[Mohoender]

This region of the world doesn’t experience direct fighting but it, nevertheless, slips into chaos. In Algeria, internal unrest has existed for years fueled by both the government and several Muslim radical movements engaged in a civil war. Attacks are tacking place on a regular basis and casualties are important but, with the Twilight War, these terrorist groups become even more active. The number of attacks increases dramatically in 2000 and their influence slowly spreads to neighboring countries: Morocco and Tunisia.

Morocco, which declares itself in favor of NATO in 2002, soon becomes a primary target of these groups and attacks are increasingly numerous, targeting universities, schools and various state institution. The army has been fully mobilized to face this new threat but remains unable to stop terrorist actions as it is now fighting on a two fronts. Indeed, with the repeated cancellation of referendums in Western Sahara, Polisario resume military actions in 2000 and attacks from the south have increased as well. When the nukes finally fall on Morocco in 2004, reducing Casablanca and Rabat to rubbles and decapitating the state, the country enters a full scale civil war which still mildly goes on.

In Algeria, the situation is even worse as the civil war has been going on since 1991 involving the Algerian Army, al-Jama'ah al-Islamiyah al-Musallaha (GIA), the Islamic Salvation Army (AIS) which is the armed component of al-Jabhah al-Islāmiyah lil-Inqādh (FIS) and the newly formed al-jamaa`atu l-salafiyyatu li l-da`wati wa l-qitaal (GSPC). All these groups are fighting among each other with the GSPC being mostly active in the South, the AIS controlling half of the guerrilla in the East and the West and the GIA being particularly active in the central region and in the capital city. The regular army is, then, fighting everywhere trying to overcome all these groups. However, when the nukes start to fall, the situation literally gets out of hand. The Algerian situation is special as only two cities holding oil and gas terminals are targeted (Oran and Skikda) while most of the nukes fall in more remote and lightly populated regions (Ghardaïa, Hassi-Messaoud, Laghouat, Ohanet, Ouargla, Tin Fouye and Touggourt) effectively putting an end to oil and gas production in the country. Deprived from its last source of income, the army left with little fuel, the Algerian government fall in a matter of weeks and the civil war heats up finally resulting in millions of casualties. It continues to these days but the Islamist groups have now lost control of various coastal cities, including Al Djazaïr, and of Kabylia to local governments.

Tunisia, for its part escapes most of the turmoil despite some incursions by radical Islamism. President Ben Ali remains in office but the army takes over most public affairs as soon as 1998 and the borders with Algeria and Tunisia are closed. Then, as the international situation worsen the weight on Tunisia increases and in 2004 the army is forced out of the southern part of the country. With quickly reducing supplies and an industrial network increasingly lacking in raw materials the government understands that it needs some foreign support to survive. Therefore, when France, Belgium and Luxemburg form the FBU in 2005, Tunisia immediately applies. Due its long and good relations with France, Tunisia is quickly accepted into the new Union, providing some industrial output in exchange for military supplies. In addition, when EMPs are finally massively used toward the end of that year, France also provides technical support, greatly helping Tunisian reconstruction.

Libya, much like Algeria, is targeted by the nukes and loses more than 70% of its population as a consequence of the attack. This is explained by the fact that the capital of Tripoli is hit along Tobruk and its oil terminal. Then, several warheads fall to the desert where they destroy most of the oil fields (Gialo, Natoora, Safir and Waha). Strangely, the oil field of Bel Hedan and Dahan are spared along with what remain of the oil terminal at As Sidrah. In addition, Muammar al-Gaddafi, who was in the desert at the time of attack, survives and quickly reorganizes the country with support from the army and the desert tribes. Within a few months, under his authority, the capital has been moved to Sirte and many coastal cities have been secured.

The poorest country of that region, Mauritania obviously escapes the nukes and the war but the chaos that follows and the collapse of global trade pushes the country to where it was a century earlier, before French colonization. Tensions that had been kept under control, suddenly surface again and the country goes through a terrible civil war after a number of military coup resulting in the collapse of the institutions. At last, the old cast system is reinstated and most of the population turns back to nomadic life and to the desert.

Nowadays, Morocco has ceased to exist as a kingdom and as a state. Berber tribes are again controlling most of the High Atlas, living either a nomadic life or a sedentary life centered on the rebuilt Ksours. Many among the surviving cities have been destroyed or deserted but some still exist within the land or on the coast: Essaouira, Fez, Marrakech, Meknes and Tangier. Large quarters have been deserted, old fortifications were completed by new ones and each city is under the control of a Pacha who has the upper hand on political, economical and military affairs. Among them, the land locked cities turned toward commerce and traditional productions but the coastal ones now favor piracy. Radical Islamist group are still active but they are widely opposed by the Berber tribes and they have been pushed back to a few remote areas. While talking about Morocco, one has to say something on Western Sahara. With the collapse of the Moroccan, rule and the destruction of the wall, that territory gained a de facto independence under the rule of Polisario. The region didn’t suffer much from the war and the population returned to a fully nomadic life. They are now living as nothing had happened and only gather twice a year around the now ruined city of Guelta Zemmur to discuss common policies among the tribes.

Life is more complicated in Algeria where the civil war is still going on and where assassinations and attacks occur daily. As a matter of fact, the few true surviving cities are located on the coast (Al Djazaïr, Annaba and Mostaganem), run by local authorities who support piracy, using traditional Arab sailboat and what little remains of the Algerian navy. Then, a single region is fully organized with a few working cities and local authorities that have managed to control more than a single urban center and its immediate surrounding: Kabylia. Its capital is Tizi Ouzou and the region, located to the East of Al Djazaïr and including Bejaïa and Setif, is limited to the south by the Aures Mounts. After, the fall of central authority, Radical Islamic groups attempted to overrun that area but they were met with fierce popular resistance and the local population executed captured members of these groups with extreme cruelty. As a result, no radical Islamist has entered Kabylia for months and the region can count as organized. Elsewhere, the only viable cities are these located near remote oasis to the south while urban centers to the north are ruined with tiny, scattered and extremely poor groups occupying various quarters. The countryside, however, is controlled by prewar terrorist groups and under the constant threat of actions by opposing factions.

Tunisia remains the only viable country (and a member of the FBU) but to survive, the government had to abandon some lands. In fact, in 2003 a line of light fortifications was built from Gabès to Gafsa and, then, from Gafsa to Kasserine and Bizerte. These defenses remain in place today, constantly patrolled by the army with Tozeur (North west of the Chott el-Jérid) being the only occupied city outside of this defensive line, still exploiting the vast oasis and maintained as a kind of last outpost before the Sahara. As a result, the country only lost a fairly small portion of its population and Tunisians are living under fairly good conditions. Food is largely sufficient and, if electricity is only available to very few people, it allows for some industrial production in the country.

Libya, for its part, follows a very different path as its leader Muammar al Gaddafi survived the attack. After a very short civil war suppressed in blood, the man establishes a new state under the title “Islamic and Socialist Republic of Cyrenaïca” with its capital at Sirte. Then most cities on the Sirte Gulf survive and remain under the authority of Colonel Gaddafi. His rule is greatly reinforced by the continuous exploitation of a few oil wells as this allows the Army to remain fully operational (including a small air force) while the large quantities of weapons stocked in Libya prior to the war, and now largely available, prevents immediate shortage of military supplies. In addition, a general support from the Bedouins of Libya allows him to extend his rule over most of the desert and may be again as far down as northern Chad. Largely involved in piracy, the new state is certainly the most important threat to Mediterranean shipping as pirates operating from Beida, Benghazi and Sirte have access to light modern combat ships. Recent reports even suggest that Libya reached some kind of agreement with the Knight Hospitalers as Libyan pirates avoid to attack Knight’s protected shipping while the Knights leave them alone when a target has refused their protection (The very nature of such agreement remain unknown, however).

Finally, Mauritania has become the most miserable of the Maghreb countries with no central authorities at all and no surviving urban centers. The entire population is back to the desert, the old cast system* has been reestablished along with full slavery** while the Hassane warrior tribes rule again over the region.

* Mauritanian population is divided among Zaouiya (religious tribes), Znaga (subservient tribes), Haratine (former slaves, freedmen), Abid (slaves) and Igaouen (griot, bards and magicians).
** Slavery has become a reality wolrdwide but nowhere is it legally recognized as in Mauritania.