Geography of Africa

A Turkish national was among at least 18 people killed in an attack in Burkina Faso by suspected jihadists, Turkey's foreign ministry said on Aug. 14.  

It said another Turk was wounded in the Aug. 13 raid on a restaurant in Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou.

The so-called Arab Spring came to an end wherever it assumed to take place. It ended in Egypt with a military coup and drove Libya into a bloody chaos. Tunisia is presented as the only success story, but in fact it is far from having a happy ending but rather had a forced consensus. Last but not least, the debacle of Syria displays the dark side of the so-called "spring." 

The German aid group Sea Eye on Aug. 13 said it was suspending its migrant rescue operations in the Mediterranean, citing security concerns after Libya barred foreign vessels from a stretch of water off its coast.

The news last week was that Noble Energy decided to move two of its senior staff from Cyprus to Israel. Some ‘political sources’ interpreted this to be the result of dissatisfaction with the way government is handling commercialisation of Aphrodite and in particular the inordinate delays and lack of progress.

The Greek Police (ELAS) have helped their Egyptian counterparts to arrest a 30-year-old Libyan man believed to be involved in the illegal trade of ancient artifacts, sources at ELAS revealed on Saturday.

The death toll from Egypt's latest train disaster rose to 41 as cranes worked on Aug. 12 to clear the stricken railway line between Cairo and the Mediterranean city of Alexandria.

Under floodlights, rescue teams had combed wrecked carriages all night for casualties, also using torches on their mobile phones.

Travel demand for Turkey seems to be coming back, while tourists have continued to pile into Spain over the last two years due to security concerns around other summer destinations such as Tunisia, Egypt and Turkey, the chief executive of the European tourism group TUI has said. 

Saharan nations are looking to use Algeria as a transit country towards Europe

Algeria, like Libya, is often a country seen by illegal migrants to work. Last month Algeria planned to grant residency and job permits to the migrants, in order to fill jobs in the farming and construction industries.

Italy's parliament authorized on Wednesday a limited naval mission to help Libya's coastguard curb migrant flows, which have become a source of growing political friction ahead of national elections expected early next year, Reuters reported.

Turkish construction giant Yapı Merkezi hopes a $3 billion modern railway-line project it is building in Ethiopia and Tanzania will showcase its skills and make it a "trusted development partner" in Africa.