News from Our Neighbours

Tunisia

The ruling Islamist party in Tunisia has agreed to step down, ahead of three weeks of negotiations that begin next week with opposition parties to form an independent caretaker government.

The country has been in turmoil for more than two years, exacerbated by the assassination of leading opposition figure Mohamed Brahmi, who was shot dead in July in front of his family. As a result, dozens of opposition lawmakers quit their attempts to write a new constitution.

Deadly street protests were followed by a suicide bombing on October 31, where a bomber detonated explosives outside a seaside hotel in Sousse, killing only himself. Security guards had prevented him from entering. Another person was caught with explosives in Monastir before they could be detonated. These were the first such attempts in more than a decade.

Algeria

Algerian socialists are calling for an opening of the borders with Morocco.

According to Morocco World News, Ahmed Betatache, the first national secretary of the Socialist Forces Front (FFS), has reiterated the position of his party in favour of reopening of the borders with Morocco.

During his recent participation in a meeting of deputies and heads of socialist parties on both sides of the Mediterranean held in Marrakech, Ahmed Betatache said he deeply regretted the closure of the border between the two neighbours, calling it “nonsense” and “an affront” to the memory of the nationalist leaders who struggled for independence for the Maghreb countries, and aimed to build a “Federal Union Maghreb.”

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