Germany sees sharp rise in deportations to North Africa

Tunisian President Kais Saied has extended the suspension of parliament, raising concerns in some quarters about the future of democracy in the country.

A paper by the German researcher Isabelle Werenfels is under fire in Moroccan media. Critics accuse her of having an anti-Moroccan agenda. But the affair probably has little to do with fine points of academic procedure.

Supporters of different political parties take to the streets of Morocco in campaign rallies ahead of parliamentary and local elections that will determine the fate of the decade-old ruling Islamist PJD party, even if it does not hold strategic ministries. First elected in 2011, the moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) hopes to win a third term this year, having clung on to power at the head of coalitions for the whole intervening decade.

Preliminary results in Morocco show two liberal parties on course to win almost half the seats in parliament. The largest party until now, which claimed election fraud on polling day, saw its support collapse.

President Kais Saied has vowed a new government and said the "Tunisian people have rejected the consitution." But opposition parties have rejected his plans.

Billionaire businessman and Agriculture Minister Aziz Akhannouch is set to lead a new Moroccan government after his liberal party soared to victory in parliamentary elections.

This week in Africa, elite soldiers over throw the government of Guinea's President Alpha Conde. The Islamist party which ruled Morocco for ten years suffers a crushing defeat in elections. South Africa's ex-president wins an early release from prison on health grounds, and farmers in central Nigeria flee conflict, with disastrous consequences for crops and food prices.

The Tunisian army has remained apolitical throughout its modern history. But now, some locals fear the military is getting too close to President Kais Saied's increasingly unconstitutional regime.

Algeria said this was a "civilized way" of handling the Moroccan tensions that reignited last year. Morocco did not give an immediate response to flying ban.

President Kais Saied has tightened his grip on power with the announcement that he will rule by decree. Political opponents have labelled the move a 'coup.'

Archaeologists in Morocco indentify clothesmaking tools fashioned from bone dating back 120,000 years, the oldest ever found, according to one of the researchers. The international team discovered more than 60 tools in Contrebandiers (Smugglers') Cave near Rabat.

Over 100 members of the moderate Islamist Ennahda movement have stepped down due to frustration with their party's leader. Meanwhile, international rights groups have slammed a "power grab" by President Kais Saied.