"The low down on African affairs"

by Jean-Jacques Cornish Celebrating its national day Friday, Algeria is showing a new stable and well-heeled profile in relations  with Africa.  July 5 is the 62nd anniversary of Algeria’s independence from France. The  135-year French rule of the oil-rich North African state ended in a bloody eight-year liberation way in

There are fewer global trouble spots where it is easier to say I told you so than Mali. The dirt-poor, landlocked West African country has made one bad decision after another. The military coups in 2020 and 2021 indubitably rank at the top of the list. The pretext for the

Morocco’s Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita has broken his silence on Saharawi President Brahim Ghali’s state visit to South Africa, acknowledging the glamour of the event Ghali flew home with host President Cyril Ramaphosa’s assertion that the coloniaisation of Africa continued so long as Morocco maintained its illegal 47-year occupation of

Illegally occupying Western Sahara in defiance of the United Nations, Morocco is understandably furious about South Africa receiving the President of that country with all the bells and whistles of a Statevisit. President Brahim Ghali is meeting the MPs in Cape Town tonight and tomorrow having been received in Pretoria

With their proximity to Europe, the countries of the Maghreb have become dab hands  at the diplomatic game.. They tend to punch above their weight and are, when they wish to be, African, Arab or even southern European. Their position, just across the Mediterranean, makes them strategically difficult to disregard.

Morocco’s King Mohammed VI skipped Kenyan President William Ruto’s inauguration ceremony in Nairobi this week. He’ll also miss  Angolan President João Lourenço’s inauguration in Luanda tomorrow. Is this because Western Sahara President Brahim Ghali was and will be there? Or is he embarrassed about his envoy being caught lying about