In a meeting with the Moroccan Association of Textile and Clothing (AMITH), the Minister highlighted on the need to raise the role of public-private partnership in the Moroccan textile industry.

The Minister said the Textile Plan 2025 will primarily focus on three areas – textiles and clothing; home textiles; and textiles for technical applications.

The ambitious ‘Textile Plan 2025’ aims to accelerate the growth of the Moroccan textile industry in order to turn Morocco into a leading textile exporting nation at the regional and international levels.

The contracts for the Moroccan textile sector will play a key role in the implementation of the Textile Plan 2025, which will be a “program of proactive leadership for the Moroccan textile sector for long-term strategic development,” the Minister said.

“If the local textile market of Morocco currently accounts for 40 billion dirhams, then our goal is to reach 90 billion dirhams in 2025,” said Mohamed Tazi, the Director General of AMITH.

Mr. Tazi added, “It is only by achieving this dual performance—introducing new jobs and inviting larger investments—that the textile industry can position itself as a pioneer in the Moroccan industry sector.”

The ‘Textile Plan 2025’ will be operational by 2014 and the Government will appoint working groups for the program in order to sift through the various measures that were proposed during the meeting.

From top left: Habiba Msika, Zohra El Fassia, Leila Mourad, Raymonde Abecassis, Line Monty.

*They scorched the stages of Algeria and Tunis, in Casablanca and Baghdad, and also in Berlin and Paris. Upcoming concert is occasion to recall these artists who were honored in Morocco & elsewhere in the Arab world, but in Israel, not so much.*

Haaretz, by Tsafi Saar (May 20, 2013) — They scorched the stages of Algeria and Tunis, in Casablanca and Baghdad, and also in Berlin and Paris. With bobbed hair − a daring style for the time − a thin cigarette in a holder between their fingers, they were among the leaders of the musical and cultural scene in their countries and even became international stars. They are the great Jewish female musicians and singers who were active in North Africa and the Middle East in the mid-20th century: Leila Mourad, Faiza Rushdi, Zohra El Fassia, Habiba Msika, Louisa Tounsia, Reinette L’Oranaise, Line Monty and Raymonde Abecassis. Msika, a Tunisian Jew, was an actress in the Arab world’s most prominent theater. El Fassia, a Moroccan Jew, was the first woman from that milieu to release a record album. Like many others, she too wrote the lyrics and music of the songs she performed.

Abecassis, the last of the giants of that generation, will be appearing Thursday with the Mediterranean Andalusian Orchestra of Ashkelon in a concert titled Ki Kolech Arev ‏(For Your Voice is Beautiful‏), conducted by Tom Cohen. The concert, which will be part of the Heart at the East Festival in Tel Aviv, will be dedicated to the women who were singing stars in Arab and Maghreb countries.

Why were Jewish female singers so prominent among the pioneers of modern Arab music? And how did it come about that in Morocco and other places, they are engraved in the collective memory and remembered with esteem − yet most Israelis never heard of them?

Shira Ohayon. Photo by David Bachar

Shira Ohayon, the education director of the Mediterranean Andalusian Orchestra and a prominent Mizrahi feminist researcher and activist, conceived and produced the concert. She is researching the singers’ histories, has written essays about them on the Cafe Gibraltar website and plans to publish a book containing her findings. She says she started researching their stories when she started wondering why there were no female singers in the Andalusian Orchestra in Israel. Her father, who was born in Morocco, told her about the great singers of the past. The discovery that there were quite a few Jews among them surprised her. “I asked myself, Why Jewish women, specifically? After all, I know the conservative Moroccan Jewish way of life from home,” she says.

It turns out that the picture is a complex one. “Our knowledge here about Jews in Islamic countries is nourished by Zionist stereotypes that spoke about absorption by modernization, and portrayed the Jews who came from those backgrounds as coming from the back of beyond,” says Ohayon. “But of course, they didn’t all come from the same mold. They went through profound processes of secularization starting in the 1920s. Our history doesn’t start at the moment the Zionist movement discovered that it needed ‘natural workers’ and population distribution,” she says.

New ideas

“These processes affected the women a great deal. Women began to study. In 1886 the first Alliance school for girls was established in Tetouan, the city my mother came from. The legal age at which girls could marry was raised. The development of colonialism at the time strengthened the financial position of the Jews, many of whom were merchants and had connections overseas, and increased their openness to new ideas.”

It was in this atmosphere of mixed cultures and languages that the female singers appeared. Their successful appearances in Europe also exposed them to the feminist ideas of the period, says Ohayon.

“Habiba Msika became a legend. She was an admired artist, a hot subject of conversation during the 1920s in the Maghreb, France and the Middle East,” musicologist Mohammed Emskeen writes in an essay published in honor of the Atlantic Andalusian Music Festival held in Essaouira, Morocco last October. The festival was dedicated to the female singers and their contribution to Jewish-Arab music and culture. Msika was the first Arab woman to perform onstage, in 1911. She appeared throughout Europe and the Maghreb, living and loving freely. Coco Chanel described her as having “a fiery temperament under her Eastern graces.” She met a tragic end: In 1930, a jealous lover murdered her by setting her ablaze. Books were written and films made about her life.

Another superstar was Leila Mourad, the daughter of a well-known Jewish family of cantors and liturgical poets. “To the Egyptians, she’s an Egyptian in every way, a cultural icon, alongside other stars of Arab music such as Umm Kulthum and Asmahan,” says Ohayon. The Jewish community distanced itself from Mourad when she converted to Islam to marry the well-known actor Anwar Wagdi. Other Jewish stars in Egyptian film and theater such as Raqia Ibrahim, Camelia ‏(Liliane Levy Cohen‏), Nagma Ibrahim and Nagwa Salem also won recognition from the musical establishment and the audience, even though they remained Jewish and some even expressed solidarity with the State of Israel and the Zionist movement.

Ohayon says that in addition to these stars, “in Iraq there was Salima Pasha, a hugely popular star, who was the wife of Iraq’s greatest singer, Nazem al-Ghazali. There was Maya Casabianca, a native of Morocco, who was the wife of Farid al-Atrash. We can wonder how that could happen. After all, she was a Jewish woman who went with a Muslim man. In those communities, families sat shiva for women who did that, mourning them as if they had died. But these women had a different status. They were already deeply involved in Arab life, and here, too, they crossed boundaries.”

There were also Line Monty, “the Algerian Edith Piaf”; Reinette L’Oranaise, a rabbi’s daughter who became blind and became a virtuoso oud player; Louisa Tounsia and others.

Immigration tragedy

But Zohra El Fassia was fairly well known in Israel, if only because of the poem by Erez Biton lamenting her fate here.

El Fassia, who died in 1994, is a cultural heroine in Morocco.  In the Atlantic Andalusian Music Festival in Essaouira, an evening was held in her honor, says Ohayon. “Among the Muslim leaders of culture in Morocco, she was seen as an integral part of Moroccan culture and collective memory, and her contribution to folk music ‏(the chaabi and malhun styles‏) is held in high esteem there.

[Continue Reading…]

The Heart at the East Festival takes place May 19-24 in Tel Aviv.

Aline Mayard French Editor, Wamda

Wamda, by Aline Mayard (May 20, 2013) — “We’ve never seen competition like this in Morocco.” These are the first words MarocAnnonces founder Tajdine Filali said to start our interview. He goes on to explain that he once counted 250 different classified websites, of all sizes and quality in Morroco. But the main arena features 3 competitors: a Moroccan-born website and two European giants.

The stakes are high in the Moroccan classifieds market. Avito, the market leader in terms of pageviews, claims that their website’s transactions will represent 2% of Morocco’s GDP in 2014! The national market has been building momentum over the past 2 years, and we should expect to see continued growth as the number of Moroccan Internet users climbs over the next few year; 39% of households have internet access today. “Most of the people we meet don’t know what a classified is,” confesses Sammy Ben Abla, Avito’s marketing manager for the MENA region.

So is there a limit to how much these websites can grow?

A booming market

At the time of writing, Avito.ma is leading the market with 3.2M unique visitors per month, a total of 500,000 hours spent on the website and an expected 16B Dh (US $2.11B) worth of transactions in 2014. The website is also the second most visited website in Morocco, just ten months after its launch in July 2012. It comes as no surprise when you look at its roots; the Avito brand was launched in 2007 by two Swedish entrepreneurs and is now the 5^th most visited website in Russia.

Their closest competition is Bikhir, part of the Norwegian Schibsted Group, the classified leader in Europe that owns LeBonCoin.fr in France, Blocket.se in Sweden, subito.it in Italy, segundamano.es in Spain, and several others across Europe. Bikhir was soft launched in June 2011, before officially launching in September 2013 with the opening of a local office. Though the Norwegian Group won’t disclose any figures, general manager Larbi Alaoui Beirhiti says that Bikhir is validating 5,000 new listings per day.

In the face of these two classifieds giants, the more established, and self-funded, classified website Marocannonces.ma, which was launched in 2000, makes for a true David vs 2 Goliaths story. Despite the steep competition, Filali remains optimistic as their number of listings remains unchanged at 3,000 a day.

All 3 websites have at least one thing in common: they’re not afraid of putting in time and money to reach the number one spot. “It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon. It’s a long battle,” says Beirhiti.

For Moroccans, by Moroccans?

“We sell anything from camels to cars,” jokes Ben Abla. The three websites offer a similar free service for people to buy or sell anything they own in person (anything legal that is).

They also strive for the same image: being seen as a local brand close to people. This image is easier for MarocAnnonces, which has been present in the market for 13 years and has never received an outside investment from anyone.

Avito and Bikhir’s managers both believe they have already reached that goal thanks to their entirely Moroccan team. Having a local team is a necessity, “You really have to understand the Moroccan user, understand where he’s at in his use of the Internet and support him,” says Beirhiti. The two services are also being discrete on their international origins.

Each platform has it’s own formula for for making sure it’s the best. Avito’s says its team goes through listings 24/7 to and validate the best ones. Beirhiti brags that the 15 people validating listings at Bikhir are really strict to avoid any fraud or illegal sales. “We’d rather refuse listings and have less choice but better quality.” Filali from Maroc Annonces says their 13 years of local experience and his “secret recipe” make the difference.

As people begin to trust these platforms more and more, these three players will need to focus on other ways to differentiate their strategies.

A powerful name vs. intensive marketing

Avito.ma and Bikhir both believe that the only way to keep the market’s momentum is to educate consumers in Morocco through expensive advertising.

Both Avito.ma and Bikhir’s parent companies are ready to invest in their Moroccan branch to help them take the lead. Avito.ma recently launched a TV ad campaign, and has signed a partnership with Haja El Hamdaouia, a popular Moroccan pop singer.

Bikhir likewise is capitalizing on mediums besides internet to promote their brand: “Mass-media campaigns, like TV or radio, could be happening soon” says Beirhiti.

Their large budgets are also being put to good use to differentiate elsewhere. Bikhir has developed a new mobile app, while Avito.ma is investing in partnerships. Thanks to their deal with Voituresmaroc, the #1 car sale classified website in Morocco, Aviot.ma and Voituresmaroc.com’s car classified listings will be posted on both websites.

Maroc Annonces can’t compete with the other guys when it comes to marketing. But Filali says their trusted name and word-of-mouth is enough to get the results they’re looking for. “Today, everybody knows MarocAnnonces, the name speaks for itself,” he says. But MarocAnnonces’ transactions have stayed relatively flat. Filali might pretend that he’s content with that, but it doesn’t seem viable, and definitwely not scalable, in the long term.

What’s next: buyouts and closures?

Avito.ma and Bikhir are in no hurry to break even. “The most important thing to us is to continue investing and making sure the market reaches a mature state. Once we reach that point, we’ll start thinking about breaking even,” says Ben Alba.

But can a smaller and less aggressive company like MarocAnnonces survive Avito and Bihkir’s aggressive user acquisition campaigns?

Last March, a rumor spread that Maroc Annonces was going to be sold to Avito.ma for 15M Dh (almost $1.7M). Avito.ma denied it. “For the moment we’re not interested in acquiring one of our competitors,” clarified Ben Abla, adding that “this deal was never discussed and will not happen for now.” But Filali is definitely keeping his options open for MarocAnonces; he mentioned possible offers to be acquired and that he is looking into fundraising.

Smaller company Souqaffaires.ma may be raising money currently, and regional Dubai-based platform Dubizzle once considered Morocco. Dubizzle tried to enter the market but “had decided not to pursue it – stopping all activities there about a year ago,” as cofounder J.C. Butler explained to me.

Both of these major players admit that their larger goal is reallt to reach Africa. Avito launched in Egypt under the name Bekam in December 2012 where it faces fierce competition from Dubizzle. When asked if Bikhir will launch in other countries, Ben Abla replied with a non-committal “we’ll see”. Their parent company, the Norwegian Schibted Group, has already taken the jump as they launched beta classified sites in Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt and Nigeria.

Aline is French Editor at Wamda. After having worked as the Online Marketing and Community Manager at French startup Buzzcar, she moved to the Middle East. She writes about traveling and culture in the Middle East on her blog yallabye.eu. You can follow her on Twitter  @aline_myd and @yallah_bye, connect with her on LinkedIn, or reach her at aline[at]wamda[dot]com.

*BBC Africa Debate May 31: How big a threat is posed by rise in Islamist militancy across continent? Is a new “arc of instability” spreading across the region, and what is the potential risk to rest of the world?*

BBC World News/Modern Ghana (May 17, 2013) — The May edition of BBC Africa Debate will ask how big a threat is posed by the rise in Islamist militancy across the continent. Do conflicts in northern Mali and Somalia, hostage taking in Algeria, and frequent bombings in northern Nigeria present a major threat to stability and security across the continent? Is it fair to talk of a new “arc of instability” spreading across the region, and what is the potential risk to the rest of the world?

Presented by BBC’s Audrey Brown and Karen Allen, the debate will be broadcast on Friday 31 May. BBC Afrique will also host a debate in Dakar, discussing the same question for listeners in French.

The debates form part of a week-long special series from Monday 27 May across BBC Africa output. Islamist militancy in Africa will be explored by the BBC’s flagship radio programme for Africa, BBC Focus on Africa, with special reports from Mali, Nigeria, Algeria, Somalia and Kenya.

The theme will also be discussed on the BBC’s global breakfast radio show, Newsday, as well as the BBC Hausa, BBC Somali and BBC Swahili services’ output. It will feature prominently on social media, including interactive Q&A sessions hosted on the BBC Africa Facebook page and using #bbcafricadebate on Twitter.

Producer of BBC Africa Debate, Charlotte Attwood, sets the context: “Radical Islamist groups have been stepping up attacks across Africa, and some see growing evidence of armed groups in the Sahel, east Africa and Nigeria working together towards international aims.

In Dakar, the BBC will ask if Africa is really becoming a training ground for Islamist militants and if these groups are setting their sights on international targets – or whether the threat is exaggerated; either by the West to legitimise intervention or by the groups themselves to raise their stature, or even by African governments to attract funds and legitimise oppression.”

Audrey Brown and Karen Allen will speak with an expert panel and audience in Dakar, including regional security experts, Senegalese government and ECOWAS representatives, Senegal-based American and French diplomats, Islamic and Christian clerics, various African communities in Dakar and others.

Social-media audiences on Twitter #bbcafricadebate, @bbcafrica, on Facebook and Google+ on the BBCAfrica page will engage in conversations with an expert on the French colonial project in Africa and its impact on the practice of Islam in former French colonies; and with an expert on the Arab world.

This edition of BBC Africa Debate will be recorded on Thursday 30 May at 10am local time at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar. It will be broadcast by BBC World Service at 19.00 GMT on Friday 31 May. The programme will be repeated on Sunday 2 June at 13.00 GMT. The debate will also be online at bbcafrica.com.

Casablanca, Morocco

Financial Times, by Chiara Francavilla of This is Africa (May 20, 2013) — Morocco is finalising a new securitisation law that will allow the state and companies to issue sukuk, the Islamic equivalent of bonds. Preparations for a corporate and a sovereign sukuk are already underway, according to Islamic finance experts.

Sukuk are Islamic financial certificates that represent ownership of tangible assets (as opposed to ownership of debt). Global sukuk issuance increased by 64 per cent last year to reach $138bn, according to rating agency Standard & Poor’s.

Only a few African countries such as Sudan and the Gambia have issued sovereign sukuk, according to S&P, but several have started considering the financial instruments, including South Africa, Egypt and Tunisia.

The introduction of sukuk in Morocco will involve reform of the country’s securitisation law, which was enacted in 2002 and amended in 2010 to broaden the range of eligible assets and allow institutions other than banks to use securitisation, according to Al-Khawarizmi Group, an independent Islamic finance consultancy that published a study on the potential of sukuk in Morocco in December 2012.

The government sent parliament an amendment to the securitisation law paving the way for sukuk at the end of last year, as part of a broader financial reform aimed at developing the role of securitisation in funding the economy, says Nouaman Al Aissami, head of the credit division at Morocco’s ministry of economy and finance. The law was adopted in January and will come into effect after it is published in the country’s official gazette, which is expected to happen in the coming months once some related regulations are finalised.

Morocco became interested in sukuk after a moderate Islamist party won a majority in the 2011 parliamentary elections, says Fayçal Jamali, co-author of the Al-Khawarizmi Group study. “Also as a result of worsening economic conditions in Europe, which is Morocco’s traditional trading partner, the country wants to diversify its funding instruments and attract Middle Eastern investors,” he says.

One Moroccan “large corporate” has already planned a $500m sukuk, currently on standby until the enactment of the law, according to Jamali. A sovereign sukuk is also in preparation, he says.

Nine out of 10 institutions surveyed by the Moroccan financial market authority (CDVM) last year said they would be interested in issuing sukuk if the law allowed.

Morocco’s political stability and above investment grade rating should draw interest from foreign investors. S&P assigns to Morocco a foreign currency rating of BBB-, its lowest investment grade. In Africa, only South Africa has a higher sovereign rating, one notch above Morocco at BBB.

The country can also count on a vibrant domestic investor community. The volume of assets managed by Moroccan mutual funds amounted to Dh241bn ($28bn) in 2012, more than a quarter of the country’s GDP, according to data from the Association des Sociétés de Gestion et Fonds d’Investissement Marocains (ASFIM) – the professional association of Moroccan OPCVM (mutual funds) managers.

Rim El Honsali, general manager at ASFIM, says that Moroccan OPCVM are interested in investing in sukuk. “The introduction of sukuks will allow the creation of a new asset class and will offer an opportunity of asset diversification for the OPCVM,” she believes.

“Sukuk are essential to assure the development of Islamic finance in Morocco, and with their introduction the country has the means to access a non-negligible amount of international financing,” she adds.

The development of the Moroccan sukuk market, however, will depend on further efforts by the government to promote sound economic policies, says Jamali at Al-Khawarizmi Group.

“The principle of sukuk is to finance the real economy,” he says, “so the government will need to identify the right projects to refinance.”

UN Security Council, of which Morocco is a member, held a session May 13 on deteriorating security in the Sahara/Sahel. It warned that, left unchecked, an ‘arc of instability’ across region could become a breeding ground for extremists and launch pad for international terrorist attacks. UN News Centre

*New book published by Carnegie says Al-Qaeda “has found an attractive base of supporters & recruits” in Sahara/Sahel – echoes UN Security Council warning that “Arc of Instability” across region could become launch pad for international terrorist attacks*

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (Washington, DC, May 20, 2013) – ‘The geopolitical significance of the Sahara is becoming painfully clear,” according to a new book, Perilous Desert: Insecurity in the Sahara, published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and edited by North Africa experts Frederic Wehrey and Anouar Boukhars.  The book, to be formally launched later this week at an all-day conference of experts, cites increasing inroads by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and its allies in terrorism and trafficking across the Sahara/Sahel region, including Libya, Mali, Mauritania, and the Polisario-run refugee camps near Tindouf, Algeria, which the book says represent “a tinderbox waiting to explode.”

‘Geopolitical significance of Sahara is becoming painfully clear,’ says Carnegie book, warning of AQIM in Libya, Mali, Polisario-run camps in Algeria, elsewhere in region.

According to Perilous Desert, “While the world’s attention was fixed on the momentous events in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya after the outbreak of the Arab Awakening, the desert states to the south were undergoing their own transformations with major global implications.” Although “long overlooked by policymakers and scholars,”  the “states of the Sahara suffer from a ‘perfect storm’ of afflictions—weak governance, rampant corruption, endemic poverty, ethnic and societal cleavages, and inaccessible terrain—that give room for transnational crime and Islamist militant groups to proliferate and flourish.”

The recent “series of high-profile events,” including the murder of a US Ambassador in Libya, French intervention following the al-Qaeda-backed conquest of N. Mali, and the hostage seizure and shootout at the Algerian gas facility, “point to a new front in the struggle against al-Qaeda—what some have called ‘an arc of instability’ stretching from Western Sahara to Somalia and north into the Sinai.”

Al-Qaeda’s North Africa affiliate “has found an attractive base of supporters and recruits among the region’s disenchanted,” from Mali,  Libya, Niger, Mauritania, and Algeria, including frustrated fighters and disaffected youth in the refugee camps controlled by the Polisario Front near Tindouf.

Perilous Desert provides an “in-depth analysis of the factors shaping the Sahara” — with chapters on Libya, Mali and Algeria, Mauritania, organized crime in the Sahel, and the Western Sahara conflict — all of which  contribute to increased instability and insecurity that “raises urgent concerns for the broader Sahara and the West.”

In a chapter on the Western Sahara, Carnegie scholar Anouar Boukhars writes that the unresolved W. Sahara conflict has “negatively impacted trans-Saharan security. The undergoverned areas abutting the Western Sahara, especially northern Mauritania and the Polisario-administered camps in southwest Algeria, are becoming major hubs for drug trafficking, the smuggling of contraband, and the circulation of weapons.”

“In February 2013, the Malian foreign minister confirmed the presence of Sahrawi combatants from the Tindouf camps among the groups that fled the French-led intervention, which was launched to counter an advance of insurgents from N. Mali toward the capital.” Perilous Desert – Carnegie Endowment Photo: AFP

Boukhars notes that, “There is growing evidence to suggest dangerous connections between criminal organizations, AQIM, and the Sahrawi refugees in Tindouf,” and that “in February 2013, the Malian foreign minister confirmed the presence of Sahrawi combatants from the Tindouf camps among the groups that fled the French-led intervention, which was launched to counter an advance of insurgents from northern Mali toward the capital.”

Boukhars adds: “a study conducted by Altadis (a European tobacco company) revealed that ‘Sahrawis are involved in a vast network of smuggling … using various routes, passing through the Western Sahara to Algeria via Tifariti and Bir Lahlou, oases controlled by the Polisario Front.’” While “this illegal activity has existed for decades,” the “problem today, however, is that these illicit activities occur in the context of the expansion of AQIM, growing interdependence of organized criminal networks and state officials, and rising social and ethnic conflict.”

Earlier this year, another report, from IUCTS,  warned that al-Qaeda was establishing a new hub for jihadi recruits and potential launching pad for terrorist attacks much closer to US and European shores in an “Arc of Instability” stretching across Africa’s Sahara/Sahel region. IUCTS

In the book’s conclusion, Boukhars and Carnegie senior associate Frederic Wehrey write that “fragile and failing states pose real threats to international security. They can provide training bases and safe havens for al-Qaeda and its affiliates as well as offer violent extremists an environment suited for generating large profits from smuggling and illicit trafficking.”

They note that, across the region, “past approaches have focused on building the capacity of the security sector.”  To successfully counter the threat of al-Qaeda and allied militant extremists and transnational criminal networks in the Sahara, they offer a series of policy recommendations for how the international community can work closely with local states to institute and continue reforms that also address “the underlying institutional and social roots of insecurity.”

In late February the Inter-University Center for Terrorism Studies, IUCTS, issued another study, which reported that al-Qaeda was establishing a new hub for jihadi recruits and a potential launching pad for terrorist attacks much closer to US and European shores in an “Arc of Instability” stretching across Africa’s Sahara/Sahel region. Among other recommendations, the IUCTS report called for long-term solutions to reduce potential criminal, terrorist recruiting in Polisario-run refugee camps in Algeria.

On May 13, the UN Security Council convened a special session, where delegates expressed deep concern about the “arc of instability” stretching across Africa’s Sahara and Sahel, where armed groups are perpetrating increasing violence and exploiting the region’s porous borders, illegal arms and drug trafficking, and difficult socioeconomic situations to spread the “growing scourge” of lawlessness.

“Terrorism thrives where borders are weakest,” said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.  “If left unchecked,” the Security Council delegates warned, “it could transform the continent into a breeding ground for extremists and a launch pad for larger-scale terrorist attacks around the world.”

On April 17, AFP reports dozens of al-Qaeda-linked extremists regroup in Mali, S. Libya, & W. Sudan; others go to Polisario-run camps in Algeria. “When the highest UN authorities have expressed their concern and called for urgent settlement of the Western Sahara problem,” said one African soldier,   “it is because of the risk of terrorists turning the refugee camps into a new home for jihadists.”

Sony plans to establish zonal offices in Morocco, Ghana, Nigeria & Angola, employing local human resources & identifying business partners with capacity to compliment Sony’s Africa growth strategy.

Trade Arabia (Cape Town, South Africa, May 14, 2013) – Sony has unveiled its blueprint for expansion across the African continent, looking to transform consumers’ experience through launching the latest technology products, brand stores, and setting up service centers in almost every country in Africa.

On the operational front, Sony plans to establish new zonal offices in Morocco, Ghana, Nigeria and Angola, employing local human resources and identifying new business partners with the capacity to compliment the Sony growth strategy in Africa, a statement from the company said.

The announcements, which came at an exclusive dealers’ conference in Cape Town, South Africa, highlight Sony’s global ambitions and the significance it places on Africa in the international marketplace.

Hiroyasu Sugiyama, managing director, Sony Middle East and Africa, said: “Africa is undoubtedly one of the most important markets for Sony. By 2015, we hope to achieve a $1.4 billion share in the consumer electronics space, including the fast-growing mobile phone business.”

“The numbers certainly look exciting, but our immediate focus is to identify tactics that help us move towards our target. The Sony roadmap for Africa constitutes a four-pillared strategy based on ‘product’, ‘customer’, ‘community’ and ‘operation’.”

Recognising the demand for its top-of-the-line products in local markets, Sony aims to synchronise its international launches to include the African continent in its entirety. From the award-winning Sony Xperia Z smartphone, the Xperia tablet and the Bravia 4K TVs to the world’s most powerful audio system, the Shake 7 stereo, Sony will look to reduce the wait-time and increase the availability of its products, especially those tailored for African consumers.

Incidentally, Sony stands number one in the audio products category in Africa, commanding a market share of over 40 per cent, the statement said. In South Africa alone, one in two customers seeking audio products has been found to opt for Sony.

Looking to transform the experiential prospects for African consumers, Sony is also set to roll-out its unique branded stores, Sony World, in key markets to give potential buyers a chance to see and feel the quality of its products. The first of these open-display stores has been successfully launched in the Ivory Coast, it said.

The brand has announced the launch of 67 authorised service centers in Africa this year that will be increased to 87 centers by March 2014.

“Africa is a vast continent, and we understand that it is made up of different and diverse countries with many languages and cultures that require localized communication,” Sugiyama added.

“We are moving fast to satisfy these requirements and preferences through vehicles such as a multi-lingual Sony website in Africa’s predominant languages including French, Portuguese, English and Arabic. We are also looking to launch a dedicated Sony Facebook page for Africa.”

Over the years, Sony has extensively engaged with the African community with campaigns that propose the company’s goal to work ‘With Africa’ as opposed to ‘For Africa’. These include initiatives such as the South Africa Mobile Library Project in partnership with non-profit organization South African Primary Education Support Initiative (Sapesi).

In addition, Sony has partnered with Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Global Fund to Fight Aids, and Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) to implement highly successful public cinema-viewing projects in Tanzania, Ghana and Cameroon.

Other community support projects include Folktales in Malawi, a joint initiative with the Malawi National Commission for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) and the Global Future Charitable Trust (GFCT), to protect and preserve the heritage of intergenerational story telling in print and audio formats.

The widespread Eye See Digital Photo Project headed by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) was additionally extended to children in Rwanda, Liberia, Madagascar, South Africa, Ethiopia, Mali and Tunisia to give them a voice of expression through photography.

Speaking on Sony community initiatives, Sugiyama said:

“We at Sony believe that we must be a part of the local community wherever we do business,” Sugiyama said. “Ever since its inception in 1946, Sony has endeavored to provide amazing entertainment experiences through our products that inspire and fulfill our consumers’ curiosity.” “We continue to replicate this guiding philosophy that is embedded in our DNA across all the community-focused initiatives that we deliver globally.”

Sony’s new expansion plan is just the tip of the iceberg with regards to its long term vision for Africa, the statement said. At a time when the region’s electronics market is evolving rapidly, with more and more users looking for intelligent solutions to match their entertainment needs, Sony is poised to deliver an extraordinary offering to suit varied expectations, and bring the ‘Best of Sony’ to every corner of the African continent.

TradeArabia News Service

By December 2014, 131 turbines will dot desert landscape. Middle East Online

**Kingdom hopes to cover 42 percent of its energy needs with renewable sources by 2020, has launched plan to produce 4,000 megawatts.**

Middle East Online, by Guillaume Klein (Tarfaya, Morocco, May 18, 2013) — Morocco is ploughing ahead with a programme to boost wind energy production, particularly in the southern Tarfaya region, where Africa’s largest wind farm is set to open in 2014.

The kingdom, which has no hydrocarbon reserves of its own, hopes to cover 42 percent of its energy needs with renewable sources by 2020, and has launched a plan to produce 4,000 megawatts.

Half of this will come from solar energy: at the beginning of May, the first of five solar power plants near Ouarzazate was officially launched, and the site is set to be operational from 2015.

Wind power will supply the remaining 2,000 MW, and Morocco’s wind-blown southern coast, where many of the new farms will be built, already resembles a huge building site.

At Tarfaya, which will be home to the continent’s biggest wind farm, the project led by the French company GDF Suez, in partnership with local company Nareva Holding, is only just beginning.

“Building started at the end of December 2012. But the first section, which will produce 50 MW, will be in service in January,” Francis Schang, a manager at Siemens which is carrying out the work, said.

“It’s a high-speed project,” he added. By December 2014, if all goes to plan, 131 turbines, each 80 metres (260 feet) tall, will dot the desert landscape.

Together they will produce 300 MW, enough to meet the energy needs of several hundred people, Schang said.

As plans to boost Morocco’s wind energy progress, Energy Minister Fouad Douiri said he hopes renewable sources develop even further. “The wind programme is coming along well,” he said.

At a cost of nearly 500 million euros ($640 million), the Tarfaya wind farm, stretching over nearly 20 kilometres (12 miles), will allow Morocco to “avoid CO2 emissions equal to the amount absorbed by 150 million trees,” Boutaina Sefiani, the head of the project, said.

The main problem that has to be addressed is the effect sand from the surrounding desert will have on the turbine mechanisms, Schang said.

“The turbines will require greater maintenance, with a special sealing treatment,” he said.

The Akhfennir wind farm around 100 kilometres east of Tarfaya is much smaller, but is almost ready to start production.

In the middle of a rocky desert plateau, where only a few camels and their herders wander, 50 turbines are already turning in the wind.

Around 10 more turbines will be switched on in June, allowing them to produce 100 MW, Mohamed Ben Osmane, project manager for Moroccan Wind Energy (Energie Eolienne du Maroc, EEM), said, adding that the site’s capacity is expected to double over time.

As plans to boost the country’s wind energy production progress, Energy Minister Fouad Douiri said he hoped to see renewable sources developed even further.

“Between the sites that are operational and those that are still under construction, we are reaching 1,000 MW from wind power,” Douiri said.

“The wind programme is coming along well,” he said.

“We think that between now and 2020 we may even be producing a little more than 2,000 MW.  And after 2020, we will keep going.  There is the potential to take this much further.”

Tarfaya, Morocco, site of what will be Africa’s largest wind power farm.

Imlil is a small village located in Atlas Mountains of Morocco. It is one of Berber villages along the way, and lays about 1,700 meters above sea level, thus making it the center of mountain tourism.

VENTURES AFRICA (Imlil Valley, Morocco, May 19, 2013) – Imlil is a small village located in the Atlas Mountains in the Kingdom of Morocco. It is one of the Berber villages along the way, and it lays about 1,700 meters above sea level, thus making it the center of the mountain tourism in Morocco. Imlil relies mainly on terraced agriculture and the brownish Berber villages make a harsh and beautiful contrast to the green terraces.

Imlil is located in a valley where flowing icy water comes from the melting of snow during winter, which is then deposited on the tops of the mountains. This water is very well used by locals for agriculture. To this end, the people of this village have developed elaborate irrigation systems to water their fruit trees and fields.

The site offers tourists from all over the world several routes to follow. Imlil is also the starting point for all those who want to climb Mount Jbel Toubkal. Mount Toubkal being the highest mountain of Morocco is ranked in the eight highest peaks in Africa.

The easiest way to drive to Imlil is travelling from Marrakech. From this city, take the road leading to Asni and Tahenaout to get through. Road is fairly good until you reach Tahenaout. Beyond Tahenaout, it is always advised to walk because the road has suffered a lot of damage caused by rain. One needs to be careful and remember, driving and riding are the best means of transport to get to Imlil.

Imlil relies mainly on terraced agriculture and the brownish Berber villages make a harsh and beautiful contrast to the green terraces.

After crossing the gorge of Asni, picturesque village known for its weekly market on Saturdays, the route continues along a green valley where the mountains and impressive natural bastions play with colors.

The people of Imlil are big entertainers who welcome you on their land with a big smile. Tourism in this part of North Africa is largely increasing because people feel safe all the time, get to experience real life lessons from the natives. There are always people willing to help you visit the most interesting sites and the native Moroccan guides make sure you capture and keep only good memories of their culture.

You will find Imlil mountain guides in the area to assist you in the ascent of Toubkal and many other excursions. The guides are not all graduates, but most of them are native to the valley and the mountains. They know all the ins-and-out of the valley and, most importantly, teach you about the climate and the region’s history.

Finally, accommodation in Imlil is not a problem. You will find, in this small village, a variety of inns, guest houses, small hotels, rooms for rent, etc. It is up to you to choose the ideal accommodation package, according to your budget and the luxury you are looking for, to soak up the Moroccan culture and the Imlil’s way.

Kasbah du Toubkal … model for tourism benefiting communities in Morocco’s High Atlas mountains. Photograph: Alan Keohane

Oum – Moroccan singer, writer, composer.

Patriotic Vanguard, Sierra Leone’s News Portal (May 19, 2013) — Oum is the first word of moroccan first name Oum El Ghaït, which means ”Mother of relief “, and that used to be given to baby girls born in the desert in a rainy day or night. Oum wears well her name; her music generously brings in its flow feelings, dreams, and stories inspired by her own vision of the world.

Her singular voice, at the same time soft and powerful succeeds in combining the elements of her original culture, and those of a universal musical heritage whom she investigates.

Oum sings “Soul of Morocco” – Click on photo to play video

Singer, writer and composer, Oum begins by singing an eclectic soul in her first album Lik Oum which mixes pop, hip-hop and rhythm and blues, before moving on three years later, with Sweerty, a thirteen tracks in which she asserts her talent of melody maker inspired of new soul, and jazz, and her ease as bilingual lyric writer because she writes her songs in darija (moroccan dialect) and in English.

Playing with words between poetry and metaphor, she sings about love, hope, freedom, men and women…about life. Humble and humanist, she looks through the writing to bring a message of love.

Having conquered the heart of Moroccans, and seduced by her presence the audience of several stages in Europe and the Arab world, Oum gets ready to enchant the international musical sphere with “Soul of Morocco.”

This project arose from her desire to reveal the wealth and the cultural diversity of Morocco while conjugating it to the rhythms and to the sounds of other musics of the world. A dozen pieces played by a quartet double bass, percussions, guitar and flute / saxophone, with – on some songs – a line of Oud as well as the participation of renowned musicians such as Jean-Luc Oboman Fillon, Alain Debiossat ( Sixun) and Karim Ziad.