Category Archives: Morocco

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

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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.

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Scientists unearth mysteries of giant, moving Moroccan star dune

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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.

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Refugee files complaint to UN against Spain over 2014 border deaths

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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.

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Spanish police investigate deaths of four migrants forced off speedboat

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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.

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Israel faces blame from regional allies over Gaza hospital deaths

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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.

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More protests expected across Middle East after Gaza hospital blast

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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.

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IMF clings to a hopeful agenda as crisis follows crisis

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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.

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

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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.

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Libya and Morocco: two very different responses to catastrophe

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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Wedding party saves residents of Moroccan village from quake

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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.

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Morocco earthquake: hope fades of finding survivors in rubble

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Complicated rescue effort continues as questions remain about king and government’s response

Hope of finding earthquake survivors trapped under their homes in some of the remotest parts of the Atlas mountains in Morocco was fading rapidly as rescue efforts continued into their fourth day.

Search and rescue teams were still attempting to reach the smallest hamlets and villages in the mountainous region of Al Haouz, close to the epicentre of the 6.8-magnitude quake that struck on Friday night.

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Morocco quake survivors call for more help after entire villages destroyed

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As scale of disaster become clearer, survivors in small mountain communities feel they have been abandoned

As the dirt roads leading to some of the areas worst hit in Friday’s earthquake in Morocco were gradually cleared, the full extent of the disaster was being revealed, including whole villages destroyed in Al Haouz province.

In the tiny hamlet of Tarouiste, in the Atlas mountain foothills above the town of Amizmiz, not one of a dozen houses was left standing. Only the village mosque had not been reduced to rubble.

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Morocco earthquake: death toll passes 2,600 as foreign aid teams fly in

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Authorities accept help from some countries but other offers not yet taken up as search for survivors runs out of time

The death toll in the Moroccan earthquake has passed 2,600 people as a limited number of foreign aid and rescue teams joined an intensifying race against time to find any remaining survivors high in the Atlas mountains, where many villages remain inaccessible.

Moroccan authorities said they had “responded favourably” to offers of help from visiting search and rescue teams from Spain, Qatar, Britain and the United Arab Emirates, but they were yet to accept further offers of aid from other countries despite the urgent nature of the disaster – including from France and from Turkey, which experienced a deadly earthquake in February. Its president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said it would help “with all means” if its offer was accepted.

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Morocco earthquake: France ‘ready to help’ despite frosty diplomatic relations

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France offers €5m to assist disaster relief efforts amid political rift between Rabat and Paris

France’s foreign minister has said it is up to Morocco whether to seek French aid in dealing with its deadliest earthquake in more than six decades, and France is ready to help if asked.

Catherine Colonna said France had pledged €5m (£4.3m) to aid organisations in the north African country, where at least 2,500 people are believed to have died and a further 2,400 have been injured, but it was for Morocco to decide who it officially asked for assistance.

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‘It felt like we were being bombed’: Moroccan earthquake survivors left sleeping outside

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Help has yet to arrive in the village of Moulay Brahim in the Atlas mountains where many homes have been reduced to rubble

In a narrow passage in the village of Moulay Brahim, in Morocco’s Atlas mountains, a house had spilled across the lane in a drift of sandy ruins. It was largely unrecognisable from what it once was, save for the unlikely survival of a solitary room left beached atop the rubble, the blue paint of its walls still visible.

Abderahim Imni, with his hand bandaged from where he was injured by falling masonry during Friday’s devastating earthquake, was directing the cleanup in the street where his home once stood.

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Morocco leads earthquake rescue with many nations offering support

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Rabat has yet to issue appeal for international aid despite powerful quake killing more than 2,000 people

Several countries have offered aid and search support after the Moroccan earthquake, but most of the rescue operation in remote mountain areas was being led by local teams and Rabat has not yet issued a broad demand for international aid.

After a powerful earthquake late on Friday night killed more than 2,000 people, Moroccan authorities this weekend made bilateral contact with certain countries whom they authorised to send expert search and rescue teams. These included Tunisia, who sent 50 paramedics and personnel from a specialised unit, as well as search dogs, advanced thermal monitoring devices, a drone to detect victims under the rubble and a field hospital. Qatar also sent a rescue team and medical crews.

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Morocco earthquake: mourning begins as rescue continues with death toll over 2,000

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Villagers bury their dead while Red Cross warns recovery may take years and other countries offer aid

Rescuers in Morocco were trying to find survivors in the rubble of collapsed buildings on Sunday as the country began three days of mourning for victims of a disaster that killed more than 2,000 people and left many more injured and homeless.

Friday’s 6.8-magnitude quake, Morocco’s deadliest in more than six decades, had an epicentre below a remote cluster of mountainous villages 45 miles south of Marrakech, and shook infrastructure as far away as the country’s northern coast.

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