Month: February 2017

Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Statesman in time of turmoil

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Fears have come up again as regards president Abdelaziz Bouteflika‘s health state after the postponement of Geman Chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit to algeria on February, 20. Observers are accustomed to see the president hosting some of the pillars of the Algerian State or its guests either pale or sick. Whatever the fears of the future of Algeria, the sisterly country is ready for all the unexpected scenarios, because Algeria went through the toughest crisis and turbulences under Bouteflika’s leadership. The latter has spent the longest period in the presidency of…

Investing in digital payments and ICT sectors through AKA Partners

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Entrepreneur, Ali Kassab, has recently ventured into private equity funding with the launch of AKA Partners, and is changing the way companies manage payment solutions. His firm will invest in fintech businesses across the Middle East region, starting with Wow Pay MENA, a digital payment platform. He has also been appointed CEO of MBME, a veteran in the payment industry which is the leading kiosk payment solution provider in the UAE. “Nearly AED 845 billion of consumer payments to government entities and merchants are processed each year in the UAE,”…

Tunisia underestimates imminent North Africa refugee crisis

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Tunisia has signed agreements with the EU for the return of  illegal Tunisian immigrants and to host asylum seekers from other African countries. But Tunis is now denying those deals, writes Mourad Teyeb. Mourad Teyeb is a journalist and consultant based in Tunis.  Since 2011, hundreds of thousands of Tunisian and sub-Saharan Africans have used the Tunisian soil and shores to sail to Europe in one of modern history’s most dreadful human tragedies. The numbers of the so-called “irregular migrants” vary from one month to another according to the political and…

Arab cities top survey on quality of African life

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Marrakesh was among four Moroccan cities to lead a survey that ranked the top 10 African cities for quality of life. Casablanca, Rabat and Fez joined Marrakesh – nicknamed the Ochre City for the walls surrounding its old medina district – at the top of the list published on Tuesday. “They are cities that are not huge, where real work has been done to improve infrastructure, people’s quality of life (and) housing in a stable political context,” said Swiss urban sociologist Jerome Chenal, who directed the survey. The study of 100 cities, which included all of the continent’s capitals and its…

Groupe Avril Launches 100% Tunisian Rapeseed Oil Project

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Groupe Avril and the Tunisian government have formally unveiled their joint plan, which will see the production of 100% Tunisian rapeseed oil. The product will be marketed under the Avril brand Lesieur, which supplies supermarkets with table oils and condiments. The project ‘allows Tunisia, a major consumer of vegetable oils, to start the production on its soil of rapeseed oil at a time when the demand of Tunisian consumers for this oil recognized for its nutritional benefits is growing,’ according to the French firm. Another Avril subsidiary, Cristal Tunisie, will…

Emergency Tunisia summit aims to organise Serraj-Haftar meeting

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At the end of two days of talks on Libya, Tunisia, Egypt and Algeria have unveiled a fresh initiative to further political reconciliation in the country, but say any solution must be based on the December 2015 Skhirat agreement. The move follows the failure of Egyptian-hosted attempts at a meeting between Presidency Council head Faiez Serraj and the eastern military supremo Khalifa Hafter. The three countries hope to organise a successful meeting between the pair. The ‘Tunis Declaration’, signed by Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry, Algerian Minister for Maghreb, African…

Cameroon looks into renewable energy with Tunisia

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In Central Africa, the government of Cameroon is expected to sign a partnership with Tunisia for the transfer of technology through a science park, the Borj Cedria Ecopark, in the coming days. The minister of water resources, Basile Atangana Kouna and the Tunisian ambassador to Cameroon, Jalel Snoussi are said to be in negotiations, Cameroon Tribune reported. It is reported that the latter paid a courtesy call to the minister on Friday with Kamel Touati, adviser for foreign African affairs at the Borj Cedria Technopole, to discuss putting in place…

Tunisia: Foreign direct investments slump 9.4% in 2016 to $941M

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Foreign direct investment in Tunisia stood at 2.14 billion dinar ($914 million) in 2016, down 9.4% as compared to 2015. This was revealed by a review released on February 16 by the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency (FIPA). The power sector grabbed the largest part of the FDIs, knowingly 960.3 million dinars. Next come the industry (794.5 million dinar), services (281.7 million dinar) and agriculture sectors (20.8 million dinar). Let’s recall that some States, private investors and multilateral financial institutions committed to inject 34 billion dinars ($14.8 billion) in Tunisia’s economy…

Increase in arms transfers driven by demand in the Middle East and Asia, says SIPRI

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The volume of international transfers of major weapons has grown continuously since 2004 and increased by 8.4 per cent between 2007–11 and 2012–16, according to new data on arms transfers published today by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Notably, transfers of major weapons in 2012–16 reached their highest volume for any five-year period since the end of the cold war. The flow of arms increased to Asia and Oceania and the Middle East between 2007–11 and 2012–16, while there was a decrease in the flow to Europe, the…

EU pushes migration talks with Egypt, Tunisia

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The European Union is offering simplified visa procedures and increased economic aid to Egypt and Tunisia in exchange for smoother deportations of unwanted African migrants, two senior officials in Brussels said. The bloc has agreed steps to curb arrivals from Libya, the main embarkation point for migrants seeking to get to Europe from Africa, and is now looking at its neighbours. While the numbers of migrants setting off from there is tiny in comparison with Libya, Cairo and Tunis have fully functioning governments and are able to police their borders,…