Weekly Update 23-29.06.2014
1) MOROCCO
» 29.06.2014 : Une nouvelle tentative de forcer le passage à Melilla par des émigrés clandestins
Quelque 500 immigrants d’origine subsaharienne ont tenté d’un seul coup de passer le haut grillage frontalier entre Melilla et Maroc, dimanche 28 juin.
http://www.le360.ma/fr/societe/nouvel-assaut-massif-de-migrants-subsahariens-sur-melilla-17495
2) LIBYA
» 25-27.06.2014: An outspoken Human Rights Activist silenced for good
Salwa Bugaighis, a Libyan lawyer and outspoken human rights activist, was shot dead at her house in Benghazi short after voting last Tuesday. Bugaighis was a member of the National Transitional Council that led the uprising that deposed Qaddafi in 2011. An Egyptian gardener, who was witness to the assassination, died under suspicious circumstances at a Benghazi police station. While the post of General Prosecutor is still vacant, there is a campaign underway to demand a national and international investigation into the murder of SalwaBugaighis.
http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/06/26/libya-tribute-salwa-bughaighis
http://www.libyaherald.com/2014/06/27/witness-to-bugaighis-murdered-dies-in-mysterious-circumstances-body-shows-signs-of-torture/#axzz368W3ihjG
3) TUNISIA
» 29.06.2014: Tunisia’s kidnapped diplomats released
Tunisia’s diplomats Mohamed Ben Cheikh et LaroussiGontassi, who were kidnapped in Benghazia and Tripoli last March and April respectively, were released over the weekend.MongiHamdi, Minister of Foreign Affairs, said in a press conference that the Tunisian government did not negotiate with the kidnapers and dealt only with the Libyan government. He added that Tunisia did not give in to any blackmail and that no Libyans in Tunisian prisons were released in return. Hamadi noted that Libyans understood that with the largest Libyan immigrant population (over 1.5 million) hosted in Tunis there would be backlash against Libyans should the kidnapping of Tunisians continue. Two months ago an extremist group posted a video on Youtube in which it demanded the release of Libyans jailed in Tunis for their involvement in the killing of a Tunisian colonel and a soldier in return for the release of the diplomats.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHhD74zLwys#t=109
» 23.06.2014: Tunisian Academia ponders Salafism
There has been growing interest among Tunisian research centers in the study of Salafi movements in the country and the region. Two weeks ago the Ministry of Interior announced that around 400 Salafi Tunisians had been killed in Syria and a similar number had returned from thereto Tunisa. In late May the Eljahedh Forum, a think tank, organised a conference on Salafism: Semantic Confusion and the Risky Consequences. Last week it was the turn of the Tunisian Institute for Strategic Studies to organise another conference on Jihadi Salafism in Tunisia and the Maghreb.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.868434199840454.1073741869.217234228293791&type=1
4) EGYPT
» 24.06.2014: Egyptian Army destroys tunnels on its border with Gaza
The Egyptian Army destroyed two tunnels on the Egyptian-Gazan border, bringing the total number of tunnels destroyed to 1,736.Security sources said the aim is to deal with smugglers and armed groups which aim to compromise national security at all levels.
Besides seizing explosives, the Egyptian border guards also seized cars carrying food, medicines and goods.
» 24.06.2014: Egypt’s President says he won’t intervene in case of Jailed Journalists
President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt said on Tuesday that he “would not interfere in judicial rulings”, stating his position in response to growing international pressure on the Egyptian government regarding media freedom and political dissent, following the verdict of three journalists from Al Jazeera’s English-language service who have each been sentenced to at least seven years in prison.”If we desire state institutions, we must respect court rulings and not comment on them, even if others don’t understand these rulings,” he said.The White House had urged the Egyptian government to pardon the journalists or to commute their sentences so that they could be released immediately.
» 28.06.2014 : Egypt releases Alaa and Gamal Mubarak pending investigations
The Cairo Criminal Courtdecided on Friday to release Alaa and Gamal Mubarak, the two sons of ousted president Hosni Mubarak, pending further investigations on graft charges. The two Mubaraks are accused of using their father’s influence to acquire a massive fortune that is not proportionate with their pay, in what constitutes illicit gain.
» 30.06.2014: Two police officers killed in Egypt palace blasts – Sisi vows reprisals
Two Egyptian police officers have been killed and several others wounded in two bomb blasts outside his palace in Cairo’s Heliopolis district.Security forces were defusing one makeshift bomb found at a street intersection near the presidential palace on Monday when a second device exploded, the interior ministry said in a statement.
In a pre-recorded speech by Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi aired on television channels to mark June 30, the day millions protested against then president Mohamed Mursi, al-Sisivowed “retribution” after the Egypt palace blasts. The blast came days after the militant group AjnadMisr, or Soldiers of Egypt, said it had planted a series of bombs in the same area to target security forces.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/06/2014630101914531218.html
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/06/30/Egypt-marks-June-30-protests-anniversary-.html
5) YEMEN
» 25.06.2014 : Al-Qaida fighters attack Sayoun airport in Southern Yemen
Suspected al-Qaeda fighters have attacked and briefly seized Sayhounairport in the southern province of Hadramawt before battling with the army. Seiyun is the main town in the Hadramawt valley, a stronghold for al-Qaeda linked fighters.According to an army source, at least six soldiers and three civilians were killed in a series of attacks in the town.
» 26 juin 2014 : Yemen became the 160th WTO member
Yemen became the 160th WTO member on June 26th, closing the 13-year long chapter of negotiating its accessions terms with WTO member countries.
Yemen membership and strategic location can help the country overcome years of strifeand transform itself into a hub for maritime commerce.
http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news14_e/acc_yem_26jun14_e.htm
6) MAURITANIA
» 25.06.2014: Africom Reinforces Ties with Nouakchott
Mauritania received two surveillance and transport planes from the U.S, last Wednesday, 25 June, reported a Nouakchott based independent news agency. The delivery of the planes took place in the presence of Africom’s air force chief of staff and his Mauritanian counterpart General Hanena Ould Sidi. On the same day, Radio Sawa Mauritania was launched on FM wave. Radio Sawa was established in 2002 by a federal agency funded by the U.S. Congress.
http://ani.mr/?menuLink=9bf31c7ff062936a96d3c8bd1f8f2ff3&idNews=25067
http://mauritania.usembassy.gov/sawalaunch.html
7) MALI
» 29.06.2014: Is International Competition and Regional Rivalry Fuelling Tension in Mali?
Hiroute Guebre Sellassie, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Sahel, did not have much to say on Mali when repeatedly prompted by journalists on her mission and the scope of her mandate in the Malian crisis. Her UN Sahel Briefing presented on 19 June underscored the need for more coordination among the different international and regional initiatives, missions and frameworks. After Mauritanian president Mohamed Abdel Aziz’s mediated ceasefire in Kidal on 23 Mai, and the Algiers Agreement signed by Tuareg movements on 9 June, it is the Turn of Burkina Faso’s president Blaise Compaoré to fly to Bamako on Monday.
http://www.unmultimedia.org/radio/library/2014/06/1118855.html
http://www.whatsinblue.org/2014/06/sahel-briefing-by-new-special-envoy.php
http://www.jeuneafrique.com/Article/ARTJAWEB20140630145639/politique-mali-blaise-compaore-cedeao-mali-burkina-blaise-compaore-en-visite-au-mali-pour-relancer-la-mediation-burkinabe.html
8) NIGER
» 27.06.2014 : Dispersion d’une marche de l’opposition
La police nigérienne a fait usage de grenades lacrymogènes pour disperser, vendredi 27 juin à Zinder, une marche de l’opposition parlementaire présidée par les trois grands leaders de l’opposition politique nigérienne : SeiniOumarou du Mouvement national pour la société de développement (MNSD-Nassara), Mahamane Ousmane de la Convention démocratique et sociale (CDS-Rahama), et Hama Amadou du Moden-Fa (Lumana).
» 27.06.2014 : La levée de l’immunité de l’ex-président nigérien
La justice nigérienne a levé l’immunité dont jouissait l’ex-président du pays Mamadou Tandja, qui devra être entendu sur une affaire de quatre cents milliards de CFA.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/afrique/region/2014/06/140628_niger_tandia.shtml
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