Tag: opinion

The drastic cuts in assistance to Tunisia contained in the Trump Administration’s FY 2018 budget request send a disappointing message to the small North African country striving to shield its democratic experiment from the threats of terrorism and instability.  The administration’s budget aims to slash US security assistance to Tunisia by 82%—from $82 million (in FY 2016) to $15 million (in FY 2018) as well as reduce economic assistance by a third. The administration’s requested budget is unlikely to stand the test of the legislative process, but in Tunisia—a country…

A major new government crackdown on corruption is being seen by some as political opportunism, amid recent signs of a wavering commitment towards greater transparency. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Youssef Chahed, quoted in local newspapers, described the country’s struggle against graft as a “long-term war, a sustained policy”. His remarks followed a wave of arrests of prominent businessmen as part of what the authorities have described as an unprecedented campaign against corruption. Tunisians overthrew the corrupt regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, sparking the Arab Spring…

More than 25 years after its creation, the Maghreb Union, an economic bloc comprising Morocco, Mauritania, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya finds itself in a state of paralysis unable of tapping into its economic and trade potential, said the World Economic Forum (WEF) in a recent publication on the region. “The Maghreb, in Northern Africa, is the perfect example of a region whose countries have been unable to find their way to a deeper integration,” said the WEF in an article signed by Wadia Ait Hamza, who deemed that “the Maghreb…

Morocco is one of the most peaceful countries in the Arab world, according to the Global Peace Index 2017 recently published by the international think tank Economics & Peace. Ranked 75th on a total of 163 countries with a 2.004 score, Morocco has gained 15 places since 2016 and currently occupies the sixth position in the MENA region. “Morocco continues to benefit from a broader degree of political and social stability than most of its neighbours in North Africa, and recorded the highest improvement, driven by lower levels of militarisation,”…

Despite turmoil in the region, tourism in Morocco still thrives The tourism industry in Morocco is still successful despite the turmoil in the region since 2011, Masralarabia.com reported on Friday. More than 10 million tourists visit the country every year, with Morocco being the least affected by the ongoing geopolitical changes in the Middle East-North Africa (MENA) region. Moroccan Tourism Minister Mohamed Sajid expects a 5.5 per cent increase in the number of tourists visiting his country this year. That translates into 10.9 million people. The minister revealed earlier this…

Certain important events this week brought joy to me personally, because they confirmed for me that I was right in taking the decision, three decades ago, to join in the project to change the evils of the unjust trans-Atlantic world order, and replace it with a new and just world order established on the foundations of cooperation and inclusion of all nations in development, and achieving lasting peace on the basis of connecting nations and continents through railway networks, bridges, and tunnels, and facilitating the movement of people, goods, and…

The Treaty of Le Touquet gives the French president major leverage in Brexit talks. French President Emmanuel Macron’s victory in France was greeted across Europe with an audible sigh of relief, and now many across the Continent are watching eagerly to see if he can carry out the reforms he promised on the campaign trail. In the U.K., however, the outlook is at best mixed. On the one hand, there’s the sense of a bullet dodged with the defeat of Macron’s far-right opponent Marine Le Pen. On the other, there’s the fact that…

Borj Chakir landfill has become a symbol of Tunisia’s waste crisis, as government struggles amid funding cuts and vested interests Borj Chakir, Tunisia – Ridha Trabelsi looks out over his village of Borj Chakir, a settlement on the outskirts of Tunis once renowned for its olive groves, and considers how things have changed. The crops are gone, subsumed by one of the country’s largest landfills and its mountain of rotting waste that grows every day. A stench hangs heavy over the village, the result of 2,500 tonnes of rubbish brought from…