North Africa

The hundreds of African migrants in Israel facing eviction have reportedly opted for jail over deportation as officials of Israel serve them with notices to leave the country.

Israeli officials on Sunday started issuing notices to African migrants in the country urging them to leave the country or face jail term in a major crackdown on illegal migrants.

An estimated 90 migrants are feared to have drowned off the coast of Libya after a smuggler’s boat capsized early on Friday, leaving three known survivors and 10 bodies washed up on shore, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said.

Another miner died on Thursday in an impoverished Moroccan city shaken by protests over the plight of people scraping a living in abandoned coal pits known as the "mines of death".

Egyptian politician Mousa Mostafa Mousa said on Monday he would compete in presidential elections, hours before a nomination deadline was set to make President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi the sole candidate after withdrawals and a boycott call.

A leading human rights lawyer has quit Egypt's presidential race, saying his supporters were being intimidated and the electoral process was corrupt.

Tunisian security forces have killed a senior member of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb who was wanted by Algeria for two and a half decades, officials said.

Seven North African migrants died on Monday trying to reach Spain’s Canary Islands from Morocco in a small inflatable boat, Spanish authorities said.

Fierce clashes broke out in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Monday, killing at least 20 people, shutting the airport, and damaging planes during what the government said was a failed attempt to spring militants from a nearby prison.

There were violent protests in Tunisia's capital Tunis on Sunday days after relative calm as citizens agitate over economic reforms.