North Africa

A big fire has swept through the main square of a landmark concert hall and conference centre in Egypt where the country’s top film festival is due to open on Thursday. A plume of black smoke rose from where the opening and closing ceremonies of El Gouna film festival are …

The Francophonie summit, scheduled for November on the Tunisian coastal island of Djerba, was officially postponed for a year on Wednesday, October 13. At a meeting of the Permanent Council of the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF) the day before, the representatives of the 88 member and associate states …

The Algerian president Abdelmadjid Tebboune has asked “total respect” from France as the diplomatic tensions among the two countries are worsening. In his first public comments on the matter, Abdelmadjid Tebboune said France should forget that Algeria had once been its colony. The current dispute between the two countries was …

French President Emmanuel Macron said he hoped diplomatic tensions with Algeria would ease soon and that it would be better to hold talks in order to move forward. “My wish is that we can calm things down because I think it is better to talk to one another, and to …

Four suspected Islamic State-linked militants and one Sudanese soldier were killed during clashes in the capital, Khartoum, on Monday, state news agency Suna reports. “The terrorist group fired heavy shots at our forces from a variety of weapons, including… machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and grenades”, the agency reports. Read also: …

Against all odds, the winner of Paris’ prestigious best baguette award will not be supplying the French president with any bread, has announced the president’s cabinet. Makram Akrout, Tunisian-born and winner of the award, has been at the centre of a controversy since he won the award last month, after …

They are at least 500 migrants to be intercepted off the Libyan coast while they were attempting to reach Europe on Sunday. Migrants, the majority of whom are from Bangladesh, Somalia, Sudan and Syria, according to the UN refugee agency, were intercepted by the Libyan coast guard while on boats …

Algier has recalled Mohamed-Antar Daoud, its ambassador in Paris for ‘consultations’ after Algeria has accused France for interference in its affairs. Algeria said it was responding to comments attributed to President Emmanuel Macron by French newspaper Le Monde. The diplomatic tension comes days after France cut the number of visas …

More than two months after the sacking of the previous government, the Tunisian president Kais Saied has named Najla Bouden, a geologist as the new prime minister. Mr Saied urged Najla Bouden the country’s first female Prime Minister to form a government swiftly. The president suspended parliament in July and …

Four political parties in Tunisia have denounced the the seizure of all powers by president Kaïs Saied and asked for the reversion of his recent decision. One of the parties has warned that the president’s actions risked a slide into violence or even civil war. President Kaïs Saied was accused …