community could do was to facilitate and encourage Libyan dialogue. Libyans, he said, had to sit down together and take part in…

Tunisia’s industrial selling prices rise 4.5% in June 2017

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The index of industrial selling prices went up by 4.5% in June 2017 year-on-year, as a result of rising prices of manufacturing products by 4.1% and mining products by 8.2% due to higher prices of energy extraction products by 10.4% and non-energy products by 0.8%. According to the National Institute of Statistics, the increase in the prices of products of the manufacturing industry is mainly due to the 6.5% rise in prices of products of the food industry, the mechanical and electrical industry by 6.8% and the rubber and plastics…

Clean Energy for 5 Million EU Homes: Gigantic Solar Plant to Be Built in Tunisia

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A number of renewable energy developers are interested in building a huge solar power plant on the edge of the Sahara desert which will bring clean energy to 5 million European homes through undersea cables. The project called TuNur hopes to make use of the desert’s untapped potential to provide solar power. The consortium of the energy companies has applied for permission from the Tunisian energy ministry to build the facility in the southwest of the country that will produce 4.5GW of power. CEO Kevin Sara said that an initial…

A new security-structure for the Sahel

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In June, shortly after having won the second round of the French presidential election, Emanuel Macron went to Africa. As his first foreign visit after the election, he choose an area that France has been involved in for a very long time. His choice of destination was no accident. The meeting in Bamako, capital of Mali, was set up to pledge French support for a new military force to combat the on-going and raising threat of Islamist violence in the Sahel. Alongside France were Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Chad and Burkina…