Morocco

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Morocco's King Mohammed VI has tested positive for Covid-19, but with no symptoms, the monarch's personal doctor says, according to state news agency MAP.

Thursday's statement from Dr Lahcen Belyamani, quoted by MAP, said that the monarch would take a few days of rest.

The independent English-language website Morocco World News noted that royal doctors were likely to "keep a close eye on the monarch's health", noting his previous heart condition appeared to have "improved significantly over the past two years".

The pro-monarchy outlet also noted that Covid-19 infections had risen in the country in the past month from a few dozen cases daily to 1,568 infections recorded in the previous 24 hours.

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The sister of the Moroccan man who has been sentenced to death by a Russian proxy court in eastern Ukraine says she feels his story is being ignored - and that he may be forgotten.

Brahim Saadoune was sentenced alongside Britons Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner, who have received much more coverage.

Saadoune, 21, was studying in Ukraine but signed up to fight in the defence of Mariupol.

When he surrendered - he was put on trial, along with the other two, not as a soldier but a mercenary.

“At first, when they both captured all of them, then it was like different news about every person,” Imane Saadoune says.

“There wasn't much attention on my brother… he was left aside a little bit. Maybe it's because of my government they're not doing much about it, they are literally silent and nobody is claiming him.”

The three men do have a chance to appeal but the separatists have said they see no reason not to put them to death.

It has been left to his friends to campaign for his life.

“He has a lot of support. His friends, they are real friends, just starting many campaigns for him. I just want to tell him that he is loved. He's really loved.”

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

The UN human rights office has expressed concern at the sentencing to death of a Moroccan man and two Britons by a Russian proxy court in eastern Ukraine, saying such trials against prisoners of war amounted to a war crime.

The UN says the three were part of Ukraine's armed forces, and therefore could not be described as mercenaries.

Brahim Saadoun was a student in Ukraine when the war broke out, his father told Moroccan website Madar21, adding, "he is not a mercenary".

AFP news agency also says the father accused the Ukrainian authorities of "recruiting foreign students and exploiting them in the war" back in April.

• Follow the latest updates on the BBC's Ukraine live page

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

A Moroccan captured while fighting for Ukraine is among three people who have been sentenced to death by a Russian proxy court in eastern Ukraine.

Brahim Saaudun and Britons Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner are accused of being mercenaries, Russian state media says.

The court, which is not internationally recognised, is in the pro-Russian so-called Donetsk People's Republic.

The UK and Ukraine have condemned the sentences for violating international laws protecting prisoners of war.

Read more here.

The European Union has urged Algeria to reverse its decision to suspend a cooperation agreement with Spain, amid a dispute over Western Sahara.

On Wednesday, Algeria suspended its 2002 friendship treaty with Spain, threatening trade ties, including supplies of Algerian gas.

In March, Spain publicly recognised Morocco's plan to grant Western Sahara autonomy rather than full independence, resolving a diplomatic spat with Morocco but angering Algeria.

Algeria supports the Polisario movement which is seeking independence for Western Sahara.

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Morocco has reported its first confirmed monkeypox case, the first non-endemic country in Africa to do so.

The infected person has a history of travel to France and is in isolation, according to the African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

At the end of May, Africa CDC said those who had tested positive for the disease on the continent had not been known to have travelled abroad prior to becoming infected.

The link to travel to France requires more thorough investigation and sequencing in the continent.

During his weekly briefing, Dr Ahmed Ogwell, acting head of the Africa CDC, said that even though monkeypox was spreading internationally, any intervention, and any planning to contain the virus, should begin in Africa.

“The place to start vaccination should be Africa and nowhere else," he said.

Read more: Nigeria bans bushmeat to prevent monkeypox spread

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Two years after their closure, Spain has reopened the borders of its North African enclaves Ceuta and Melilla to Moroccan workers following the resolution of a drawn-out diplomatic crisis.

The frontiers were initially closed at the height of the coronavirus pandemic but later became part of a row over migration and the issue of Western Sahara.

Tensions flared in May last year when Madrid allowed Brahim Ghali, the leader of the Western Saharan independence movement Polisario to be treated for Coronavirus in a Spanish hospital.

Ten thousand migrants then surged into Ceuta as Moroccan border forces looked on - a move widely seen as retaliation by Rabat.

Morocco and Sudan are investigating suspected cases of monkeypox, Africa’s health body says.

This comes after outbreaks of the virus have recently been found in Europe, Australia, America and the Middle East.

Monkeypox is usually associated with travel to central or West Africa, near tropical forests, but some of the new cases have no travel link.

During his weekly briefing, Dr Ahmed Ogwell, deputy director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control (CDC), confirmed there was still no direct link.

He said the continent had so far reported 1,405 cases and 62 monkeypox-related deaths this year - a case fatality rate of 4.4%

These have occurred in four countries where the disease is endemic: Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria.

Dr Ogwell said all African countries were advised to scale up surveillance and testing.

Monkeypox, a mild viral infection, can be spread when someone is in close contact with an infected person.

Initial symptoms include fever, headaches, swellings, back pain, aching muscles - and a rash can develop once the fever breaks.

It is thought to be spread by rodents, such as rats, mice and squirrels.

“The washing of hands is very important as it is a contact-spread disease,” Dr Ogwell said.

He also advised people to avoid touching animals that looked sick and those known to be carriers.

Smallpox vaccines were being administered in Africa, Dr Ogwell said.

“The available supplies of smallpox vaccines will be prioritised to health workers and areas with confirmed cases of the virus,” he said.

• EXPLAINER: What is monkeypox and how do you catch it?

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A Moroccan government spokesman says that a pipeline project with Nigeria is "on the right track", amid a spat with Algeria and Spain over gas supplies.

Moroccan official news agency MAP quoted Mustapha Baitas as saying that the project was progressing in line with the vision of both countries' leaders.

He said the project was part of "a strategic partnership" between the two countries.

The remarks follow a recent dispute between Spain and Algeria over gas supplies to Morocco.

Last week, Algeria threatened to cut off its gas supply to Spain if any of it ends up in another country - following Madrid's decision to supply gas to Morocco in a reverse flow through a pipeline that links Spain to Morocco.

Tensions between Morocco and Algeria have been worsening in recent months.

The two countries have long had a fractious relationship - especially over the disputed territory of Western Sahara.

The Morocco-Nigeria gas project was initiated by the Moroccan king and the Nigerian president and a cooperation agreement was signed in May 2017, according to MAP.

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The governments of Morocco and Kenya are increasing minimum wage.

Speaking at Labour Day celebrations in Nairobi, Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta said a rise of 12% was necessary to help workers cope with a surge in consumer prices, which has been partly driven by the war in Ukraine.

Kenyans have seen commodities, including cooking oil and fuel, go up in price, exacerbated by supply concerns following the Russian invasion.

Meanwhile, in Morocco, the government announced plans to increase the minimum wage for public servants by 16%. For other workers, the increase will be 10%.

Algeria has accused Morocco of killing three people in an attack in the disputed region of Western Sahara.

The Algerian foreign ministry said Moroccan forces shelled a commercial convoy on the border between Algeria and Mauritania.

Neither Morocco nor Mauritania have commented on the allegation.

In November, Algiers accused Rabat of killing three Algerian nationals in a similar attack.

Tensions have increased in recent months between the two countries, culminating in Algeria breaking off diplomatic relations last August.

EPACopyright: EPA

Morocco and Spain have announced they have turned a new page in relations - after Madrid pledged support for Morocco's autonomy plan for the disputed Western Sahara.

During a meeting in Rabat, King Mohammed and the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said they were willing to usher in a new phase, "based on mutual respect, mutual trust, permanent consultation and frank and faithful co-operation".

In a statement, Mr Sanchez reaffirmed the autonomy plan as a realistic option for Western Sahara.

Morocco considers the former Spanish colony its own.

But the Algeria-backed Polisario Front wants to establish its own state.

• Find out more about Western Sahara

AFPCopyright: AFP

A summit bringing Israel together with Egypt, Morocco and two other Arab countries is taking place in the Negev desert in Israel.

The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is also taking part in the meeting, which is expected to focus on the revival of the Iran nuclear deal and the war in Ukraine.

Foreign ministers from Egypt, the UAE, Morocco and Bahrain have travelled to Israel for the event, in a sign of their commitment to a new relationship with Israel.

They've condemned the attack on Sunday in Israel in which two police officers were killed.

You may also be interested in:

• Morocco normalises ties with Israel
• Five reasons why Israel's peace deals matter

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Marik, a 22-year-old Morrocan studying in the Ukrainian town of Zaporizhzhia, remembers getting a call from a friend in Dnipro at 05:00 on 25 February.

"She said: 'There are some lights in the sky, maybe the invasion has begun'. I said: 'Stop joking, that's impossible, it's not'."

Minutes later, he saw on Telegram that Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered the start of the attack.

Within an hour he had thrown his belongings together and boarded a train to Lviv.

Once in western Ukraine, a friend drove them as close as possible to the border before traffic forced him to turn back. Marik and his friends walked the last 24 miles (40km) overnight to the frontier with Poland.

There, officials put the international students in one line and fleeing Ukrainian women and children in another.

"It was like hell," he said. "We slept in the queue, standing. People made fires, it was so cold."

After three days in line, he finally crossed into Poland.

Now in Krakow, Marik says he will wait in the city in the hope the war ends quickly. If it does not, he'll go back to his hometown of Oudja in eastern Morocco.

But the medical student is keeping busy. His university has kept classes going online, despite the war.