Endangered as much as sustained by prospective elections, Libyan fragility is under intense scrutiny 10 years on from Qaddafi’s death. But the exact relationship between the dictator’s demise and the chaos unleashed is as yet underdetermined. Is a decade of violence the story of ‘revolution corrupted’, of foreign interference and a sabotaged peace process? Is the resilience of authoritarianism, in the form of Haftar and an entrenched Qaddafism to blame? Or does it derive from a fragmentation more intrinsic to Libyan national and regional identity? In conversation with Al Jazeera, ECFR’s Tark Megrisi is skeptical as to whether elections present a meaningful solution to Libya’s crisis, SIPRI’s Amal Bourhous argues the current process favours conservativism at the expense of women’s rights, while the IAI forwards South Sudan’s transitional justice as a model for tackling divisive post-revolutionary politics. Elsewhere attention turns to an increasingly violent targeting of refugee populations by the Libyan state, of which EU complicity is a part.
In Tunisia, problems no less complex beset its ailing democratic process. Subject of a new IAI report, Silvia Colombo argues the current crisis is typical of a ‘consolidation phase’, where issues of policy delivery and socioeconomic elevation emerge paramount. How Saied will respond to the frustrations that propelled his rise has certainly generated attention, as has the question of which international finance levers he will use. As a crunch point draws closer, pressure grows on Saied from a range of voices within Tunisia, the EU, and from the former President Marzouki, of which recent appointment of the country’s first female PM has done little to quell. Meanwhile a new journalism series explores the issue of Tunisian corruption through the fate of the Trabesi clan, who dominated Tunisia pre-revolutionary private sector.
Further west, the problem of Algeria-France relations is cast through a historical lens. 60 years after the massacre of Algerian independence protestors in Paris, what lies behind the theatre of current Algeria-France tensions? Articles in Al Jazeera and Al Araby argue selective memories of the colonial period have enabled ‘bad politics’ both sides of the Mediterranean, establishment racism and far-right intolerance in France, and poor governance and democratic suppression in Algeria. Indeed, if the release of Hirak icon Karim Tabbou has been widely welcomed, closure of Rassamblement Action Jeunesse represents a new offensive on its unifying structures. Does a research series by Algerian academics, presented at the Doha Institute, offer solutions on how best to break the political impasse?
Meanwhile Maghrebi tensions show no sign of abating, as Morocco repositions itself internationally to meet the Algeria threat. While there are signs Morocco is softening its European stance, these relations themselves will likely re-emerge as an energised frontline in Algeria and Morocco’s battle over Western Sahara, where conditions for a renewed Polisario offensive align. Elsewhere, seizure of cocaine, a popular e-piracy station, and apprehension of over 300 migrants brings attention to the Moroccan border as an object of interest for European policy-makers.
North Africa in focus is a weekly review of literature produced on North Africa across Think Tanks, media organisations, NGOs, IGOs and Governments. Covering multiple languages, the review signposts you to the in-depth articles, Op-Eds, interviews and human-interest stories shaping the conversation on North Africa.
