Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune is back in Germany after a brief visit to Algeria to carry out the duties of his office. His work in Algeria done, Tebboune returned to Germany. He is reportedly only to stay for a couple of days, but a couple of days can mean any number of things in Algeria.
It’s a little (okay, very) cheeky, but I’ll kick off this analysis quoting the very last sentence from NARCO’s 18 November 2020 analysis: “And I haven’t even gotten to Western Sahara…” Well, I’ll get to it now.
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune celebrated his 75th birthday yesterday. In a hospital. In Berlin. Where he has been for three weeks, laid low by COVID-19.
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has left Algeria and gone to Germany for medical treatment after having first been admitted to the Aïn Naadja Military Hospital. Although there is no official statement, it is rumored that President Tebboune has contracted the COVID-19 virus. It is also known that President Tebboune has underlying comorbidities – namely, he is chain-smoker.
Having been in office for a little more than a year, President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani is reshaping the Mauritanian political milieu. Unlike his predecessor, who kept close the reins of power and his clique closer, President Ghazouani appears to be building a big new tent.
US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper will visit Algeria on 1 October 2020. The visit comes as something of a surprise to the analyst community, but more importantly to the Algerians themselves. It is not at all clear what Esper wants and why he is going.
Libya oil watchers are all a tizzy. A possible deal brokered between the Government of National Accord’s (GNA) Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Maiteig and the Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF) leader General Khalifa Haftar could mean that Libyan oil production will resume.
A year and change into his first five-year presidential term and Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani is finally doing what everyone had hoped he would – aggressively address his predecessor’s alleged corruption. Some quarters of Nouakchott (and Nouadhibou) are getting jitterier by the day.
NARCO is rolling out a new approach to its monthly RoundUp. Instead of one issue with three countries, issues will be divided by country, which allows for more timely RoundUps and more actionable insights for NARCO’s clients. (Too often, RoundUps were overtaken by events that are moving very quickly throughout the region.)
As NARCO told its clients in private last week, there was a very high likelihood that Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani would shuffle his cabinet. Following the release of the Parliamentary Enquiry Committee’s (CEP) report into financial mismanagement and corruption during his predecessor's two administrations, President Ghazouani needed to take decisive action that would clearly show that his administration was different.
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