North Africa : News

[Focac]Cairo -The recent "Tamarrud" (Arabic for " Rebel") campaign that aims to pressurize Egypt's Islamist President Mohamed Morsi to call for an early presidential election has stirred up mixed reactions in the country. (AllAfrica)

[Aswat Masriya]Egypt's security forces have not received any orders to initiate an armed operation to free the security personnel kidnapped in Sinai, a senior security source told the state-run news agency. (AllAfrica)

[Aswat Masriya]Unknown assailants opened fire at a central security forces camp in Rafah's al-Ahrash on Friday morning but there were no casualties, a security source said. (AllAfrica)

[Tunis Afrique Presse]Doha -"The Government will deal with Ansar al-Sharia as an illegal organisation that has committed acts of violence and has ties to terrorism," said Interim Prime Minister Ali Larayedh who is on a working visit to Qatar. (AllAfrica)

[Tunis Afrique Presse]Kairouan -Clashes erupted on Sunday between security forces and groups of young people in Bab Jalladine, Kairouan, noted a TAP journalist on site. (AllAfrica)

[Tunis Afrique Presse]Tunis -Eleven security officers and 3 protesters were injured on Sunday in Ettadhamen neighbourhood after clashes between police and supporters of "Ansar al-Sharia," said the Ministry of the Interior. (AllAfrica)

[Tunis Afrique Presse]Ariana -Security forces and supporters of "Ansar al-Sharia" clashed on Sunday at the Ettadhamen neighbourhood in Tunis. (AllAfrica)

[Tunis Afrique Presse]Tunis -Five policemen were injured and twenty members of Ansar al-Sharia were arrested on Sunday at Ettadhamen district, security sources told TAP journalist on site. (AllAfrica)

[Aswat Masriya]An Egyptian soldier at the Rafah border crossing said on Sunday that he recognised four of his colleagues from a circulated online video of them being held hostages, an eyewitness told Aswat Masriya. (AllAfrica)

[Tunis Afrique Presse]Doha -Interim Prime Minister Ali Larayedh said, on Sunday, he had discussed with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani ways to boost Tunisian-Qatari partnership, particularly financial and technical co-operation and mobilisation of Qatari investments in Tunisia. (AllAfrica)

[Tunis Afrique Presse]Tunis -A young supporter of Ansar Al-Sharia died on Sunday afternoon of injuries sustained in clashes that occurred in the Ettadhamen neighbourhood, a security source told TAP agency. (AllAfrica)

[HRInfo]Cairo On -The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) denounces the physical assault suffered number of the journalists by a group of unknown people who destroyed their camera and intimidated them in order to ban them from doing their work. This took place last Friday while the journalists tried to cover the press conference organized by "nidaatounes movement" in one of the private schools in Sidi Bouzid, the capital of the Tunisian revolution. (AllAfrica)

[HRInfo]In the context of the legal aid unit's framework in Cairo Center for Development and human rights, the center sued 50 lawsuits for exposed-to-violence women including personal status, other cases are in front of administrative court in the Council of State and in front of delinquency courts. (AllAfrica)

[SPS]Algiers -Maghreb student organizations from Algeria, Tunisia and Mauritania urged Sunday from Algiers the United Nations for "urgent and immediate application" of the dictates of international law in order to enable the Saharawi people to exercise self-determination. (AllAfrica)

[SPS]Tifariti -On the eve of the celebrations commemorating the 40th anniversary of the outbreak of armed struggle in Western Sahara to take place tomorrow in the liberated town of Tifariti, the Saharawi National Council (Parliament) ratified Sunday a range of conventions and protocols related to the African Union (AU). (AllAfrica)

[SPS]Cairo -Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) said that Western Sahara has remained an open arena for wide-range violations by Morocco against political and human rights activists of the Western Sahara, who call for the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination, highlighting that Saharawi rights activists continued to face arbitrary arrest, physical attacks and unfair trials. (AllAfrica)

[SPS]Morocco -Morocco's trade deficit has increased almost five-fold from 44 billion dirhams (1 euro = 11 DH) in 2000 to 201 billion dirhams in 2012 due to the growth rate of imports such as energy products and food. (AllAfrica)

[SPS]Valencia -The POLISARIO Representative in Valencia Mr. Saad El-Mami has held talks with the Vice-President and Head of Municipal and International Cooperation at the Council of Valencia Mr. Juan José Medina. (AllAfrica)

[SPS]On 30 April, the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) - which has been tasked since 1991 with maintaining a ceasefire and monitoring Africa's longest territorial dispute between Morocco and the Sahrawi Polisario Front - was yet again renewed. The UN body was initially set up to facilitate a referendum for self-determination promised to the Sahrawi people. However, the referendum, planned for 1992, has failed to materialise amid disputes over who among the Mor (AllAfrica)

[SPS]Johannesburg -President of the Pan-African Parliament Mr. Bethel Amadi expressed the support of the Pan-African body to the Sahrawi people's struggle and to its legitimate right to independence, calling for an end to the sufferings of the Sahrawi population and to the Moroccan violations of human rights in Western Sahara. (AllAfrica)

[SPS]Tifariti -The Saharawi people will celebrate tomorrow, May 20th, in the liberated town of Tifariti the 40th anniversary of the outbreak of armed struggle against the occupation, in the presence of national and foreign figures, after commemorating on May 10th the 40th anniversary of the creation of the Polisario Front (10 May 1973). (AllAfrica)

[SPS]Murcia -The General Coordinator of Spanish United Left Party Mr. Cayo Lara affirmed his party's position of support to the right of Saharawi people to freedom and independence, disapproving the positions of successive Spanish governments, wether right-wing or socialist, vis-à-vis the Western Sahara issue. (AllAfrica)

[CAF]The Ethiopian side St. George beat the visiting Egyptian side ENPPI 2-0 in the first leg of the Orange CAF Confederation Cup play off on Sunday at the Addis Ababa stadium. (AllAfrica)

[CAF]Enugu Rangers of Nigeria snatched a dramatic 1-0 win over CS Sfaxien of Tunisia Sunday in an Orange CAF Confederation Cup play-off. Severely weakened by the absence of stars Chigozie Agbim and Sunday Mba, Rangers broke the deadlock just three minutes from time. (AllAfrica)

[Vanguard]Egyptian officials have given firm assurances that necessary precautions have been taken to ensure the safety of the 700 delegates before, during and after the 40th African Insurance organisation national assembly/conference. The Chairman of the Local Organising Committee, LOC and also the chairman of Insurance Federation of Egypt, Mr. Abdel Raouf Kotb speaks on the safety and well being of Nigerians, and other delegates in this interview. (AllAfrica)

[SPS]Cairo -Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) said that Western Sahara has remained an open field for wide-range violations by Morocco against political and human rights activists of the Western Sahara, who call for the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination, highlighting that Saharawi rights activists continued to face arbitrary arrest, physical attacks and unfair trials. (AllAfrica)

[Tunis Afrique Presse]Kairouan -Calm was restored to the city of Kairouan on Sunday afternoon. (AllAfrica)

[Tunis Afrique Presse]Tunis -The Interior Ministry spokesman dismissed, on Sunday, reports asserting that the Ettadhamen neighbourhood had been decreed "closed security area." (AllAfrica)

[SPS]Berlin -Mr. Mhamed Khadad, member of the National Secretariat of the Polisario Front and coordinator with MINURSO, has made a working visit to Germany in the period between May 14 and 17, where he met officials at German Foreign Ministry and some political forces, according to a Saharawi official source. (AllAfrica)

[SPS]UK -The UK-based movement "Woodcraft Folk" has approved unanimously, during its annual gathering, an emergency motion on Western Sahara, in which it reaffirmed its solidarity with the Saharawi people in their struggle for self determination and freedom, informed to POLISARIO Representation to the UK. (AllAfrica)

[Aswat Masriya]Egypt's High Constitutional Court has set June 2 to announce its verdict on the dissolution of the Shura Council and constitution-writing assembly. (AllAfrica)