Africa

Tunisia’s Supreme Judicial Council, the independent judicial watchdog set up in 2016 to ensure the independence of the country’s judiciary, will be reformed and not dissolved, the country’s justice minister announced on Wednesday, days after President Kais Saied ordered it abolished. Justice Minister Leila Jaffel made the announcement during an …

While U.S. President Joe Biden seems determined to reduce the U.S. footprint in the Middle East, finally embracing Washington’s long-discussed pivot to Asia, French President Emmanuel Macron is headed in the opposite direction. In recent years, Macron has made repeated trips to Lebanon, Iraq and the Gulf states, and launched …

In late November, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz visited Morocco to formalize military cooperation between both countries with the signing of a memorandum of understanding. Gantz’s trip came a year after Morocco normalized its diplomatic relations with Israel and follows a previous visit by Foreign Minister Yair Lapid to Rabat …

In a little more than a month, on Dec. 24, Libyan voters will go to the polls to elect a new president, and after a decadelong civil war it is probably stating the obvious to say that they face tough choices. Among the candidates they can vote for are Gen. …

Maps have long played a crucial, symbolic role in the dispute over the Western Sahara. For years, because most world maps available elsewhere show the international border that separates Morocco from its coveted territory to the south, those that were sold in Morocco had to be separately manufactured for the …

Tunisian President Kais Saied announced a timeline for a new constitutional referendum Monday, to be followed by elections to restore the parliament he disbanded in July. But the plan remains silent on the question of who will draft the new constitution, and Saied’s announcement suggests that the country will remain …

Following the death of Islamic State leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Quraysh, here’s a look at what Middle East terrorists remain at large. Before his death in an overnight US special forces raid, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi was among one of the world’s most wanted terrorists. Al-Qurayshi took the helm of …

Remarks by a prominent cleric saying it is permissible to hit a spouse “to preserve the family” has sparked backlash against Al-Azhar. The Egyptian parliament is currently reviewing a proposed amendment to Article 242 of Penal Code No. 58 of 1937, stipulating harsher punishment for domestic abuse and violence. If …

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for freeing about 20 prisoners during an attack in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s North Kivu province this week, according to a statement published on Friday by the SITE Intelligence Group. Witnesses and an army spokesman blamed the attack, which killed at least three people, …

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has raised doubts about Germany’s military engagement in Mali, even though the federal government had recently ruled out a withdrawal of troops. “Considering the latest steps taken by Mali’s government, we need to honestly ask ourselves whether the conditions for the success of our common engagement …