North Africa

• Introduction …01

• History …03

• Geography …06

• People …08

• Culture …09

• Transport and Industry …11

• Demographics …12

• Politics and Government …14

• Economy …25

• Agriculture and Food …27

• Tourism …30

• Economic Challenges …31

• African Arts and Crafts …33

• Folklore and Traditional Religion …34

• Languages …35

• Cuisine …38

• Implication of Development and Globalisation …39

• Media …42

• The Media Environment in North Africa …44

• Internet and Media Regulations …45

 Introduction

Northern Africa (UN sub-region) geographic, including above

North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked
by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of
Northern Africa includes seven countries or territories;

1. Algeria
2. Egypt
3. Libya
4. Morocco
5. Sudan
6. Tunisia
7. Western Sahara

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 Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Mauritania, and Libya together are sometimes referred to
as the Maghreb or Maghrib, while Egypt is a transcontinental country by virtue of the
Sinai Peninsula, which is in Asia.

Three small Spanish plazas de soberanía – tiny islets with military bases off the coast of
Morocco with no civilian population – are in the area, and the Spanish Canary Islands
and Portuguese Madeira Islands, in the North Atlantic Ocean northwest of the African
mainland, are sometimes included in considerations of the region.

The distinction between Northern Africa and the rest of Africa is historically and
ecologically significant because of the effective barrier created by the Sahara.
Throughout history this barrier has culturally separated the North from the rest of Africa
and, as the seafaring civilizations of the Phoenecians, Greeks, Romans and others
facilitated communication and migration across the Mediterranean, the cultures of North
Africa became much more closely tied to Southwestern Asia and Europe than Sub-
Saharan Africa. The Islamic influence in the area is significant, and North Africa, along
with the Middle East, is a major part of the Arab World.

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 History
Antiquity and Ancient Rome

The most notable nations of antiquity in western North Africa are Carthage and Numidia.
The Phoenicians colonized much of North Africa including Carthage and parts of present
day Morocco (including Chellah, Mogador and Volubilis). The Carthaginians were of
Phoenician origin, with the Roman myth of their origin being that Queen Dido, a
Phoenician princess was granted land by a local ruler based on how much land she
could cover with a piece of cowhide. She ingeniously devised a method to extend the
cowhide to a high proportion, thus gaining a large territory. She was also rejected by the
Trojan prince Aeneas according to Virgil, thus creating a historical enmity between
Carthage and Rome, as Aeneas would eventually lay the foundations for Rome. The
Carthaginians were a commercial power and had a strong navy, but relied on
mercenaries for land soldiers. The Carthaginians developed an empire in the Iberian
Peninsula and Sicily, the latter being the cause of First Punic War with the Romans.

Over a hundred years and more, all Carthaginian territory was eventually conquered by
the Romans, resulting in the Carthaginian North African territories becoming the Roman
province of Africa in 146 B.C. This led to tension and eventually conflict between
Numidia and Rome. The Numidian wars are notable for launching the careers of both
Gaius Marius, and Sulla, and stretching the constitutional burden of the Roman republic,
as Marius required a professional army, something previously contrary to Roman values
to overcome the talented military leader Jugurtha.

North Africa remained a part of the Roman Empire, which produced many notable
citizens such as Augustine of Hippo, until incompetent leadership from Roman
commanders in the early fifth century allowed the Germanic barbarian tribe, the Vandals,
to cross the Strait of Gibraltar, whereupon they overcame the fickle Roman defense. The
loss of North Africa is considered a pinnacle point in the fall of the Western Roman
Empire as Africa had previously been an important grain province that maintained
Roman prosperity despite the barbarian incursions, and the wealth required to create

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new armies. The issue of regaining North Africa became paramount to the Western
Empire, but was frustrated by Vandal victories and that the focus of Roman energy had
to be on the emerging threat of the Huns. In 468 A.D., the last attempt by the Romans
made a serious attempt to invade North Africa but were repelled. This is placed as the
point of no return for the western Roman empire in a historical sense and the last
Roman Emperor was deposed in 475 by the Ostrogoth generalissimo Odoacer who saw
no purpose in regaining North Africa. Trade routes between Europe and North Africa
remained intact until the coming of the Moslems. Some Berbers were Christians (but
evolved their own Donatist doctrine), some were Jewish, and some adhered to their
traditional polytheist religion. African pope Victor I served during the reign of Roman
emperor Septimus Severus, of Roman/Berber ancestry. The Byzantine reconquest of
North Africa from the Vandals began in 533 AD, as Justinian I sent his general Belisarius
to reclaim the former Roman province of Africa.

Arab Conquest to modern times

The Arab Islamic conquest reached North Africa in 640 AD. By 670, most of North Africa
had fallen to Muslim rule. Indigenous Berbers subsequently started to form their own
polities in response in places such as Fez, Morocco, and Sijilimasa. In the eleventh
century, a reformist movement made up of members that called themselves Almoravids,
expanded south into Sub-Saharan Africa.

The North Africa's populous and flourishing civilization collapsed after exhausting its
resources in internal fighting and suffering devastation from the invasion of the Bedouin
tribes of Banu Sulaym and Banu Hilal. Ibn Khaldun noted that the lands ravaged by
Banu Hilal invaders had become completely arid desert.

After the Middle Ages the area was loosely under the control of the Ottoman Empire,
except Morocco. After the 19th century, the imperial and colonial presence of France,
the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy left the entirety of the region under one form of
European occupation.

In World War II from 1940 to 1943 the area was the setting for the North African
Campaign. During the 1950s and 1960s all of the North African states gained

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independence. There remains a dispute over Western Sahara between Morocco and the
Algerian-backed Polisario Front.

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 Geography
The Atlas Mountains, which extend across much of Morocco, northern Algeria and
Tunisia, are part of the fold mountain system which also runs through much of Southern
Europe. They recede to the south and east, becoming a steppe landscape before
meeting the Sahara desert which covers more than 90% of the region. The sediments of
the Sahara overlie an ancient plateau of crystalline rock, some of which is more than
four billion years old.

Sheltered valleys in the Atlas Mountains, the Nile valley and delta, and the
Mediterranean coast are the main sources of good farming land. A wide variety of
valuable crops including cereals, rice and cotton, and woods such as cedar and cork,
are grown. Typical Mediterranean crops such as olives, figs, dates and citrus fruits also
thrive in these areas. The Nile valley is particularly fertile, and most of Egypt's population
lives close to the river. Elsewhere, irrigation is essential to improve crop yields on the
desert margins.

Territories and regions

Countries Density
Area GDP Per Official
and Population (per Capital Currency Government
(km²) (Total) capita languages
territories km²)

$239.6
$7,000
billion Algerian Presidential
2,381,740 33,333,216 14 Algiers (2009 Arabic
Algeria (2009 dinar republic
est.)
est.)[2]

$477.2 Semi-
$6,234 Egyptian
Egypt 1,001,449 77,498,000 74 Cairo billion presidential Arabic
(2009) pound
(2009) republic

Libya 1,759,540 6,036,914 3 Tripoli $88.3 $12,300 Libyan Jamahiriya Arabic

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 billion (2007) dinar
(2008)[3]

$136.6
$4,100 Moroccan Constitutional
446,550 33,757,175 70 Rabat billion Arabic
Morocco (2007) dirham monarchy
(2008)[4]

$88.08 Arabic
$2,552 Sudanese
Sudan 2,505,813 39,379,358 14 Khartoum billion Authoritarianism and
(2007) pound
(2008)[5] English

$81.71
$7,500 Tunisian
163,610 10,102,000 62 Tunis billion Republic Arabic
Tunisia (2007) dinar
(2008)[6]

$900
El Aaiún Moroccan Moroccan
Western 266,000 382,617 1.3 million Arabic
(Laâyoune) dirham administration
Sahara[7] (2007)[8]

Source:

• The World Factbook, United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 15 July 2008.[9]

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 People
The inhabitants of North Africa are generally divided in a manner roughly corresponding
to the principal geographic regions of North Africa: the Maghreb, the Nile Valley, and the
Sahara. Northwest Africa on the whole is believed to have been inhabited by Berbers
since before the beginning of recorded history, while the eastern part of North Africa has
been home to the Egyptians. Ancient Egyptians record extensive contact in their
Western desert with peoples that appear to have been Berber or proto-Berber.

The official language or one of the official languages in all of the countries in North Africa
is Arabic. Most popular ethnic groups in North Africa are Arabs and Berbers. All
countries in Africa have at least one of these religions: Muslim, Christian, and Jewish.-
found in World Studies book on Africa

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 Culture
The people of the Maghreb and the Sahara speak various dialects of Berber and Arabic,
and almost exclusively follow Islam. The Arabic and Berber groups of languages are
distantly related, both being members of the Afro-Asiatic family. The Sahara dialects are
notably more conservative than those of coastal cities (see Tuareg languages). Over the
years, Berber peoples have been influenced by other cultures with which they became in
contact: Greeks, Phoenicians, Egyptians, Romans, Vandals, Arabs, and lately
Europeans.

The cultures of the Maghreb and the Sahara therefore combine indigenous Berber, Arab
and elements from neighboring parts of Europe, Asia and Africa. In the Sahara, the
distinction between sedentary oasis inhabitants and nomadic Bedouin and Tuareg is
particularly marked. The diverse peoples of the Sahara chi que en categorized along
ethno-linguistic lines. In the Maghreb, where Arab and Berber identities are often
integrated, these lines can be blurred.

Some Berber-speaking North Africans may identify as "Arab" depending on the social
and political circumstances, although substantial numbers of Berbers (or Imazighen)
have retained a distinct cultural identity which in the 20th century has been expressed as
a clear ethnic identification with Berber history and language. Arabic-speaking Northwest
Africans, regardless of ethnic background, often identify with Arab history and culture
and may share a common vision with other Arabs. This, however, may or may not
exclude pride in and identification with Berber and/or other parts of their heritage. Berber
political and cultural activists for their part, often referred to as Berberists, may view all
Northwest Africans as principally Berber, whether they are primarily Berber- or Arabic-
speaking (see also Arabized Berber).

The Nile Valley traces its origins to the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Kush. The
Egyptians over the centuries have shifted their language from Egyptian to modern
Egyptian Arabic (both Afro-Asiatic), while retaining a sense of national identity that has
historically set them apart from other people in the region. Most Egyptians are Sunni

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Muslim and a significant minority adheres to Coptic Christianity which has strong
historical ties to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and Eritrean Orthodox Church.

North Africa formerly had a large Jewish population, many of whom emigrated to France
or Israel when the North African nations gained independence. A smaller number went
to Canada. Prior to the modern establishment of Israel, there were about 600,000–
700,000 Jews in North Africa, including both Sfardīm (refugees from France, Spain and
Portugal from the Renaissance era) as well as indigenous Mizrāḥîm. Today, less than
fifteen thousand remain in the region, almost all in Morocco and Tunisia. (See Jewish
exodus from Arab lands.)

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 Transport and industry
The economies of Algeria and Libya were transformed by the discovery of oil and natural
gas reserves in the deserts. Morocco's major exports are phosphates and agricultural
produce, and as in Egypt and Tunisia, the tourist industry is essential to the economy.
Egypt has the most varied industrial base, importing technology to develop electronics
and engineering industries, and maintaining the reputation of its high-quality cotton
textiles.

Oil rigs are scattered throughout the deserts of Libya and Algeria. Libyan oil is especially
prized because of its low sulphur content, which it means it produces much less pollution
than other fuel oils.

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 Demographics
Africans may be conveniently grouped according to whether they live north or south
of the Sahara Desert; these groups are called North Africans and Sub-Saharan
Africans, respectively. Black Africans are predominant in Sub-Saharan Africa, and
Arabic speaking Arab-Berber peoples predominate in North Africa. There is a great
diversity of physical types among Sub-Saharan African peoples -- ranging from the
Masai and Tutsi, known for their tall stature, to Pygmies who are among the world's
shortest adults.

Aside from the Nilotic groups of southern Sudan, some Nilotic groups in Ethiopia,
and a Bantu African minority in Somalia, Africans from the Northeast parts of the
continent typically have a different appearance from those in other regions.
Speakers of Bantu languages are the majority in southern, central and east Africa
proper; but there are also several Nilotic groups in East Africa, and a few remaining
indigenous Khoisan ('San' or 'Busmmen') and Pygmy peoples in southern and
central Africa, respectively. Bantu-speaking Africans also predominate in Gabon and
Equatorial Guinea, and are found in parts of southern Cameroon and southern
Somalia. In the Kalahari Desert of Southern Africa, the distinct people known as the
Bushmen (also "San", closely related to, but distinct from "Hottentots") have long
been present. The San are physically distinct from other Africans and are the
indigenous people of southern Africa. "Pygmies" are the indigenous people of
central Africa.

The peoples of North Africa are primarily Arab-Berber; the Arabs who arrived in the
7th century have basically assimilated the indigenous Berber people. The Semitic
Phoenicians, and the European Greeks and Romans settled in North Africa as well.
Berber peoples remain a significant minority within Morocco and Algeria, and are
also present in Tunisia and Libya. The Tuareg and other often nomadic peoples are
the principal inhabitants of the Saharan interior of North Africa. Black Nubians also
developed civilizations in North Africa during ancient times.

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Some Ethiopian and Eritrean groups (like the Amhara and Tigray, collectively known
as "Habesha") have Semitic (Sabaean) ancestry. Ethnic Somalis as a people
originated in the Ethiopian highlands, but most Somali clans can trace Arab ancestry
as well. Sudan and Mauritania are divided between a mostly Arab north and a black
African south (although many of the "Arabs" of Sudan clearly have African ancestry,
and are far off in appearance from Arabs in Iraq or Algeria). Some areas of East
Africa, particularly the island of Zanzibar and the Kenyan island of Lamu, received
Arab and Asian Muslim settlers and merchants throughout the Middle Ages.

Beginning in the 16th century, Europeans such as the Portuguese and Dutch began
to establish trading posts and forts along the coasts of western and southern Africa.
Eventually, a large number of Dutch, augmented by French Huguenots and
Germans settled in what is today South Africa. Their descendants, the Afrikaners,
are the largest white group in South Africa today. In the 19th century, a second
phase of colonization brought a large number of French and British settlers to Africa.
The French settled in large numbers in Algeria, and on a smaller scale in other
areas of North and West Africa. The British settled in South Africa as well as the
colony of Rhodesia, and in the highlands of what is now Kenya. Smaller numbers of
European soldiers, businessmen, and officials also established themselves in
administrative centers such as Nairobi and Dakar. Decolonization during the 1960s
often resulted in the mass exodus of European-descended settlers out of Africa --
especially in Algeria, Kenya, and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). However in South
Africa, the white minority (10% of the population) has largely remained in the country
after the end of white rule in 1994. South Africa also has a community of mixed-race
people (Coloured people).

European colonization also brought sizeable groups of Asians, particularly people

from the Indian subcontinent, to British colonies. Large Indian communities are
found in South Africa, and smaller ones are present in Kenya and Tanzania and
some other southern and east African countries. A fairly large Indian community in
Uganda was expelled by the dictator Idi Amin in 1972, though many have since
returned.

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 Politics and Government
The People of North Africa, the societies of North Africa are culturally diverse and
geographically dispersed. The rule of the region was often changing, as new mobile
groups overran established rulers, and new movements of people destabilized older
regimes of power. Nation-states, as we know them, didn’t exist in world history until the
19th century, and in North Africa they were for the most part created by colonial rulers.

Map 7: Colonial Territories in 1914

Map 8: Colonial Territories in 1945

Maps 7 & 8 Key 14

For instance, though Morocco has the longest existing monarchy in the world, the actual
borders of the country were never entirely set—they were in flux as groups of people
loyal to, or allied against, the throne moved around, conquered or took over new areas,
etc. Review the maps below, and notice how the colonial borders shifted and where the
current political borders are.

When European powers divided the continent between them, they created the borders
which are, for the most part agreed upon today (we will see in our discussion of the
Western Sahara situation how this colonial division has created problems for current
states in the region). The colonists often capitalized on ethnic divisions in the region
(especially between Arab and Berber peoples) to take over territories. An excellent
history of this is recounted by Gavin Maxwell in Lords of the Atlas (2000). For a review of
the political impact of colonialism please refer to Module Ten: African Politics and
Government, Activity Three—The Political Heritage of Colonialism.
http://ex.matrix.msu.edu/africa/curriculum/lm10/actthree.html

Colonial governments differed in the amount of autonomy they granted indigenous

inhabitants, the amount of political opposition they allowed, the involvement of locals in
the governance of their country, the ability of elites to gain education in the ruling
country, etc. When the North African countries were granted independence (see map
below), they tried a variety of governance systems, and these have adapted over time to
their diverse populations and situations.

Independence Dates of North African Countries

As with the rest of Africa, there are different types of governance and political practice in
North Africa. For a review of politics and governance in the continent please link to

15
Module Ten: African Politics and Government, Activity Four: Politics and Government in
Post-Colonial Africa.

The major types of governance in North Africa are:

Republican Democracy
Algeria, Egypt, and Tunisia are all republican democracies, meaning they are governed
by elected legislative bodies. Though these countries are democracies, in structure and
substance they are not necessarily like the United States. In structure, these
governments modeled themselves after European parliamentary systems in which
heads of state (head of the executive branch—the president) and heads of government
(head of the legislative branch—the prime minister) are different. They all support many
political parties and representation is proportional (seats in the legislature are awarded
not to which party wins a certain region of the country, but by percentages to each party
based on what percentage of the vote they received). Both Algeria and Egypt have
bicameral legislatures while Tunisia is unicameral.

On the substantive side—that is the quality of democratic practice—protection of political

and human rights in these countries, may challenge our understanding of democratic
practice. To be sure, there is a variety of individual freedoms in each country. All three
allow all citizens above the age of 18 (20 in Tunisia) to vote, and Egypt requires all
citizens 18 and above to vote. However, each country has illegalized certain forms of
political participation. In Algeria and Egypt, political parties based on religion have been
outlawed. In Tunisia, one fundamentalist Islamic party is outlawed as well. Legislators
and executive officers (presidents) serve terms of 5 to 6 years. Freedom of the press is
restricted to different degrees within each country.

The governments of these countries defend the restrictions on political rights arguing
that political rights without restrictions would result in political chaos and violence. They
point out that social and political instability caused by poverty, the lack of economic
opportunity, and social displacement (urbanization and modernization) have created
conditions that foster Islamic fundamentalism which is completely opposed to democratic
principles of governance. Consequently, these governments argue, it is necessary to

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restrict some political and democratic rights in order to protect their countries from
becoming much more un-democratic.

Constitutional Monarchy
Morocco is a constitutional monarchy, though it differs from Great Britain and other
constitutional monarchies you may know. In Morocco, King Mohammed VI, who just took
the throne when his father, Hassan II died in 1999, runs the executive branch and
appoints the prime minister and his cabinet. The legislative branch is a bicameral
Parliament, the upper house is elected indirectly by local councils, professional
organizations, and labor syndicates for nine-year terms, while the lower house is elected
by popular vote for five-year terms.

Alternative Government
Libya is a unique government in the region for two reasons. First, in theory, it is a
socialist democracy in which people govern themselves through local political councils.
Second, though these councils do exist and function, in reality the nation is governed by
a military dictatorship which hasn’t changed since it took over in 1969 when cornel
Muammar Quadhafi took power in a military coup.

Islamic Laws
The one factor all these countries have in common is the attempt to integrate some
aspects of Islamic law into the judicial system of each country. Islamic law—Sharia law-
is included to varying extent in the national laws of the country. Indeed, only in countries
such as Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan under the Taliban regime was Sharia law, as
extracted directly from the Quran, the complete law of the state. Interestingly, a
completely different adoption of Islamic rule and application of the Sharia is found in
Libya. Muammar Quadhafi, the military dictator, bases laws on the codes of behavior
outlined in the Quran, yet and considers Libya to be a Socialist Islamic State!

You may have been taught about the concept of the separation of church and state in
your social studies or government classes. This concept arises out of the enlightenment
and the civil wars in parts of Europe where various Christian factions battled for political
power. However, even these nations (including the U.S.) often maintain strong cultural
ties to churches. Islam, unlike Christianity, was developed as a state religion even at the

17
time of its birth. The Quran (Koran) includes instructions on running governments, on the
rights of people, and on the relations of Muslim citizens with each other (especially in
civil laws).

Many scholars address the issue of the Islamic state. If you are interested in more
information, ask your librarian, or start by reading The Contradiction Between the Islamic
State and the Religious State, a paper by Dr. Ahmed Subhy Mansour on the web at
http://ahmed.g3z.com/researches/contradictione.htm.

Political Conflicts

As in other regions of Africa, in the post-colonial era North Africa has experienced
political conflicts, both within individual countries and between neighboring countries. We
will briefly look at examples of each type of conflict.

Crisis Over the Western Sahara

Because national borders and movements of people were fluid before colonialism, the
arbitrary borders, drawn by colonialists, have been in dispute in many areas throughout
post-colonial Africa. North Africa is no exception. An excellent example of this is the
disputed territory of the Western Sahara. This area, between southern Morocco and
Mauritania, was colonized by the Spanish rather than the French who colonized
Morocco (with the exception of two Spanish cities on the Mediterranean coast), Algeria,
and Tunisia. As the people of the region (called Saharawis) became sedentary, they

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began to reject colonial leaders and demand their independence. In 1973, the Polisario
was formed to wage guerilla warfare against the Spanish colonists. The Spanish gave
up rights to the territory in 1976, granting the northern two-thirds to Morocco and the
southern third to Mauritania. However, the Polisario demanded independence
completely for the territory and Mauritania gave up her portion in a treaty signed with the
group in 1979. Morocco, however maintains her sovereignty over the entire territory,
including the portion first ceded to Mauritania. Before signing the treaty with Spain,
300,000 soldiers and citizens of Morocco participated in the “the Green March” and
walked south across the border, claiming Western Sahara as a Moroccan province (the
anniversary of the Green March remains a celebrated national holiday in Morocco).
Morocco and the Polisario waged war until a UN-brokered peace agreement in 1991.
Because of Algeria’s support for the Polisario, relations between Algeria and Morocco
were cut off at times and remain very tense. A referendum on the future of the territory,
overseen by the UN, has been repeatedly postponed.

Moroccan Soldier Patrols the Sahara © Africa Focus: University of

Wisconsin.

You may be wondering why all the fuss? There are both economic and social causes of
this conflict. Western Sahara is a sparsely populated, very hostile desert, with virtually
no arable land. However, it is rich in phosphate and in iron ore and supports rich fishing
waters along its coast. As we will learn in Activity 4 that follows, phosphate is a valuable

19
mineral and is a main export of Morocco. Both sides consider the wealth of that resource
worth the fight.

In addition to economic concerns, the identity of the Saharawi people is also contested.
Saharawi groups have, at various historical times, been within the cultural and
governance sphere of the Islamic states which ruled the region since the eighth century
CE and from which the Moroccan dynasty traces its origin. In effect, Moroccans see
Saharawis as another of the diverse peoples that make up the Moroccan Nation, like
other Berber and Arab ethnic groups. Polisario argues that Saharawis are a separate
nation from the Moroccans and that the Saharawi people should be independent of
Moroccan rule. The situation remains complicated: a popular referendum to determine
the future of the territory is constantly postponed as government and Polisario (along
with United Nations negotiators) disagree on who should be allowed to vote (pre-Green
March residents, current residents, Saharawis in Algerian refugee camps, etc.), how the
elections should take place, and what the referendum should say.

The African Union (formally known as the Organization of African Unity/OAU) and the
United Nations have been engaged the crisis in the Western Sahara since it began. Both
organizations have unsuccessfully attempted to mediate between the Polisario and
Morocco since the beginning of the dispute in 1976. The OAU gave up it attempt to
mediate in the dispute in the 1980s when Morocco withdrew it membership from the
OAU because its government felt that the OAU was biased in favor of the Shararwi.
Morocco is the only African nation to withdraw its membership from the OAU/AU.
Currently, only the UN is actively engaged in a mediation effort. James Baker, former
U.S. Secretary of State in the first Bush administration, is leading the U.N. mediating
team for the Western Sahara.

Crisis in Algeria

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Without a doubt, in the recent past Algeria has suffered more from internal conflict and
violence than any other country in North Africa. It is estimated that in the decade
between 1992 and 2002 CE more than 100,000 Algerians were killed as a result of
politically motivated acts of violence. What were the causes of this political violence? To
answer this question we must go back in history.

Algeria has a long history of occupation by outside rulers. The coastal region of
contemporary Algeria was an important part of the Roman Empire, providing wheat and
other agricultural products that helped feed Rome. In the eighth century CE the
indigenous Berber peoples were conquered by the rapidly expanding Arab Islamic forces
from the east. In the 16th century Algeria became part of the powerful Ottoman Empire.
And, finally in 1830 the Ottomans in Algeria (but not elsewhere) were defeated by the
French who fully colonized Algeria in 1848.

Algeria became the first of many French colonies in Africa. The history of French
colonization in Algeria was unique—very different from the history of France’s other
African colonies. Unlike France’s other African colonies which were thousands of miles
from France, Algeria was located less than 500 miles away, just across the
Mediterranean Sea to the south. In addition, the coastal region of Algeria, though very
narrow, is very amenable to agricultural, particularly to the cultivation of fruits, grains,
and vegetables. These two factors, geographical proximity to France and agricultural
potential, made Algeria attractive immigrants from France.

In France’s other African colonies the only French people to live there were officials of
the colonial government, some missionaries, and a few business people. Moreover,

21
most of the French officials who lived in an African colony spent only part of their adult
lives in that colony. The situation in Algeria was different. During the nearly 120 years of
French colonial rule thousands of French people moved to Algeria and settled there,
some families for multiple generations. These settlers took control of the best agricultural
lands in the country and also soon dominated the economies of urban areas. The
French settlers came to view Algeria not so much as a French colony, but as a province
of France, separated from the rest of France by just a couple hundred miles of the
Mediterranean Sea.

Algeria, as a settler dominated colony, shared similarities with South Africa and
Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) which were also settler dominated colonies within the British
colonial system. You will more about these colonies in Module 20 Southern Africa.

In the 1950s and 1960s when France (and other European colonial powers) submitted to
the demands for political freedom by the African populations in their other colonies, due
to resistance from the settlers in Algeria, France refused to grant independence to
Algeria. Convinced that the French government would continue to side with the interests
of the French settlers in Algeria, under the leadership of the National Liberation Front,
and inspired in part by the American revolution, Algerians undertook a war of liberation
which lasted from 1954-1962. This struggle resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands
of Algerians and Frenchmen/women.

On July 5, 1962 Algeria became independent with great optimism, based on part on the
growing revenues from her new petroleum industry. During the next three decades
(1962-1991) Algeria was governed by civilian and military governments which were
secular and socialist in their orientation. Unfortunately, many of the economic policies
put in place during this time did not result in steady economic growth, leading to
increasing dissatisfaction with the government. The military regime, which governed
Algeria from 1965, did not tolerate public dissent.

By the late 1980s many Algerians, unhappy with continuing economic decline and their
inability to express their political displeasure, responded positively to new Islamic
movements which claimed that a return to strict Islamic observance was the solution to
Algeria’s economic, social, and political problems. At the same time, the military regime

22
responding to domestic and international pressure, agreed to return Algeria to civilian
rule and in December, 1991 held the first elections in nearly 30 years. The elections
were clearly and overwhelming won by the Islamic Salvation Front which advocated the
establishment of an Islamic government in Algeria. The Algerian army, with the tacit
support of Western governments, decided to ignore the results of the elections and
installed a civilian government which excluded the Islamists.

This clearly thwarted the will of the majority of the people who rallied around the Islamic
Salvation Front (FSI) to resist continued rule by a military controlled regime. The struggle
for power between these two groups led to a civil conflict which resulted in the death of
around 100,000 Algerians (almost all civilians) from 1992- 2000 CE when the FSI agreed
to disband. Why did the military, with the tacit support of France and the U.S., refuse to
recognize the democratic choice of the Algerian people? These groups did not want to
see the establishment of another Islamic Republic in region .

Fortunately the Algerian story became somewhat more positive in the early 21st
Century. After elections in 1999, which banned Islamic parties, the FSI agreed to
disband. Political violence did not disappear in Algeria, continuing at a much reduced
level. In April 2004, Abdelaziz Boutefilka (who was first elected in 1999) won a hotly
contested presidential election with 85% of the vote. However, Islamic parties continue
to be banned from participating in Algerian elections.

Terrorism

It would be inappropriate to ignore the issue of terrorism in this region. However, it is

also inappropriate to suggest or assume that North African (and other) Islamic
governments support terrorism or violence. The people of North Africa have been
familiar with terrorist acts perpetrated against their own governments (and against the
people themselves) by a variety of terrorist groups. Many of these attacks have been by
Islamic fundamentalists hoping to “purify” their society and the political system of secular
influences and to create state systems based exclusively or primarily on the Quran (you
will remember from Learning Activity 2: The People of North Africa that fundamentalist
revolutions have been common in the region since the Arab invasion of the late 600s).
Some of these movements have been nationalist movements against governments or

23
ruling political parties (like the Polisario in Western Sahara) and still others have been in
response to former colonial regimes (terrorist bombings in France in the mid-1990s).
Libya under Muammar Quadhafi supported some of these groups. Indeed, the UN
imposed sanctions against Libya for this reason from 1992-2002. However, in 2004
Quadhafi publicly renounced the use of terrorism, took responsibility for the bombing of
the Pan American flight over Lockerbie, Scotland (paying millions of dollars of
compensation to families of each of the victims of this tragedy), and dramatically ended
Libya’s nuclear weapons development program.

The other nations of North Africa long ago outlawed extremist and violent activities and
have taken leading roles internationally in supporting peace initiatives throughout the
region, the Middle East, and the world.

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 Economy
North Africa and other countries, we are really talking about two interrelated types of
economic behavior: formal and informal. Formal economic behavior is what you’ve
probably studied in Social Studies, like buying and selling goods, paying taxes, making
products in factories, etc. These activities are called formal because they can be
regulated: workers and customers have safety protections, the government can exact
taxes, etc. Informal economic activities are those that are not regulated. For instance,
when people barter, the government doesn’t or can’t regulate the exchange so these are
informal economic activities. How much of a country’s economy is based on informal or
formal economic activities varies by country. In the United States, most of the economy
is formal: we use money, are taxed, produce goods and are paid for our labor, etc. We
do engage in informal economics all the time though—if you’ve ever offered to do your
sibling’s chores this week so that she/he will do yours next week, you’ve bartered! In
many part of Africa, the informal economy is very important. Women barter with each
other over who will do which domestic chores, men negotiate whose animals will plow
the fields, and people trade homemade crafts and surplus foodstuffs all without the
regulation of the government.

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Egyptian Women Weave at Home to Trade for Goods (Informal
Economy) © Africa Focus: University of Wisconsin.

Moroccan Women Work in a Sardine Cannery (Formal Economy)

© Africa Focus: University of Wisconsin.

26
 Agriculture and Food
Agriculture is still one of the most important sectors of the economies of North Africa,
both for feeding the population and for export. The number of people employed in
agriculture varies by country: about 50% in Morocco, 40% in Egypt, 25% in Algeria and
probably even fewer in Libya which imports close to 75% of its food. The region depends
on its fertile areas to grow crops, including oranges and other citrus fruits; grains like
barley, wheat, oats and even corn; vegetables, including tomatoes that are shipped to
the U.S., onions, peppers and eggplants; legumes like lentils and chickpeas; and other
Mediterranean and arid produce, like nuts, olives, grapes (for eating and to produce
wine), dates and figs in abundance. In the Nile Valley, Egyptians also cultivate crops that
need more water, including sugarcane, cotton and even rice.

Tunisian Olive Harvesting © Africa Focus: University of Wisconsin.

Egyptian Woman Prepares Bread To Sell © Africa Focus: University of Wisconsin.

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Moroccan Wheat Harvest in Atlas Mountains © Africa Focus: University of
Wisconsin.

Marginal lands in North Africa provide scrub for a large livestock livelihood, especially for
sheep but also for cows, goats, poultry, and, of course, camels, horses, donkeys, and
mules. The seas provide fish both for consumption and for export.

Moroccan Herders Graze Sheep © Africa Focus: University of Wisconsin.

Egyptian Boy Guides Water Buffalo © Africa Focus: University of Wisconsin.

Minerals and other Natural Resources

Much of North Africa is mineral rich. As you remember from Learning Activity Three [link
to this page] the Western Sahara is a major phosphate producer. The region also has
deposits of other minerals including iron ore, silver, zinc, copper, lead, manganese,
barytine, gold, salt, limestone, gypsum, and coal (in Morocco). Petroleum and natural

28
gas exports provide most of Libya’s revenues, but the rest of the region also contains
sizeable deposits of these resources, especially Algeria and Egypt. Lastly, North Africa
also produces forest products, including furniture and cabinet wood, and is a leading
producer of cork.

Industry, commerce and production bases

As the countries of North Africa industrialize, their manufacturing and production

capacities tend to start with their major resources exports and branch out into other
industries. For example, Egypt has grown a flourishing textile industry from its cotton
resources, Morocco produces leather goods from its livestock resources, Algeria refines
and bottles its olive oil, Tunisia manufactures wood products, and Libya refines its oil
and natural gas resources. Across the region these and other industries—including
textile and leather goods manufacturing, food and beverage (especially wine)
processing, construction materials fabrication, chemical and fertilizer producing,
metallurgy including iron and steel making as well as jewelry crafting, and even paper
milling—are providing increasing employment for urban workers (as well as rural
workers in areas like mining minerals, raising livestock, and extracting oil and gas).

Tunisian Olive Oil Refinery © Africa Focus: University of

Wisconsin.

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 Tourism
Like in East Africa, tourism is of increasing importance in North Africa—Morocco and
Tunisia are high tourism earners. You already learned about Tuaregs in the Sahara
inviting tourists to learn about and experience their traditional lifestyles in Learning
Activity 2, but not all tourists necessarily want to “rough it” in that manner. Along the
coasts and the interior of the region are a variety of luxury resorts and hotels, mid-priced
business convention centers, and budget accommodations for backpackers and
“adventure” tourists. This has important implication for the political structure of these
nations as well as for the people who live in these countries. Stability and safety are
absolutely necessary in attracting tourism so governments that can contain popular
unrest and stability can actively seek tourism as an alternative economic industry. Hence
Morocco, Tunisia, and Egypt are popular destinations while the recent instability of
Algeria and Libya make these less appealing to European, American, and Asian
travelers. Tourism also increases both formal and informal economic opportunities as
North Africans find formal employment with hotels and touring companies and offer their
informal assistance as guides or open their homes to travelers.

Remittances
North African economies also depend on the remittances of emigrated workers. When
North Africans emigrate to Europe (particularly to France, Germany, Italy, and Spain) or
other regions of the world to find employment, they often send a portion of their earnings
back to their families at home. These remittances are vital to the economies of North
Africa, in that they continually add income to the region’s people. However, this is
informal economic activity and cannot be regulated until inhabitants spend the money on
their foodstuffs and other necessities. It is almost impossible to accurately measure
remittances, but many agencies, including the United Nations and regional governments,
note that remittances are vital to North African economies.

30
 Economic challenges
Disparity of wealth/resources
North Africa is one of the wealthiest regions of Africa, due both to its proximity to
European markets and its natural resources. Libya often has the highest GDP per capita
of the continent since it produces large amounts of petroleum. See the African Cultural
Center’s webpage on wealth to see how the nations of Africa compare to each other. As
you learned in Learning Activity Two, there is great diversity of wealth within North
African countries, though the region’s nations (with the exception of Libya, which is
slightly higher due to oil revenues) all have GDP per capita of $1000-$2000. This
disparity of wealth and significant poverty, both in urban slums and in rural areas, are
some of the factors that have lead to increasing anti-government movements, including
fundamentalism.

Urban Market in Fez, Morocco © Africa Focus: University of Wisconsin.

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Libyan Rural Market © Africa Focus: University of Wisconsin.

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 African Art and Crafts
Africa has a rich tradition of arts and crafts. African arts and crafts find expression in a
variety of woodcarvings, brass and leather art works. African arts and crafts also include
sculpture, paintings, pottery, ceremonial and religious headgear and dress.

African culture has always placed emphasis on personal appearance and jewelry has
remained an important personal accessory. Many pieces of such jewellery are made of
cowry shells and similar materials. Similarly, masks are made with elaborate designs
and are important part of African culture. Masks are used in various ceremonies
depicting ancestors and spirits, mythological characters and deities.

In most of traditional art and craft of Africa, certain themes significant to African culture
recur, including a couple, a woman with a child, a male with a weapon or animal, and an
outsider or a stranger. Couples may represent ancestors, community founder, married
couple or twins. The couple theme rarely exhibit intimacy of men and women. The
mother with the child or children reveals intense desire of the African women to have
children. The theme is also representative of mother mars and the people as her
children. The man with the weapon or animal theme symbolizes honor and power. A
stranger may be from some other tribe or someone from a different country, and more
distorted portrayal of the stranger indicates proportionately greater gap from the
stranger.

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 Folklore and traditional religion
Like all human cultures, African folklore and folktales represent a variety of social facets
of African culture. Like almost all civilizations and cultures, flood myths have been
circulating in different parts of Africa. For example, according to a Pygmy myth,
Chameleon hearing a strange noise in a tree cut open its trunk and water came out in a
great flood that spread all over the land. The first human couple emerged with the water.
Similarly, a mythological story from Côte d'Ivoire states that a charitable man gave away
everything he had. The God Ouende rewarded him with riches, advised him to leave the
area, and sent six months of rains to destroy his selfish neighbors.

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 Languages
The continent of Africa speaks hundreds of languages, and if dialects spoken by various
ethnic groups are also included, the number is much higher. All these languages and
dialects do not have same importance: some are spoken by only few hundred persons,
others are spoken by millions. Among the most prominent languages spoken are Arabic,
Swahili and Hausa. Very few countries of Africa use any single language and for this
reason several official languages coexist, African and European. Some Africans may
also speak different languages such as Malagasy, English, French, Spanish, Bambara,
Sotho, and many more.

The language of Africa presents a unity of character as well as diversity, as is manifest

in all the dimensions of Africa. Four prominent language families of Africa are:

• Afro-Asiatic
• Nilo-Saharan
• Niger-Kordofanian
• Khoisan

An early center of literature was the "African Ink Road".

35
Map showing the distribution of African language families and some major African
languages. Afro-Asiatic extends from the North Africa through the Horn of Africa to
Southwest Asia. Niger-Congo is divided to show the size of the Bantu sub-family.

By most estimates, Africa contains well over a thousand languages. There are four
major language families native to Africa.

• The Afro-Asiatic languages are a language family of about 240 languages and
285 million people widespread throughout the Horn of Africa, North Africa,
Southwest Asia, and parts of the Sahel.
• The Nilo-Saharan language family consists of more than a hundred languages
spoken by 30 million people. Nilo-Saharan languages are mainly spoken in
Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Uganda, and northern Tanzania.
• The Niger-Congo language family covers much of Sub-Saharan Africa and is
probably the largest language family in the world in terms of different languages.
A substantial number of them are the Bantu languages spoken in much of sub-
Saharan Africa.
• The Khoisan languages number about 50 and are spoken in Southern Africa by
approximately 120 000 people. Many of the Khoisan languages are endangered.

36
 The Khoi and San peoples are considered the original inhabitants of this part of
Africa.

With a few notable exceptions in East Africa, nearly all African countries have adopted
official languages that originated outside the continent and spread through colonialism or
human migration. For example, in numerous countries English and French are used for
communication in the public sphere such as government, commerce, education and the
media. Arabic, Portuguese, Afrikaans and Malagasy are other examples of originally
non-African languages that are used by millions of Africans today, both in the public and
private spheres.

37
 Cuisine
Africa is a huge continent and the food and drink of Africa reflect local influences, as also
glimpses of colonial food traditions, including use of food products like peppers, peanuts
and maize introduced by the colonizers. The African cuisine is a combination of
traditional fruits and vegetables, milk and meat products. The African village diet is often
milk, curds and whey. Exotic game and fish are gathered from Africa's vast area.

Traditional African cuisine is characterized by use of starch as a focus, accompanied by

stew containing meat or vegetables, or both. Cassava and yams are the main root
vegetables. Africans also use steamed greens with hot spices. Dishes of steamed or
boiled green vegetables, peas, beans and cereals, starchy cassava, yams and sweet
potatoes are widely consumed. In each African locality, there are numerous wild fruits
and vegetables which are used as food. Watermelon, banana and plantain are some of
the more familiar fruits.

Differences are also noticeable in eating and drinking habits across the continent of
Africa. Thus, North Africa, along the Mediterranean from Morocco to Egypt has different
food habits than Saharan Africans who consume subsistence diet. Nigeria and coastal
parts of West Africa love chilies in food. Non-Muslim population of Africa also uses
alcoholic beverages, which goes well with most African cuisine. The most familiar
alcoholic drink in the interior Africa is the Ethiopian honey wine called Tej.

Cooking techniques of West Africa often combine fish and meat, including dried fish. The
cuisine of South Africa and neighboring countries have largely become polyglot cuisines,
having influences of several immigrants which include Indians who brought lentil soups
(dals) and curries, Malays who came with their curries with spices, and Europeans with
"mixed grills" that now include African game meats. Traditionally, East African cuisine is
distinctive in the sense that meat products are generally absent. Cattle, sheep and goats
were regarded as a form of currency, and are not generally consumed as food. Arabic
influences are also reflected in East African cuisine – rice cooked with spices in style,
use of cloves, cinnamons, several other spices, and juice.

38
 Implications of development and
globalization
Like the rest of Africa, North African countries are called developing nations because
they have a significantly lower GDP than the industrialized nations of Europe, North
America, and Asia. Since shortly after World War Two, there has been a movement to
“develop” the rest of the world in line with the industrial development of Western Europe
and the United States and Canada. Throughout the course of this movement, the goals
of this development have changed, from economic modernization to provision of social
services to the poor to redesign of economic systems to political and social
empowerment of populations.
Development is more relevant to our lives than you may think. As globalization
increases, the economic wellbeing of foreign nations becomes more and more important
to our livlihoods. Not only do we need markets to sell our goods, we need the raw
materials, labor and other resources that African countries (and the rest of the
developing nations) provide. As you may remember from the late 1990s, economic
problems in one region (at that time East Asia) can reverberate around the world,
instigating economic recession in a variety of places. This is not just true of our
economic lives—as we can see in Afghanistan and Iraq, how we interact with other
governments and people can produce not only terrorists but also allies, not only conflict
but also peace. One of the tenets of development today is that all people have the right
to self-determination, that no nation should be forced to follow a prescribed path to their
future.

Egyptian Caretakers of Cairo Apartment Building © Africa Focus: University of

Wisconsin.

39
Development is also expanding beyond purely economic concerns. Development also
relates to social-cultural change as well as environmental concerns. Sustainable
development is based on a concept that no one should take more from the environment
than it can sustain, and that we should leave enough for future generations. These
messages highlight how people in the developed world, especially the United States,
use far more resources than other people and that to be good neighbors, and to survive,
we also need to change our behavior, and to develop new and better ways of conserving
the world’s natural assets.

Egyptian Shopkeeper Takes a Smoke Break © Africa Focus: University of Wisconsin.

The main split is between North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa, which is in turn divided
into a great number of ethnic and tribal cultures. The main ethno-linguistic divisions are
Afro-Asiatic (North Africa, Chad, Horn of Africa), Niger-Congo (mostly Bantu) in most of
Sub-Saharan Africa, Nilo-Saharan in parts of the Sahara and the Sahel and parts of
Eastern Africa, and Khoisan (indigenous minorities of Southern Africa). Also including
parts of Oceania, and India.

The notion of a "Pan-African" culture was discussed in seriousness in the 1960s and
1970s in the context of the Négritude movement, but has fallen out of fashion in African
studies. The wide distribution of Bantu peoples across Sub-Saharan Africa,

40
encompassing parts of Western Africa, Eastern Africa, Central Africa as well as
Southern Africa is a result of the Bantu expansions of the 1st millennium AD. The wide
use of Swahili as a lingua franca further establishes the Bantu peoples as a nearly "Pan-
African" cultural influence.

41
 Media
Countries in the Middle East and North Africa continue to invest in IT infrastructure and
media projects as part of their strategies to develop the local economies and create
employment. Among the major examples are Jordan’s plans to establish a free IT zone
in Amman, which will give sales and income tax breaks to the software companies and
business development firms based in the zone. The zone is part of a strategy designed
to increase the number of Internet users from 26 percent to 50 percent. It aims to
increase employment in the sector and to boost the sector’s revenues from $2.2 billion in
2009 to $3 billion by end of 2011.1

In addition to existing regional hubs Dubai Media City and Dubai Internet City, the United
Arab Emirates launched a new content creation zone to support media content creators
in the Middle East and North Africa. The new Abu Dhabi-based zone aims to employ
Arab media professionals in film, broadcast, digital and publishing. CNN, BBC, the
Financial Times, Thomson Reuters Foundation, and Thomson Foundation are among
the partners of the zone.2

At the same time, some countries have initiated efforts to develop Arabic Web content.
In this regard, Microsoft is working on translation technology that would make the Arabic
language more accessible to Internet users as part of Qatar’s Supreme Council for
Information and Communication Technology’s initiative to develop more Web sites with
Arabic content.3

The number of Internet users is likely to continue to rise, especially with the introduction
of technologies that overcome poor ICT infrastructure that hinders Internet access in the
region. WiMAX, for example, was commercially available by end of March 2009 in
Algeria, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia, while operators in other
parts of the region have started testing the service.4 Additionally, broadband markets
are growing fast in Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia, and commercial 3G mobile
services have been launched in Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Syria, and Tunisia.5

42
Demographic factors are also expected to contribute to the growth of Internet population.
The Arab Media Outlook 2008–2012 says that, “Digital media will thrive in the Arab
market because the market has a large, technologically accomplished demographic
group—its youth—who are comfortable with it and will customize it to their own
requirements.” The report also revealed that, “over 50% of the population in Yemen,
Oman, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Morocco and Egypt are estimated to be currently less than
25 years old, while in the rest of the countries the under-25, ‘net generation’ makes up
around 35% to 47% of total population.”6

Liberalization of telecommunications markets has already taken place in several Arab

countries. Most incumbent telecom companies in North Africa are already in private
hands, with exception of Algerie Telecom, the privatization of which has been postponed
due to the global economic crisis.7 However, experts say telecom liberalization in the
Middle East and North Africa still lags behind the rest of the world in terms cost and
efficiency, a matter which does not encourage direct foreign investment.8

43
 The Media Environment in North
Africa
The North Africa is one of the most heavily censored regions in the world. Human rights
watchdogs and free speech advocacy groups continue to criticize the media restrictions
and repressive legal regimes, and over the past few years, a great number of bloggers
and cyber-dissidents have been jailed.

In April 2009, The International Federation of Journalists called for a radical overhaul of
media laws , stating that the laws in most of the region’s countries still permit the jailing
of journalists for undermining the reputation of the state, the president, the monarch or
the religion. Such laws have often been used to suppress reporting of corruption or
scrutiny of government actions.9 This media environment created by authorities has
been hostile to bloggers and online activism, resulting in a number of arrests across the
region. In a list created by the Committee to Protect Journalists of the ten worst
countries to be a blogger, four such countries (Egypt, Syria, Tunisia, and Saudi Arabia)
were from the region.10

44
 Internet and Media Regulations
The last few years have witnessed an increase in the debate over media and Internet
censorship in the region. Rifts between the censors and local and regional advocates of
freedom of speech have intensified, and more voices continue to express concern about
media regulations in the region.

Interestingly, while advocates in the region criticize the regimes for the repressive
regulations, which limit freedom of speech online, some governments claim they arrest
bloggers and online activists because they abuse what the regimes call “media
freedom.” In Egypt for example, the authorities arrested a blogger in May 2009 under the
accusation of "Exploitation of the democratic climate prevailing in the country to
overthrow the regime." The Cairo-based Arab Network for Human Rights Information
deplored the charges and described them as a black comedy.11

Another example of such a rift is from the Gulf countries, where the head of the Doha
Centre for Media Freedom criticized Dubai Police for allegedly asking Google to censor
YouTube. The head of the center was later criticized by Qatar officials as well as some
journalists and was accused of endorsing pornography,12 which is a sensitive topic in
many North African societies.

While it is common for Internet groups and online activists in the region to organize
online campaigns to condemn online censorship and arrests of bloggers and online
writers, other online campaigns which call for and support social censorship - mostly
online pornography - have emerged in the past few years. For instance, an Arabic Web
site called Ehjeb (Arabic for the verb "to block") is becoming increasingly popular,
particularly among users of Web forums. The site offers to facilitate blocking of Web
sites by sending user-submitted URLs of questionable content to the censors in some of
the region’s countries. Also, some Internet users in North African countries where there
is no social filtering have organized online campaigns to demand filtering of sexually
explicit content.13

45
Pro-censorship advocates and anti-censorship activists have also used the court system
in their attempts to implement or remove censorship. For example, a judge in Egypt filed
a lawsuit requesting the banning of 51 Web sites considered offensive. The court
rejected the lawsuit in December 2007 and emphasized support for freedom of
expression as long as the Web sites do not harm local beliefs or public order. In May
2009 however, a Cairo court ruled in favor of an Egyptian lawyer and ordered the
Egyptian government to ban access to pornographic Web sites because they are
deemed offensive to the values of religion and society.

In Tunisia however, a blogger challenged the Web filtering regime in the country by filing
a legal suit against the Tunisian Internet Agency (ATI) for censoring the social
networking site Facebook after it was briefly blocked in August 2008. The court
dismissed the case in November 2008 without providing any explanation. These
examples and cases illustrate how the fight over access control is taking different
shapes and forms, and also indicate that different players will continue the debate and
challenge each other.

46