This podcast hosted by Arezki Daoud of MEA Risk LLC focuses on some of the most important events in North Africa and the Sahel that we are monitoring as of Friday, 23rd of December 2022. So this is a sort of week in review. This week was domina

Podcast: Energy: Can Algeria and Africa deliver more natural gas to Europe

Dec 6th, 2022 13m 11s

Winter is near and Europe is facing an energy crisis after Russian attacked Ukraine. The EU and its member-countries have been looking for natural gas everywhere they can but the prospect of replacing Russian gas supplies on short notice will b

Food shortages and rising cost of commodities in Tunisia: briefly explained

Nov 25th, 2022 9m 17s

Arezki Daoud of MEA Risk and The North Africa Journal visits Tunisia this November and is bringing better understanding on the challenges facing the Tunisians in their day-to-day living. Below is the transcript.- Download the MP3 file for on-

Russia’s War on Ukraine: North African Nations’ Positions

Oct 22nd, 2022 28m 24s

The Maghreb’s biggest nations and regional rivals, Algeria, and Morocco, so far have refrained from choosing a side in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. For its part, Tunisia has had ambivalent positions due to a number of factors, which we will

Algeria-Russia: Deconstructing Algeria’s relationship with Russia: Not as rosy as you think

Oct 22nd, 2022 12m 19s

The visit of President Emmanuel Macron to Algiers at the end of August shook up and challenged the Algerian authorities in their once again excellent relations with Russia. The French security and ministerial deployment that accompanied the tri

Algeria-Morocco rivalry intensifies, with no end in sight

Oct 22nd, 2022 19m 29s

The escalating rivalry between Algeria and Morocco has had a destabilizing effect on the Maghreb region of North Africa. In fact, the entire western Mediterranean region is feeling the impact of the two countries’ strange competitive postures.

Podcast: Lebanon Falling

Oct 22nd, 2022 7m 29s

The past months have been particularly horrendous for Lebanon, a country that used to be called the Switzerland of the Arab World. The demise of Lebanon is not only a reflection of a deeply corrupt regime and a divided nation, but it is also sy

Sahel: Burkina Faso’s security environment to worsen as Jihadi attacks likely to intensify

Oct 3rd, 2022 8m 24s

The Sahelian nation of Burkina Faso has been a powder keg for some time and this weekend, the coup leader that toppled the previous government has been himself toppled by another coup. The situation in Burkina’s capital, Ouagadougou, has been e

Podcast: Sahel in Turmoil and how Bamako and Paris lost Mali

Jan 18th, 2022 24m 57s

The year 2021 was a horrendous period for the region. All the problems that one can imagine were there, from the massacre of civilians to two military coups in Mali and of course, an aggressive expansion of the jihadist groups. Early last year

Understanding Tunisia’s political crisis in ten minutes

Jul 28th, 2021 10m 46s

There has been unusual interest in the west about the political crisis engulfing Tunisia this week. Naturally Tunisia was always seen the cradle of the Jasmin Revolution, and the nation that showed the best prospect of democratization. But this

How governments in northern Africa are left with only repression as they are unable to govern

Jan 21st, 2021 10m 47s

This week (ending 21 January 2021), Tunisia made the front pages of global media with Tunisians clashing with security forces over the past days to complain about their living conditions. The riots, which are still underway, have been taking pl

Podcast: Tunisia faces chaotic situation, as economic woes could derail political progress

Nov 28th, 2020 11m 9s

Tunisia is a boiling cauldron. It is certain that the Covid-19 epidemic is having a drastic impact on the country on many fronts. But the system put in place after the 2011 Jasmine Revolution, which was praised around the world as paving the wa

Podcast: NGOs in the Sahel: Operating in an increasingly challenging environment

Nov 19th, 2020 43m 12s

In this episode, Arezki Daoud discusses with Do Christophe Ouattar of World Neighbors (http://WN.org) how NGOs are operating in the Sahel. Topics include coping with growing insecurity, environment degradation, the impact of Covid-19 on humanit

Podcast: Evolution of the Covid pandemic in the Maghreb as of mid-Nov. 2020

Nov 12th, 2020 11m 24s

In this brief podcast recorded on 12 November 2020, MEA Risk's Arezki Daoud provides an update on the Coronavirus in the Maghreb region. The state of the Covid-19 epidemic in the Maghreb looks rather bleak as we are reaching the mid-point of No

Libya: A Fragile Ceasefire: Podcast

Oct 28th, 2020 5m 33s

In this “In case you missed it” brief, Arezki Daoud of MEA Risk discusses the challenges of the ceasefire in Libya to stick.Download the episode here.

One more election in Algeria and a highly compromised economic outlook

Oct 9th, 2020 23m 21s

In this episode, Arezki Daoud of MEA Risk LLC and Editor of the North Africa Journal revisits Algeria after the most recent brief review on Egypt. Why Algeria? because the country is bracing for yet another election on 1 November with the gover

Podcast: An overstretched Egypt and the seeds of future unrest

Sep 21st, 2020 20m 27s

In this 20-minute podcast, MEA Risk analyst Arezki Daoud discusses how overstretched Egypt is and what could be the seeds of future unrest. Episode recorded on 21 September 2020.

Podcast: Covid-19 and the crises of Libya, Tunisia and Mali

Jul 17th, 2020 14m 59s

In this brief podcast recorded on 17 July 2020, MEA Risk analyst Arezki Daoud provides an update on what we are seeing in North Africa and the Sahel. The region is experiencing tumultuous events as the summer evolves. At this stage, it is clear

Podcast: Algeria braces for new cycle of anti-regime protests

Jun 18th, 2020 12m 39s

18 June 2020: There have been increasing calls by pro-democracy militants to resume the Hirak anti-regime protest movement in Algeria, a situation that has prompted an intensification of government repression against opposition figures and righ

Morocco and Algeria spending on questionable military hardware as their economy struggles

Jun 4th, 2020 6m 17s

In this brief opinion piece, MEA Risk's Arezki Daoud looks at the latest announcements on military spending in the Maghreb, a region that is expected to struggle with the economic fallout of the Covid-19 crisis. This brief was recorded on June

Sahel Podcast: Covid-19, the insurgency and the brutality of government forces

May 29th, 2020 12m 21s

In this latest brief podcast, MEA Risk's Arezki Daoud addresses the issues of instability and security in the Sahel, focusing on the impact of Covid-19 pandemic, the insurgency and how government forces are magnifying the crisis in the sub-regi

Eid el-Fitr in the time of Covid-19

May 23rd, 2020 9m 1s

The holy month of Ramadan is coming to an end this week and after four weeks of sacrifice and spiritual uplifting, millions of Muslims are excited to finally greet the Eid El-Fitr celebration. But this year’s excitement is being severely dampen

North Africa and the Sahel Review of week ending 24 April 2020: Lock-downs, curfews and government abuse

Apr 25th, 2020 21m 16s

This is a retrospect on North Africa and the Sahel region, for the week ending 24 April. The review, which focuses on the latest on Covid-19 in the Maghreb, Egypt and the Sahel, is presented by MEA Risk analyst Arezki Daoud. The video version

Podcast: Outlook – North Africa faces unprecedented economic crisis accelerated by Covid-19

Mar 27th, 2020 13m 27s

26 March 2020: North Africa is bracing for an unprecedented economic contraction, even if the coronavirus crisis were to be contained soon. The fundamentals of economic growth are such, that the region is expected to witness an erosion of reve

North Africa facing the coronavirus: situation update as of 12 March 2020

Mar 12th, 2020 15m 28s

Today’s topic of MEA Risk podcast is to review North Africa coronavirus readiness as of 12 March 2020. The podcast is presented by Arezki Daoud. Link to the transcript can be found here: https://bit.ly/3cWJGus