Anne Wolf

Tunisia’s telecommunications troubles The infrastructure exists but is not exploited by Anne Wolf Tunisia claims to have one of the highest internet and mobile phone penetration rates in North Africa. Its communications ministry website boasts that the country is “a favourable site for the growth of ICT [information and communications technology] firms, both locally and globally”. Its “improved infrastructure” is a key driver behind this status. Yet this rhetoric conceals the controls that the Tunisian government places on the use of high-speed internet, more restrictive than most other countries in the region. In Algeria the government limits internet access as…

Algeria: plus ça change… by Anne Wolf With Algeria’s president recovering in a Paris hospital from a mini-stroke, observers are questioning his continued ability to govern and whether he will run again in the next elections scheduled for May 2014. Abdelaziz Bouteflika, 76, is currently serving his third five-year mandate since first being elected in 1999. But since 2005 rumours have swirled that he is suffering from cancer, claims the regime denies. Algeria is a country where power divisions are very complex. The president, along with the Department of Intelligence and Security, better known by its French initials, DRS, are…

Algeria: internet censorship and social activism by Anne Wolf Was it coincidence or was it deliberate? Following the January 2013 terrorist attack at the natural-gas complex in the Saharan town of In Amenas, the Algerian government once again spurned the adoption of modern mobile phone standards. The government blamed administrative procedures for its decision. Others viewed this rejection as the regime’s latest step to curb dissent. The In Amenas hostage siege led to the deaths of at least 38 civilians and 29 militants. Shortly after this attack, newspapers reported that several high-ranking officials were concerned about the risks of third-generation…

Tunisia: Ansar al-Sharia While Tunisia’s political parties quarrel internally and with each other, extremists take control of the country’s destiny.  By Anne Wolf Three years ago Tunisians famously took to the streets demanding “jobs, dignity and freedom”, in the first of a wave of popular uprisings in the region that would become known as the Arab spring. Very little of the enthusiasm and optimism that characterised that period remains as the population continues to suffer from economic hardship and political limbo. But many Tunisians are now unsettled by a new threat: the emergence of extremist groups with possible links to al-Qaeda. The West has often held…