In the State Department's newest human rights report on Morocco, the analysis identifies "little or no progress by year’s end in passing necessary to implement the advances, such as gender equality and parity, provided for in the ...

A U.S.-backed proposal to require the U.N.'s observer mission in occupied Western Sahara to monitor human rights abuses has been rescinded. U.S. diplomats dropped calls to enhance the U.N'.'s observer mission to the disputed territory after ...

The Moroccan government Monday categorically rejected a proposal to allow the U.N. observer mission in the disputed Western Sahara to monitor alleged human rights abuses. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon last week suggested in a report to the ...

This week, Morocco sentenced two dozen of activists from the Western Sahara for allegedly killing members of the security forces in 2010. Eight were handed life sentences, while four received 30-year terms. However, Amnesty International called the trials "flawed" and ...

According to an article translated by Al-Monitor, president of the Sahara National Council and head of the Polisario Front’s negotiating team Khatri Eddouh "did not rule out that the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic  may request U.N. recognition as an observer state" as ...

Following a call by Mauritania and Algeria for dialogue, the State Department confirmed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will travel to Algeria next week to address concerns over the crisis in Mali. In Washington, the Senate Intelligence Committee 

Last month U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hosted the first round of the U.S.-Morocco Strategic Dialogue, and on Friday the State Department released a statement on initial progress and goals for the partnership. The statement was generally ...

King Mohammed VI of Morocco announced his country's commitment to talks on Western Sahara, offering to grant an autonomous status within its sovereignty. However, the Polisario Front, which is fighting for independence and supported by Algeria, rejected the proposal. ...

Five members of the February 20 Movement have been sentenced to jail for eight to ten months by a Moroccan court.  The decision came after the group hosted an unauthorized demonstration.  Human rights activists in the country estimate that nearly ...

Moroccan authorities shut down the closing day of a youth conference held in Tangiers by the ruling PJD due to "security concerns." The last minute decision came just after the announcement of the addition of remarks from Prime Minister ...

The three-party Islamist coalition, the Green Algeria Alliance, faces possible dissolution as one of its parties, the Movement of Society for Peace, reels from internal turmoil. Amar Ghoul of the Movement recently resigned and at least 20 MPs loyal to ...

Three prominent Salafi preachers in Morocco have called for journalist Mokhtar el-Ghzioui to be put to death after Ghzioui recently advocated on state television legalizing sex outside of marriage.  The three preachers spoke out in support of a fourth ...

Despite an attempted Morocco veto, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed German Wolfgang Weisbrod-Weber as the new U.N. Special Representative to Western Sahara and as head of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara.  Weisbrod-Weber previously served ...

The trial of Khalid Gueddar, the first political cartoonist to ever depict the king, had his trial delayed  from Wednesday to September 5th. Gueddar was arrested two weeks ago and was told the following day that his charges were for ...

The Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) released a report contrasting the House and Senate Appropriations bills for fiscal year 2013, examining the potential impact of these bills on foreign aid and democracy assistance. Among the notable findings are additional ...

In a report presented  in Rabat on Tuesday, Amnesty International called on the Moroccan government to address instances of police brutality, torture, and the repression of free expression. The report detailed excessive force used against peaceful demonstrators of the February ...

In El Aaiun, the northern city of Western Sahara, Moroccan police officers were accused (Fr) to torture a Sahroui, Bazeid Abdallah Lehmad. According to the Sahara Press Service, Lehmad was part of a wedding when Morrocan policemen took him away and later was ...

Moroccan rapper Mouad Belrhouat, whose goes by the moniker El-Haqed or "The Sullen One," has been released from a Casablanca prison after serving four months for assault, a charge which his lawyers say was a ploy to stifle the singer. ...

The recently-passed omnibus package for Fiscal Year 2012 includes the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations bill. For Morocco, foreign military financing will not be appropriated until a report is submitted about steps being taken to ensure various freedoms in ...

On Wednesday 7/27, the House State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee held a markup session and voted to pass the 2012 State and Foreign Operations Appropirations Bill, as is, to the full committee. The bill would provide $39.6 billion ...