Menas Associates Blog
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Algeria: Rearranging the deckchairs while the ship sinks
State-owned Sonatrach took the decision in April to revoke UK independent Sunny Hill Energy’s interest in the highly prospective Ain Tsila gas field on the grounds that Angelo Moskov — who controversially took over Irish producer Petroceltic in 2015 and changed its...
Algeria: Presidency’s lethargy is reminiscent of Bouteflika’s final years
It is now more than three months since 12 February when President Abdelmajid Tebboune returned home from his second period of hospitalisation in Germany where he received treatment for COVID-19, which almost killed him, and an operation on his foot which may have been...
Libya: Further oil sector disruptions caused by lack of liquidity
On 19 April, the National oil Corporation (NOC) declared force majeure on its Arabian Gulf Oil Company (AGOCO) subsidiary operated Hariga oil export terminal in Tobruk including both production and export operations at the port. The NOC directly blamed this on...
Nigeria: Growth projections upgraded but higher food prices fuel inflation
Last month’s revelation from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) that Nigeria had officially exited recession — as a result of razor-thin 0.11% real GDP growth in Q4 of 2020 — has been followed by an upgrading of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World...
President Déby’s killing by his own generals plunges whole Sahel region into crisis
The death of Chad’s President Idriss Déby threatens to plunge both Chad and the whole Sahel region into even greater insecurity. The circumstances of Déby’s death remain shrouded in mystery. It was announced on state television on 20 April but he died the previous...
Morocco: Launch of the Social Security Programme
On 14 April the Kingdom officially inaugurated its new Social Security Programme in a launch ceremony at the Royal Palace in Fez which was presided over by King Mohamed VI. The programme — which Economy and Finance Minister, Mohamed Benchaaboun, described as a...
Election update: Khamenei clearing the conservative field for Ali Larijani?
Iran is less than two months away from its next presidential election, but no one knows who the leading candidates will be. There are, however, strong indications that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has asked the heads of judiciary and the legislative branches, Ebrahim...
Will Algeria’s military copy what has happened in Myanmar?
Algeria is in a dangerous political deadlock as the regime intensifies its measures to destroy an increasingly determined and unified popular Hirak protest movement. The student demonstrations on Tuesday 6 April and the weekly Hirak demonstration on Friday 9 April...
Violence as a bargaining tool for Nigeria’s Presidency
The brewing insurgency in Nigeria’s Southeast has been blamed on the separatist Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its quest for an independent Biafran state but there may be more to it. As the race for the 2023 Presidency intensifies, questions have been asked...
Lack of progress on new constitution could delay Libya’s December 2021 election
Despite this year’s progress in the Libyan peace process, the new interim Government of National Unity (GNU) still lacks a proper constitutional framework for itself and for the national elections which it is charged with holding on 24 December 2021. The constitution...