Morocco King's Investment Fund to Give Up Major Company Stakes Societe Nationale d'Investissement, a Moroccan investment fund with assets valued at least $2 billion controlled by King Mohammed VI, said it plans to become a minority investor in a number of companies to reduce its influence over the economy. SNI will cut its investment in companies including Morocco's biggest publicly traded bank, its biggest maker of cooking oil and its largest sugar refiner, Karim Chbani, an investment manager at the fund, said in an e-mailed response to questions yesterday. “SNI will disengage from subsidiaries in which it holds majority stakes by tendering their control to the market as announced last year in March,” Chbani said. SNI was listed on the Casablanca stock exchange until August 2010, when it merged with subsidiary Omnium Nord Africain and bought back its outstanding shares in a $3.9 billion transaction. In 2009, its last full year as a quoted company, SNI reported revenue of 3.4 billion Moroccan dirhams ($436 million) and stock-market holdings valued at 17.4 billion dirhams. ONA and SNI accounted for 11.7 percent of Bourse de Casablanca's 509 billion-dirham market capitalization as of end- 2009, according to figures in the exchange's annual report. “ONA held a majority stake in its subsidiaries and assumed operational management,” said Chbani. “The new merged SNI-ONA will now serve as an investment fund that will hold a portfolio of minority interests and will give up operational management.” Algeria: Law expert hails Bouteflika constitutional reforms Constitution law expert Dr. Fathia bin Abu hailed on Friday decisions made by Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika regarding the drastic amendments to the country's constitution. In an exclusive interview to KUNA, Bin Abu highlighted the importance of constitutional reforms as being among the priorities set by President Bouteflika, a step closer to establishing “civil society.” Bin Abu added that assigning an ad-hoc panel made up of various political parties and the constitutional law experts in order to prepare an array of proposals on the constitutional amendments was the right move which in turn bolster political performance in Algeria. The expert noted that such constitutional amendments need other reforms which are vital to political life in the country. Bin Abu said prior constitutional reforms were not as useful since there were no mention of democratizing the political process and expanding discussions so that all political blocs engage in and be represented in civil society. Tunisia: France and Italy seek Schengen changes France and Italy are working on a joint proposal to revise elements of the Schengen treaty, which allows free movement across borders of EU states, in response to tensions over an influx of Tunisian migrants. Officials in Paris and Rome said on Friday that the proposals under discussion focused on broadening the mechanism that allows states to temporarily suspend their Schengen commitments. These would be discussed by Nicolas Sarkozy, French president, and Silvio Berlusconi, Italian prime minister, at their meeting in the Italian capital on Tuesday. France and Italy have been openly at odds over the arrival on Italian shores of thousands of illegal immigrants in the wake of the Arab uprisings across north Africa. Italy has started issuing temporary residence permits to some of the more than 25,000 Tunisians who have arrived by boat, arguing that with these papers they are free to move within Europe. France, however, has set up controls on its border and returned hundreds of mostly French-speaking Tunisians trying to leave Italy to join relatives in France. Libyan army to pull out of Misrata Libya's Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim said Friday that the Libyan army would pull out of the rebel-held city of Misrata and allow the local tribes to deal with the situation. Kaim told reporters that the Libyan army will leave the city and local tribes and people will try to work out a solution to the problems either through force or negotiations. “The situation in Misrata …will be dealt with by the tribes around Misrata, and Misrata's residents and not by the Libyan army,” he said. Misrata, Libya's third largest city about 210 km east of Tripoli, has witnessed fiece gunfires between rebel forces and forces of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi since early March. Hours after the announcement of an adjustment in strategies in Misrata by Gaddafi's forces, NATO bombs struck a parking lot in central Tripoli on Saturday, an area close to Gaddafi's compound. Libyan government spokesperson Mussa Ibrahim said Saturday's “very powerful” attack killed three people. Witnesses said they heard jets flying over the city. South Sudan army accuses Khartoum of backing clashes in Unity state South Sudan's army on Friday, accused the central government in Khartoum of backing ongoing clashes in Unity state by forces loyal to renegade general Peter Gatdet. The accusation came following eruption of heavy fighting in Mankien and areas around Mayom County in Unity state. Officials from the affected areas in an interview with Sudan Tribune estimate that 85 people, mostly innocent civilians, have been killed. Several others are also reported to have sustained severe injuries as many more were displaced in the clashes. Yak was one of the militia commanders absorbed into the southern army Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) in 2006 – as part of a 2005 peace deal the SPLA became the only legal army of South Sudan. After the signing of the 2006 Juba declaration 6,000 soldiers, predominantly from the South Sudan Defence Forces (SSDF) were integrated into the SPLA. The SSDF was headed by General Paulino Matip who like Gatdet fought against the SPLA backed by Khartoum for periods of the civil war. Matip is now deputy commander in chief of the SPLA. BM
