Category Archives: Morocco

Breakdown in global order causing progress to stall in Africa – report

Posted on by

‘Moral threshold coming down,’ warns Mo Ibrahim, as his index of governance reveals widespread decline in 10 years

The global rise of populism and “strongmen” has led to an increase in authoritarianism in Africa that is holding back progress in governance, the businessman and philanthropist Mo Ibrahim has said.

According to the latest edition of the Ibrahim index of African governance, 78% of Africa’s citizens live in a country where security and democracy deteriorated between 2014 and 2023.

Continue reading...

Dramatic images show the first floods in the Sahara in half a century

Posted on by

More than year’s worth of rain fell in two days in south-east Morocco, filling up lake that had been dry for decades

Dramatic pictures have emerged of the first floods in the Sahara in half a century.

Two days of rainfall in September exceeded yearly averages in several areas of south-east Morocco and caused a deluge, officials of the country’s meteorology agency said in early October. In Tagounite, a village about 450km(280 miles) south of the capital, Rabat, more than 100mm (3.9 inches) was recorded in a 24-hour period.

Continue reading...

Football-mad Morocco dreams of a World Cup final in its own ark

Posted on by

Buoyed by the team’s success in 2022, the kingdom is eyeing a bigger goal

The rendering is dramatic, a vast white stadium inspired by the design of a Maghrebi communal tent, known as a moussem.

The language used to describe it is no less flowery: think of it as “almost like a Noah’s Ark, a place for all nature and animals to come together”, says Tarik Oualalou, head of Paris architecture firm Oualalou + Choi, one of five teams in the design consortium.

Continue reading...

Spanish police boat appears to run over dinghy carrying four people

Posted on by

Calls for inquiry as video appears to show Guardia Civil boat knocking at least one person out of dinghy bound for Spain

Human rights campaigners in Morocco and Spain have called on Spanish authorities to launch an investigation after a video appeared to show a Spanish police boat briefly mounting a small dinghy carrying people towards the coast of Spain.

The incident took place on Sunday as a vessel carrying four people approached the Spanish semi-exclave of Melilla. The video appeared to show the larger, more powerful Guardia Civil patrol boat veering towards the Zodiac inflatable, making several manoeuvres before skimming over the top of the boat, causing at least one person to fall out of the small vessel.

Continue reading...

Rapidly urbanising Africa to have six cities with populations above 10m by 2035

Posted on by

Youthful, growing cities expected to create wealth and opportunities but stretch public and utility services

Six African cities will have more than 10 million people by 2035, with the continent’s booming young population making it the world’s fastest urbanising region, according to a report.

Angola’s capital, Luanda, and Tanzania’s commercial hub, Dar es Salaam, will join the metropolises of Cairo, Kinshasa, Lagos and Greater Johannesburg with populations of more than 10 million, the Economist Intelligence Unit said in a report on African cities.

Continue reading...

Moroccan authorities pushed asylum seekers into ‘death trap’, NGO claims

Posted on by

Border Forensics say dozens of deaths in 2022 at EU’s Melilla border was result of antagonistic security policy

Moroccan authorities took a series of fateful decisions that led to the deaths of dozens of asylum seekers attempting to scale the border fence into the Spanish north African territory of Melilla two years ago, survivors and an investigation by an NGO have claimed.

At least 27 migrants and asylum seekers died when up to 2,000 people tried to climb over the fence on 24 June 2022 – the deadliest day in recent memory along the EU land border with Africa – while 70 others are still missing and unaccounted for.

Continue reading...

Revealed: drug cartels force migrant children to work as foot soldiers in Europe’s booming cocaine trade

Posted on by

Exclusive: Guardian investigation shows white powder trail linking hundreds of vulnerable African minors with ruthless gangs

Hundreds of unaccompanied child migrants across Europe are being forced to work as soldiers for increasingly powerful drug cartels to meet the continent’s soaring appetite for cocaine, a Guardian investigation has found.

EU police forces have warned of industrial-scale exploitation of African children by cocaine networks operating in western Europe in cities including Paris and Brussels as they seek to expand Europe’s £10bn cocaine market.

Continue reading...

Extra virgin olive oil prices tipped to top £16 a litre next month

Posted on by

Price rise for mass-market types expected as global production falls to lowest level in more than 10 years

Olive oil prices are set to climb further this year – heading to more than £16 a litre for a bottle of extra virgin – amid a drop in global production to the lowest level in more than a decade.

Lower production in Greece, Morocco and Turkey as part of the natural cycle of olive growth is expected to offset an improving situation in Spain and Italy, where trees have suffered from extreme heat and drought in recent years as the climate crisis wreaks havoc on harvests.

Continue reading...

Scientists unearth mysteries of giant, moving Moroccan star dune

Posted on by

Parts of the structure are younger than expected while an east wind blows the whole thing across the desert, researchers find

They are impressive, mysterious structures that loom out of deserts on the Earth and are also found on Mars and on Saturn’s biggest moon, Titan.

Experts from universities including Aberystwyth in Wales have now pinpointed the age of a star dune in a remote area of Morocco and uncovered details about its formation and how it moves across the desert.

Continue reading...

Refugee files complaint to UN against Spain over 2014 border deaths

Posted on by

Country accused of violating torture convention in hope of finding justice decade after incident in which at least 15 people died

A 25-year-old from Cameroon has filed a complaint to the UN against Spain, accusing the country of multiple violations of the convention against torture in hope of seeking justice after an incident in 2014 during which at least 15 people died while trying to enter Spanish territory from Morocco.

“A decade has passed and still not a single person has been held accountable for the death and injury of so many,” said the man, who asked to be identified by the pseudonym Ludovic.

Continue reading...

Spanish police investigate deaths of four migrants forced off speedboat

Posted on by

Vessel was near Andalucían shore when passengers, believed to be from north Africa, were apparently pushed overboard

Spanish police have opened an inquiry after four people were killed as a result of being forced out of a moving speedboat into the sea just metres from the southern shores of Andalucía.

In a tactic the EU border agency has said is becoming increasingly common, the people who died on Wednesday were among 27 passengers apparently forced off the fast-moving vessel by its drivers near Camposoto beach in the province of Cádiz, officials said. Another eight were left near Sancti Petri beach.

Continue reading...

Israel faces blame from regional allies over Gaza hospital deaths

Posted on by

Several Arab states condemn Israel for explosion, which it blames on failed rocket launch by Palestinian Islamic Jihad

Israel is using media and diplomatic channels to try to convince leaders of Arab countries that Tuesday’s blast at a Gaza hospital was caused by a misfiring jihadist missile, after even its regional allies rushed to blame it for the explosion.

Tuesday’s explosion, which killed hundreds, was blamed by Palestinian officials on an Israeli airstrike. Israel said it was caused by a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, which denied blame.

Continue reading...

More protests expected across Middle East after Gaza hospital blast

Posted on by

Hezbollah calls for ‘day of rage’ as both sides in war continue to trade blame for deadly explosion

Further furious rallies and protests are expected across the Middle East and north Africa on Wednesday after the blast at a Gaza hospital that left hundreds dead and injured.

Hamas has blamed Tuesday’s explosion at al-Ahli Arab hospital on an Israeli airstrike. The Israeli military says the hospital was hit by a rocket barrage launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, which has denied responsibility.

Continue reading...

IMF clings to a hopeful agenda as crisis follows crisis

Posted on by

At the fund’s annual meeting this week in Morocco, ambitions for climate and debt relief may be overwhelmed by events – again

Last week’s turmoil in the global bond markets will be playing on the minds of finance ministers and central bank governors when they gather in Marrakech this week for the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

After the triple shocks of the Covid pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the surge in inflation, the mood may be less febrile than it was a year ago, but few if any of those travelling to Morocco – which suffered a devastating earthquake last month – would dare say that the crisis era is over. Most will be wondering what might go wrong next.

Continue reading...

‘We need to start again’: Morocco’s earthquake puts girls’ education at risk

Posted on by

Charity that runs boarding houses to help girls in remote Atlas mountains get to school scrambles to find out what facilities remain

When a powerful earthquake struck deep below Morocco’s Atlas mountains last Friday night, the school year had only just begun. Staff from a girls’ education charity who had stayed late at work suddenly found themselves jolted by the force of a 6.8 magnitude quake as the walls of their offices crumbled around them to expose the cold mountain air.

“Many of the girls who we know are at least alive have lost mothers, brothers, fathers, family members and it looks like many of their houses have also been completely destroyed,” said Sonia Omar, the head of Education for All Morocco, her voice cracking. The charity supports a network of six boarding houses for girls across the Atlas, all situated in villages around the epicentre of the quake.

Continue reading...

Libya and Morocco: two very different responses to catastrophe

Posted on by

The aftermath of an earthquake in Morocco and flooding in Libya has shown up the state of the two nations

Not one but two disasters have struck in recent days – the earthquake in Morocco and devastating flooding in Libya.

At least 2,900 people are known to have died in the 6.8-magnitude earthquake that struck in Morocco’s High Atlas mountains a week ago, and the authorities say the death toll will rise.

Continue reading...

After Morocco’s devastating earthquake, the tourism industry rallies round

Posted on by

Travel and tour operators are getting involved in the country’s relief effort, knowing how vital tourism is to its economy

“My family is safe,” our tour guide Sara Chakir said as we huddled in the streets outside Fez’s medina, waiting for aftershocks until the early hours. Morocco’s 6.8 magnitude earthquake had struck last Friday, 350 miles away in the Al Haouz region of the High Atlas mountains at just after 11pm. It was enough to send our riad swaying, but there was no apparent damage to people or place. It was only in the morning that the scale of destruction elsewhere was clear. Another tour guide, Hossain ait Mhand, said: “My family is fine, but others in their town are not so lucky – homes have been flattened.”

I was on my way to a conference in Marrakech, about 40 miles north of where the earthquake was centred, but detoured home. Those already in the city saw blood bank queues snaking around the streets after a government call out. Marrakech’s medina experienced damage, and 50 people were reported to have died there. Tourists trickled out of the city.

Continue reading...

Morocco earthquake: Macron tries to soothe tensions after frosty response to offer of aid

Posted on by

French president addresses Moroccans directly amid political rift between Rabat and Paris

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has attempted to soothe tensions with Morocco over the supply of humanitarian aid, after a deadly earthquake centred high in the Atlas mountains.

Search and rescue teams backed by the Moroccan military continued a frantic search to locate and airlift the wounded from remote mountainous villages in the Atlas mountains where the 6.8 magnitude quake struck last Friday. But as rescue efforts continued for a fifth day, the chances of finding survivors were fading.

Continue reading...

Ordinary Moroccans bring aid to quake-hit villages amid criticism of official response

Posted on by

Thousands of ordinary citizens are travelling from all over the country to bring aid to survivors of the earthquake

Morocco’s route nationale 10 was once a pretty road through the High Atlas mountains connecting Marrakech with Agadir on the Atlantic coast.

Winding through a series of steep-sided high valleys, it has now become one of the key aid routes to reach the communities closest to the epicentre of last week’s deadly earthquake that has now claimed 2,900 lives.

Continue reading...

Wedding party saves residents of Moroccan village from quake

Posted on by

Outdoor event hosted by bride’s family meant no one was trapped when buildings collapsed

A wedding celebration saved all the people of a Moroccan village during Friday’s deadly earthquake, which destroyed their stone and mud-brick houses while they were enjoying traditional music in an outdoor courtyard.

The marriage of Habiba Ajdir, 22, and Mohammed Boudad, 30, an apple farmer, was due to take place at his village of Kettou on Saturday, but by custom the bride’s family held a party the night before the wedding.

Continue reading...