Tunisia ranked first in North Africa in a report on good governance

Tunisia continues to receive favourable ratings in international reports. Following the latest World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report where Tunisia was ranked first in Africa and in the Maghreb, Tunisia is ranked first in North Africa, in the annual report on good governance recently published by the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. The report credits Tunisia with an overall score of 71.5 points out of 100.

Tunisia is credited with excellent scores on the strength of its performance in terms of “human development,” “transparency and rule of law” and the “climate of security”, with scores of 89, 70.5 and 100 points respectively. Tunisia comes ahead of Algeria (7th), Morocco (12th), Egypt (18th) and Libya (21st).

The third annual report published by the Kennedy School of Governance which is part of Harvard’s school of political sciences, focuses this year on “Strengthening Governance in Africa”. The rankings were established on the basis of 57 indexes of good governance centred on such determinants as security, transparency, rule of law, participation and human rights, economic stability and human development.

The report stresses the correlation between good governance, on the one hand, and development and security of each country, on the other.

LINK

Morocco needs UNHCR to overcome status quo in Tindouf

Rabat - Morocco has requested the input of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to change the status quo in the Polisario-run Tindouf camps. The remarks were given Friday by Foreign Minister, Taib Fassi Fihri at a joint press conference with the high commissioner for refugees, Antonio Guterres, on a visit in the north African country.

"We need the UNHCR, not only to carry out the humanitarian mandate of the agency, but also to help us find a lasting solution" to the situation in the Tindouf camps, Fassi Fihri told reporters. The Algerian-backed Polisario separatists have been holding thousands of Moroccan civilians in the desert Tindouf camps on the Algerian soil for over three decades now.

The FM said the real situation in the camps is not know by anyone. He denounced the human rights breaches in the territory, and the impossibility for the people held there to leave and join Morocco, their homeland. The Moroccan official pinned the political and legal responsibility of this persisting situation on the country's eastern neighbour, Algeria, saying the situation is "unbearable" from the humanitarian viewpoint.

He insisted on the importance Morocco attaches to conducting a census in the camps in order to identify the native Sahrawi and enable the UNHCR to play its institutional role of opening dialogue with the Tindouf populations so they can express their wish to stay there, come to Morocco or go elsewhere.

For his part, Guterres underlined that "the habitual practice of census conducted in the framework of the humanitarian operations has nothing to do with the political considerations." It is rather "a tool for the humanitarian assistance." He noted that Algeria has requested augmenting the aid given to the camps, but the UNHCR says that this increase hinges upon counting the camps' populations. He deplored that "Algeria did not accept conducting this census," insisting that the UN refugee agency has not changed its estimation on the number of people living in the territory.

Guterres announced that his proposal of opening a land route for family exchange visits (between Tindouf and Morocco's southern province) was accepted by all the parties, saying that 8,000 people have benefited from the exchange programme, and another 42,000 are registered to take part. With the present rhythm, it would be impossible to carry out this programme through air lines, he said.

The UN official voiced satisfaction over what he termed as a "qualitative leap" in the UNHCR-Morocco relations, voicing hope that the north African country "would, as part of this cooperation, put in place a legal framework for asylum," and to create an institution for issuing the status of refugee on its territory."

Link

Algeria woos investors to unlock tourism potential

Algeria announced on Monday it was slashing taxes on tourism projects to persuade investors that the country, emerging from years of violence, could become a hot new holiday destination. Algeria has thousands of kilometers (miles) of Mediterranean coastline a short flight from Europe and vast tracts of Saharan desert wilderness -- yet only a trickle of foreign tourists. Attacks by Islamist militants, though dramatically reduced in the past few years, have kept many visitors away, along with a lack of investment that has left oil-producing Algeria with a shortage of high-quality restaurants, resorts and hotels.

Tourism and Environment Minister Cherif Rahmani unveiled reforms that included tax cuts for tourist firms, low-interest bank loans for tourism investments, reduced customs tariffs, subsidised land and streamlined bureaucratic procedures. "Of course we are aware that we are not yet at a world-class level, but we are in the process, little by little, of building Algeria as a destination," he told a conference. "We are going to put ourselves in a competitive position in relation to our neighbors, in terms of Algeria's attractiveness," he said.

Despite increases in tourist numbers in the past few years, Algeria lags far behind neighboring Tunisia and Morocco. Eight million people visited Morocco in 2008, while Tunisia recorded 7 million tourists. The two countries have attracted millions of dollars in foreign tourism investment, much of it from Europe and the Gulf states. Algerian government figures show that in 2006, the latest year for which data was available, there were 1.64 million tourists. Only 29 percent were foreigners, while the rest were Algerian emigres visiting relatives.

Algeria's government is keen to diversify its economy away from oil and gas, which accounts for 97 percent of its exports. It also wants to create jobs -- 7 out of 10 people under the age of 30 are unemployed.

Reuters

Algeria Will Not Recognise Kosovo

Algeria is the latest country to express its opinion on Kosovo's status, and says it will not recognise the newly independent state. "The Algerian government's position on the issue of Kosovo is clear. We consider this to be a problem of partition, secession, not of self-determination" said the Algerian ambassador to Belgrade in the Politika daily, expressing his ''support Serbia's territorial integrity and sovereignty''.

"We will not recognise Kosovo as independent and we will remain firmly on this position, unless there is a development that would have Serbia change its stance, but that would be a different question that we would consider then," Abdelkader Mesdoua continued.

Algerian president leaves government unchanged

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika left his government almost unchanged on Monday in a reshuffle following his election to a third consecutive term. Bouteflika, 72, had been urged by some commentators to bring new blood into the government to help tackle challenges that include a lingering al Qaeda insurgency, a fall in oil prices and high unemployment in the North African energy producer.
A statement from Bouteflika's office said Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia would keep his job along with all other members of the cabinet except minister without portfolio Soltani Bouguerra. No replacement was named for Bouguerra who is the leader of a party loyal to Bouteflika.
Under Algerian law, the prime minister and the rest of the government are required to step down after a presidential election. Energy and Mines Minister Chakib Khelil was among those who remained in their posts.
Bouteflika, a veteran of Algeria's war for independence from colonial ruler France, won an April 9 presidential election with 90.24 percent of the vote.He campaigned on a platform of continuity and stability. His supporters credit him with steering Algeria out of a civil conflict in the 1990s that killed 200,000 people, according to estimates from international non-governmental organisations.
Reuters

Oil prices rise after slump to $46

Oil prices rose slightly Tuesday on bargain-hunting, having slumped to near four-year lows at 46 dollars earlier in the day on concerns over weak energy demand.

Brent North Sea crude for delivery in January hit 46.02 dollars -- the lowest point since February 18, 2005 -- but then recovered to 48.50 dollars a barrel, up 53 cents from the close Monday when the contract had plunged 5.52 dollars.

Oil prices fell sharply on Monday after OPEC decided at a weekend meeting against cutting production, preferring to wait until December before reducing crude exports. The cartel's secretary general Abdalla Salem El-Badri said on Monday that OPEC would decide on a "major" output cut next month if the oil market were deemed to be deteriorating.

"OPEC's attempt to talk prices up by announcing a production cut for the regular summit on December 17 in Algeria and by stating that 75 dollars a barrel would be a fair price, has failed miserably," said Dresdner Kleinwort analyst Peter Fertig.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which pumps 40 percent of the world's crude, met in Cairo on Saturday to assess the state of the oil market but held off from making any decision on cutting production. Instead, energy ministers decided that any output move would be made when they next meet in Oran, Algeria on December 17.

OPEC has already slashed output twice this year by a total of two million barrels per day (bpd) in response to plunging prices but fears remain that a global recession will undercut demand for energy. The OPEC production cuts agreed in September and October failed to stop prices sliding under 50 dollars earlier this month as concern mounted about a global recession.

Prices are now down by more than 60 percent from record highs above 147 dollars in July.

Algerian foreign exchange reserves rose

Algerian foreign exchange reserves rose to $133 billion in June, the OPEC member said on Monday, adding it would spend the money on developing its economy rather than ‘the adventure’ of a sovereign wealth fund.

The north African nation's record reserves at the end of June 2008, reported by state newspaper El Moudjahid, represent a 20 percent rise from $110 billion at the end of calendar 2007, itself a 42 percent increase from the previous year.

The country of 34 million has built up reserves and repaid most of its foreign debt thanks to high oil and gas prices. But Africa's second-largest country by area is struggling to reform a Soviet-style command economy reliant on oil and gas, dominated by loss-making state banks and blighted by red tape, graft, inadequate access to credit and a weak private sector.

Algeria tightens rules for foreign investment

Algeria plans to take a majority stake in any future investment project involving foreign capital, Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia said yesterday, outlining a measure which already applies to much of the oil and gas sector. "Regarding investment projects involving foreign capital Algeria intends to take a majority of the capital in accordance with its national interests and means," said a statement from the prime minister's office. It did not say when the measure would take effect nor did it define what types of investment the measure would apply to.

In the energy sector, state energy conglomerate Sonatrach has the right to a 51 per cent stake in any exploration and production and downstream activity. The north African country of 34 million is an important oil and gas supplier to Europe. Outside of the oil and gas sector, foreign investors at present can own a majority stake in their Algeria ventures. Until recently, some of these foreign investors could repatriate 100pc of their profits.

The main non-energy foreign investors are Egypt's Orascom Telecom, Orascom Construction Industries and Qatar Telecommunications.

Analysts said yestereday's statement appeared to be in line with comments made on July 26 by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in which he attacked poor management of foreign investment and said he had been disappointed by its results. Speaking to local government officials, Bouteflika said weaknesses in the implementation of economic policy had allowed some foreign investors to profit at Algeria's expense and not reinvest earnings in the country.

Africa's second-largest country is struggling to reform a Soviet-style command economy dependent on oil and gas, dominated by loss-making state banks and blighted by red tape, corruption, inadequate access to credit and a weak private sector. Yesterday's statement marks a further tightening of the investment regime in Algeria following the imposition of a requirement on investors last month to reinvest locally a part of their profits to the value of any tax breaks they received. Starting this year, investors have four years in which to make the reinvestment, and those which do not comply will have to repay any tax breaks and be subject to a fine.

Guld-daily

Deadly bombings in Algeria

A deadly double bombing near Algiers sparked fears Monday of a wave of Al-Qaeda inspired attacks in what France's foreign minister said had become a "dangerous" country.

The employer of a French engineer who was killed in the attack withdrew its other expatriate staff from Algeria after blasts which local officials said killed 13 people, though the government gave a drastically lower toll of two.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner appealed for foreign firms to stay in Algeria even though he acknowledged in a radio interview that it had become a "dangerous country".

Algeria seeks additional batch of Su-30MKA fighters

Algeria has filed a request with Russia's Rosoboronexport arms agency for a further batch of 14-16 Sukhoi Su-30MKA multirole fighters, while also demanding that Moscow compensate it for an initial $250 million payment linked to its cancelled $1.3 billion deal for 36 RSK MiG-29s.

Ordered in March 2006 under an $8 billion sale also covering the supply of 28 Su-30MKAs worth $2.5 billion and 16 Yakovlev Yak-130A trainers, the MiG-29 deal collapsed after Algeria said its first 12 MiG-29SMT single-seat fighters and three MiG-29UBT two-seat operational trainers failed to meet contractual specifications. Russia agreed in February that the aircraft could be returned to their manufacturer, but a financial settlement has yet to be finalised.

Algeria has received six Su-30MKAs since mid-2007, with another four to arrive by the end of May and six more to follow in December 2008. "If the contract for the additional batch gets signed, deliveries can start in 2011, after completion of deliveries on the initial contract in 2010", says NPK Irkut president Oleg Demchenko.

flightglobal

Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean

Projects to clean up the Mediterranean Sea, establish new sea routes and highways, and harness solar energy could be at the heart of new European efforts to engage with southern neighbors, according to the first set of concrete proposals published Tuesday.

Less than two months before the debut of a new Union for the Mediterranean, pioneered by President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, the European Commission sought to put its stamp on the plan with a series of recommendations.

While its call for big spending projects in the region will be welcomed in Paris, the document issued Tuesday also proposes a further dilution of Sarkozy's original aim of giving the European Union's southern states a bigger role in the venture than northern EU counterparts. ...

What is not disputed is the thinking behind the plan: that previous initiatives have largely failed. Since 1995 the EU has engaged with southern neighbors through the so-called Barcelona Process but with few tangible results.

The new document concedes that the Barcelona Process suffered from "weak visibility and the perception by citizens that little is done to tackle their daily problems and real needs." European diplomats hope the new organization, known officially as the "Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean," will give southern Mediterranean countries a greater stake because they will be on a level of parity with the EU.

Critics point out that a central problem will remain: the diverse southern Mediterranean membership, which includes Syria and Israel.

The commission said the new union should hold summit meetings every two years, but avoided endorsing any location for its headquarters. Tunis, however, has emerged as a prime candidate. The commission called for two parallel sets of co-presidencies - to be held by France for an initial six months on the EU side. Thereafter this would be held by the new president of the European Council or high representative for foreign affairs - posts established under the new Treaty of Lisbon.

The document released Tuesday called for improved maritime and road infrastructure, including new sea routes and upgraded port facilities, and a new road to link the Arab states of North Africa - Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya.

The new body should reinvigorate a plan approved in 2006 to clean the Mediterranean Sea of pollution, a 2007 program to develop solar power, and a proposal for a Euro-Mediterranean free trade zone by 2010, the document said.

IHT

Arab-Berber clashes shake Algeria town

Hundreds of Algerian security forces were deployed in the town of Beriane on Sunday to try to end three nights of clashes between Arabs and minority Berbers, the worst urban unrest in the OPEC producer in months.

Residents said two people, including a 67-year-old, man have been killed and dozens made homeless since the disturbances involving rival gangs of hooded young men broke out in this north Saharan town of about 35,000 on Thursday evening.

"They burn our houses, steal and kill. The hatred has made them blind," Slimane Baaziz, 51, a member of the Mozabite Berber community, said of his Arab neighbours.

"They hate Arabs. These are criminals. They want to burn and kill. But we won't let them. We will defend ourselves and respond to their attacks," said Arab resident Noureddine Bkar.

The unrest stems from long-standing local communal rivalries but shares a feature of riots that have erupted in recent months in other towns due to economic grievances -- the enthusiastic and often violent participation of unemployed youths.

The intensity of the unrest means that Beriane is likely to be seen by Algerians as a test for the government's ability to respond to social tensions at a time of growing national discontent over unemployment and lack of housing.

Hundreds of helmeted police and paramilitary gendarme reinforcements backed by water canon were entering the town to prepare for possible further trouble on Sunday evening.
Provincial governor Yahia Fehim told Reuters: "The town is in turmoil, but it is controllable."

PETROL BOMBS

Homes and kiosks ransacked by youths throwing stones and petrol bombs on Saturday night lay in smoking ruins in the warren-like residential districts of Baba Saad and Kaf Hamouda. Ruins of 10 burned shops could be seen in the town centre.

Mohamed Daghour, a 32-year-old Mozabite, said: "My 67-year-old uncle has been killed -- his body is still in the morgue. They want to exterminate us. We are not afraid, but we are determined to defend our families and our goods." Trucks evacuated tens of families from riot-hit districts.

Tensions between Mozabites -- the name given to Berbers from the M'zab valley in which Beriane is located -- and Arabs stem from economic, linguistic and religious differences and have boiled over into clashes periodically over the past 20 years.

Residents say Arabs tend to resent traditional Mozabite dominance of private commerce, while Mozabites tend to complain they are excluded from state jobs, particularly senior ones.

Mozabites speak their own Berber language, as do other Berber groups in north Africa, and practise the Ibadi form of Islam rather than Algeria's mainstream Malekite Sunni version.

Age of Terror

BBC programme

"By the late 1980s, 40% of the country's population of 24 million were under the age of 15. Many were in school preparing for jobs that did not exist.

They became known as hittistes - "those who prop up walls" - as they had nothing else to do all day.

They were angry and frustrated, providing the rich soil in which a brand of militant, fundamentalist Islam could flourish.

Neighbourhood mosques became the focus for discontent with clerics building support not just through fiery sermons but through practical support, running soup kitchens and providing food, clothing and welfare.

In 1988, Algeria exploded in the month known as Black October. Ali Belhadj organised a demonstration of 20,000 Islamist supporters who were stopped in their tracks by the military that effectively ran the regime.

In the ensuing confrontation, the army shot dead 50 demonstrators. It was Algerian's equivalent of Northern Ireland's Bloody Sunday or South Africa's Sharpeville and Soweto.

The fuse was lit. Algeria's intifada had begun, the launchpad for political Islam. "

FEMIP finance contracts in Mediterranean Partner Countries

Finance contracts worth 6,957,707,957 euros were signed between FEMIP and Mediterranean Partner Countries in the last five years, according to the latest figures from the European Investment Bank. A country-by-country breakdown, updated today, is available on the Bank’s website.

Algeria 255,498,958
Egypt 2,067,312,240
Palestine 55,000,000
Israel 395,000,000
Jordan 215,896,759
Lebanon 575,000,000
Morocco 1,221,000,000
Syria 715,000,000
Tunisia 1,379,950,000

Regional - North Africa 10,000,000

Mediterranean Countries 68,050,000

Ban Ki-Moon to visit UN attack sites: Algiers

United Nations staff in Algeria observed a minute's silence Monday in memory of 17 colleagues killed in two bloody car bomb attacks on UN and government offices in Algiers last week. Representatives of Algeria's foreign ministry were also at the ceremony, having announced that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will visit Tuesday the two UN sites bombed in the Algerian capital on December 11.

The attacks, claimed by a local branch of Al-Qaeda, destroyed the offices of the UN High Commission for Refugees and the UN Development Programme, killing 17 employees, of whom 14 were Algerians and three foreign.

A moment of silence was similarly observed at a Paris donors' conference for a future Palestinian state, where Ban reiterated the UN's commitment to carrying out its mission. "The attacks of Algiers will never discourage us to accomplish the vital task which is ours throughout the world, regardless of the threats that weigh on our personnel," he said.

The official overall death toll was 37 but hospital sources report the blasts killed between 62 and 72 people, including students.

Merkel Slams Sarko's Med Union Scheme

The German Chancellor warns Sarkozy his proposal for a Mediterranean union of European, North African, and Middle Eastern nations would hurt the EU
German chancellor Angela Merkel has warned that French plans for a Mediterranean Union risk splitting the EU. Speaking at a conference in Berlin on Wednesday (5 December), Ms Merkel indicated that if French president Nicolas Sarkozy pushed ahead with his proposals for a union of countries from Europe, the Middle East and North Africa the "core" of the European Union would be threatened.

The chancellor said that "cooperation between some member states has to be also open to the rest and it has to be approved by all member states." It cannot be that some countries establish a Mediterranean Union and fund this with money from EU coffers, said the German leader. "This could release explosive forces in the union I would not like," she said, according to news agency DPA.

Mr Sarkozy floated the idea for such a union during his presidential campaign earlier this year. Since becoming president in May, he has elaborated on the proposal saying in October that "in the Mediterranean will be decided whether or not civilisations and religions will wage the most terrible of wars...whether or not the North and the South will clash".

Under the plans, the group would tie southern Europe with Northern Africa as well as Israel and its Arab neighbours and tackle topical issues such as counter-terrorism, immigration, energy, trade, water and sustainable development. Just seven EU states -- Cyprus, Greece, France, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain -- are envisioned to take part.
Mr Sarkozy's Mediterranean Union idea -- he suggested on Wednesday that France and Algeria be the main axis of the Union -- has also raised eyebrows in Brussels. The European Commission fears it will undermine the 12-year-old Barcelona process, aimed at promoting dialogue between the EU and ten countries on the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean.

There are also fears that it is a ruse to enmesh Turkey – which would be a member – into the process and detract from its current EU negotiations, with Mr Sarkozy being strongly opposed to Ankara's EU membership bid.

Business Week

Egypt, too choses nuclear

Egypt's president announced plans Monday to build several nuclear power plants — the latest in a string of ambitious such proposals from moderate Arab countries. The United States immediately welcomed the plan, in a sharp contrast to what it called nuclear "cheating" by Iran.

President Hosni Mubarak said the aim was to diversify Egypt's energy resources and preserve its oil and gas reserves for future generations. In a televised speech, he pledged Egypt would work with the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency at all times and would not seek a nuclear bomb. But Mubarak also made clear there were strategic reasons for the program, calling secure sources of energy "an integral part of Egypt's national security system."

In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the U.S. would not object to the program as long as Egypt adhered to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and International Atomic Energy Agency guidelines.

Jordan, Turkey and several Gulf Arab countries have announced in recent months that they are interested in developing nuclear power programs, and Yemen's government signed a deal with a U.S. company in September to build civilian nuclear plants over the next 10 years.

Algeria also signed a cooperation accord with the United States on civil nuclear energy in June, and Morocco announced a deal last week under which France will help develop nuclear reactors there.

AP

Russia to modernize Algeria's fleet

A Russian media sources unveiled that a new armament deal between Algeria and Russia is to be sealed, which is meant to renew and modernize the Algerian Navy Fleet by purchasing two frigates. The same sources quoted shareholders in the Naval Construction Factory (Severnaïa Verf), saying that the deal was sealed by the Algerian Army and the Russian Arms Exporting Agency (Rosoboronexport). The deal amount is varying between 800 and 900 millions dollars. It is initially meant to launch repairing and modernising operations of two warships belonging to the Algerian Naval Forces in the beginning, before constructing two new frigates.

This contract was qualified by the Russian medias as “huge” and followed several other armament deals of 6.5 billions USD concluded by Algeria and Russia this year. It included purchasing tens of Mig and Soukhoï fighter aircrafts, as well as one submarine, and repairing and modernizing of other submarines that were purchased by Algeria from Russia during the 80’s.

Top 2 Al-Qaida leader killed in Algeria

Algerian security forces killed the deputy leader of the Maghreb offshoot of Al-Qaeda in a clash in the east of the country, newspapers reported Wednesday. Zobeir Harkat, better known as Sofiane Fassila, was killed Sunday in fighting in the troubled Kabylie region, said the reports, which were not immediately confirmed by authorities.

Harkat, 32, was considered the main bomb-maker for Al-Qaeda in Maghreb, the former Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) which changed its name last year and pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden.

The media reports said he was believed to have been behind several suicide bomb attacks since April, including one while President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was visiting the eastern town of Batna early in September.

Newspapers said two other armed Islamists were killed in the clash with Harkat on a road from Boghni to Tizi Ouzou, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) east of Algiers.

Hassan Hattab, the founder of the GSPC from which the extremist group emerged, surrendered to security forces on September 22 after a reported deal to benefit from Bouteflika's policy of national reconcilation. Hattab and Fassila were close for some time, the media said.

AFP

Sonatrach declares not to be affected by EU energy plans

Algeria reiterated on Saturday it is not concerned by European Union's proposals to end the monopoly on its gas and electricity market, saying it aims to remain a major supplier to Europe.

The comments by Mohamed Meziane, Chief Executive Officer of state-owned energy firm Sonatrach, came a week after Energy and Mines Minister Chakib Khelil said the EU's plans would not affect his country's state-owned oil and gas firm.

"Until now, we see nothing indicating that the plans would affect Sonatrach. We need to wait and see the regulation which will be adopted," Meziane told state radio. "Sonatrach wants to be present in supplying the European gas market, which is our natural market," he added.

The European Union executive this month adopted proposals aimed at forcing big utilities such as Germany's E.ON and Electricite de France to separate power generation from their distribution networks.

The new rules will also bar foreign firms from controlling European energy networks unless they play by EU rules and their home country reaches an agreement with Brussels, Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has said. Algeria is a major supplier of gas to Europe, particularly Spain, Italy and France. Its current output is estimated at 62 billion cubic metres per year, and is expected to reach 85 billion per year by 2015.

Reuters