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NAIROBI, Kenya (AFP) — The African Union Commission chief has voiced shock at the “violent and degrading” treatment of African migrants trying to cross from Morocco into Spain after 23 people died, and called for an investigation into the incident. About 2,000 migrants stormed the heavily fortified border between the Moroccan region of Nador and the Spanish enclave of Melilla on Friday. At least 23 migrants died and 140 police officers were wounded in the […]
by Ismail Bellaouali Agence France-Presse RABAT, Morocco (AFP) – As Morocco withers under its worst drought in 40 years, experts warn that a combination of climate change and bad resource management could trigger severe drinking water shortages. “The country hasn’t seen a situation like this since the start of the 1980s,” said water policy expert Abderrahim Hendouf. While it was usually farmers who bore the brunt of repeated droughts in the North African kingdom, today […]
RABAT, Morocco (AFP) – Morocco said Wednesday it will launch a nearly $1 billion aid programme to help its agriculture industry, which has been hit hard by a particularly acute drought in recent years. The emergency plan “aims to mitigate the effects of delay in rainfall, to alleviate the impact on agricultural activity and to provide assistance to the farmers and livestock breeders affected”, the royal palace said in a statement. The plan will cost […]
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) – Saudi Arabia has said it filled and fortified thousands of abandoned wells across the country, after the tragic death of a boy in Morocco following failed rescue efforts. Five-year-old Rayan, who spent five days trapped down a well, was laid to rest on Monday in his village of Ighrane in Morocco’s Rif mountains. Following last week’s tragic incident, Saudi Arabia’s ministry of environment, water and agriculture said on Sunday: “To […]
IGHRANE, Maroc, Feb 6, 2022 (AFP) – Morocco was in shock Sunday after emergency crews found a five-year-old boy dead at the bottom of a well in a tragic end to a painstaking five-day rescue operation that gripped the nation and the world. The ordeal of “little Rayan” since he fell down the well on Tuesday afternoon gained global attention and sparked an outpouring of sympathy online, with the Arabic hashtag #SaveRayan trending. Throughout the […]
Morocco held its breath as rescue workers on Saturday entered a tunnel leading to a pocket where a five-year-old boy has been trapped for days after falling into a well, AFP correspondents said. For five days the complex and risky earth-moving operation has gripped residents of the North African kingdom and beyond, also sparking sympathy in neighbouring Algeria, a regional rival. A medical team was with the rescuers, who still hope to find young Rayan […]
BAB BERRED, Morocco (AFP) – Moroccan rescuers raced against the clock on Friday to save a young boy trapped in a deep well for almost three days, in an operation that has gripped the kingdom with hundreds of thousands anxiously glued to live broadcasts. Relief operations intensified for five-year-old Rayan, who fell down a 32-metre (100-foot) deep well on Tuesday, as darkness fell with diggers clawing out dirt under floodlights to create a hole next […]
ALGIERS, Algeria (AFP) – Algeria’s special envoy for the Western Sahara on Sunday accused Morocco of “assassinations targeting civilians” outside its “internationally recognised borders”, following a recent drone attack in the disputed territory, state media reported. Moroccan authorities “carry out acts of war… and commit extrajudicial assassinations targeting civilians” in the Western Sahara, Amar Belani said, quoted by the official APS news agency. Alleged attacks have been undertaken “using sophisticated weapon systems outside (Morocco’s) internationally […]
RABAT, Morocco (AFP) — Morocco on Monday announced a ban on New Year’s Eve celebrations as part of stepped-up measures against rising coronavirus cases. The government ordered a ban on all forms of celebration on the evening of New Year’s eve, including parties in hotels and tourist sites. It ordered restaurants and cafes to close at 11.30 pm and said a curfew would be in place from midnight until 6:00 AM on January 1. Morocco […]
by Kaouthar Oudrhiri Agence France-Presse MEKNES, Morocco (AFP) – Recycling in Morocco may be in its infancy, but the North African kingdom is making steady progress, helped by a Swiss firm that specialises in processing organic waste. “Nothing’s thrown away here: everything is transformed,” says Mohamed El Kabous proudly, crumbling a fistful of compost produced by Elephant Vert (EV — Green Elephant) in the central city of Meknes. Established in 2012 as EV’s largest such […]
by Daniel Woolls with AFP bureaus The United States, Brazil, Canada, and Saudi Arabia became the latest countries Friday to restrict travel from southern Africa, where a new Covid strain labelled a “variant of concern” has been discovered in a potentially heavy blow to the world’s efforts to end the coronavirus pandemic. The World Health Organization said the new variant is more infectious than the dominant, highly transmissible Delta strain, and renamed this B.1.1.529 strain […]
by Kaouthar Oudrhiri SAIDIA, Morocco (AFP) — Moroccan environmentalist Mohamed Benata stood taking photos of what should be the mouth of the Moulouya river — but after years of drought and over-pumping, it comes to a halt just short of the sea. One of the longest rivers in the North African kingdom and a vital lifeline for farmers in the area near the Algerian border, the final few paces of the 500-kilometre (310-mile) waterway are […]
