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The Kingdom of Bahrain has secured a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council for the 2026–2027 term, following a vote at the UN General Assembly in New York, where it received an overwhelming 186 out of 187 votes (99.5%).
Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, Minister of Foreign Affairs, congratulated His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, and the people of Bahrain on this achievement. He noted that the near-unanimous support is a testament to the leadership of His Majesty the King and HRH the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, and a clear recognition of global confidence in Bahrain’s foreign policy and its commitment to peace, cooperation, and international stability.
Dr. Al Zayani emphasised Bahrain’s dedication to upholding the UN Charter, promoting multilateralism, and engaging constructively with Security Council members to address global challenges.
He said that Bahrain’s approach during its Security Council term will be guided by its core values of dialogue, coexistence, mutual respect, and consensus building. He added Bahrain’s intention to serve as a voice for diplomacy, a bridge for understanding, and a champion of solutions that reflect the aspirations of peoples for a future of peace, stability, and prosperity.
Dr. Al Zayani also commended the Kingdom’s Permanent Mission to the UN, led by Ambassador Jamal Al Rowaiei, as well as all officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and members of the Mission, for their dedicated work in the spirit of “Team Bahrain.” He commended their tangible efforts and outstanding diplomatic work that contributed to this significant milestone and expressed gratitude to UN member states for their support.
Bahrain’s election was met with congratulations from Arab and international delegates, who extended best wishes for a successful term on the Council.
Mrini was widely respected for his deep knowledge and commitment to cultural preservation.
Morocco is mourning the death of Abdelhak El Mrini, the country’s official royal historian and former spokesperson for the Royal Palace. He passed away on Monday evening at the age of 91, after a long career serving Moroccan history and culture.
El Mrini was born in Rabat in 1934. He memorized the entire Quran at a young age and even copied 60 parts of it by hand. Over the years, he became one of Morocco’s most respected literary and cultural figures.
He held several important roles during his life, including Director of Royal Protocol and Decorations. But he was best known for his role as the kingdom’s official historian, as well as his work in preserving Moroccan heritage.
El Mrini had an impressive academic journey. He received a diploma from the Institute of Higher Moroccan Studies in 1960, followed by a degree in literature from the Faculty of Arts in Rabat in 1962.
He later studied in France, where he earned an advanced diploma and a PhD from the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Strasbourg in 1973. He also obtained a State Doctorate in Literature from Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University in Fez in 1989.
El Mrini was also a prolific author who left behind an important literary and historical legacy. Among his most well-known works is “The Moroccan Army Throughout History”, first published in 1968. The book went through several revised editions, with the sixth edition released in 2011 and translated into French in 2000.
He also wrote “Guide for Moroccan Women” in two parts (1993 and 2000), and “An Introduction to Modern Moroccan History” (1996), which covers the period from Sultan Hassan I to King Hassan II.
Other notable titles include “Tea in Moroccan Literature” (1999), “Mohammed V: Studies and Testimonies” (1988), and “The Hassaniyats” (three volumes published between 1975 and 1983), a collection of poems in praise of the late King Hassan II.
Throughout his life, El Mrini made significant contributions to the study and promotion of Moroccan history, and he was widely respected for his deep knowledge and commitment to cultural preservation.
Chef Mostafa Seif of Khufu’s has been awarded the Skillet of Distinction by The Best Chef Awards, becoming the first Egyptian chef to receive the accolade. The award follows Seif’s recognition last year as the first Egyptian to earn a one-knife “Excellent” rating under the awards’ updated tiered system.
The Best Chef Awards, which moved away from its traditional top-100 ranking in 2023, now recognises chefs through one, two, or three “knives,” denoting levels of excellence. Seif’s one-knife placement in Dubai was the first for an Egyptian chef and signalled growing international attention to his work.
At Khufu’s – founded by Pier 88 Hospitality’s Giovanni Bolandrini – Seif leads a kitchen grounded in technical discipline and regionally sourced ingredients. His cooking is rooted in Egyptian culinary traditions but avoids nostalgia or showmanship, favouring clarified broths, cured seafood, and slow-roasted meats that reflect a restrained, detail-oriented approach.
In January, Seif participated in The World’s 50 Best Signature Sessions in Abu Dhabi, where he co-hosted a dinner with Argentinian chef Sergio Cabrera at MouzMari. He also joined 50 Best Talks for a panel titled Memory on a Plate, exploring the role of food in cultural and personal memory.
The Skillet of Distinction acknowledges Seif’s consistency in the kitchen and his contribution to platforming Egyptian cuisine in international settings – through technique rather than adaptation.
The pact interweaves water security, renewable energy mastery, and industrial sovereignty – binding Morocco’s future with a 1,400 km electricity superhighway, four desalination jewels, and 25,000 employment opportunities in a $14 billion choreography.
The largest private investment in Morocco’s modern history has just been inscribed in the country’s economic annals. Yesterday, the country sealed an extraordinary $14 billion accord with the United Arab Emirates – an injection of unprecedented scale that promises to permanently alter the country’s water and energy equation, while fundamentally reshaping its infrastructure landscape for generations to come.
The ceremonial ink still fresh, the agreement binds Morocco’s government and the National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE) with a consortium of financial titans: the Mohammed VI Investment Fund, TAQA Morocco (the local subsidiary of Abu Dhabi’s energy colossus), and Nareva (the energy arm of the royal holding Al Mada).
At MAD 130 billion ($14 billion), this collaboration transcends mere commercial arrangement – it heralds a profound reengineering of critical national infrastructure by 2030.
Central to this ambitious blueprint stands a colossal 1,400-kilometer high-voltage transmission corridor stretching from Western Sahara to Casablanca, complemented by a network of sophisticated seawater desalination facilities.
These projects emerge as the culmination of meticulous diplomatic chess moves, coming just five months after King Mohammed VI’s private visit to Abu Dhabi and 18 months following his official state visit to the Emirati capital, where the groundwork for this Moroccan-Emirati renaissance was carefully laid.
Desert kingdoms understand water’s value. The consortium’s hydric strategy unfolds with architectural precision: a vast network connecting the Sebou and Oum Rabia river basins, engineered to channel 800 million cubic meters annually across thirsty territories.
The first phase of water transfer between the Sebou and Bouregreg basins became operational in August 2023, successfully diverting approximately 350 million cubic meters to the Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah dam, critical for supplying drinking water to the Rabat region.
Four jewels in this water crown will rise across Morocco’s map. In Tanger, a 50-million-cubic-meter annual capacity station will quench the industrial thirst of this burgeoning port hub.
Nador’s installation, six times more ambitious at 300 million cubic meters, will transform the eastern region’s hydric calculus. The agricultural heartland of Souss will benefit from Tiznit’s 350-million-cubic-meter facility – the largest of the quartet. Completing this hydraulic network, either Tan-Tan or Guelmim will host a 100-million-cubic-meter operation to serve the arid southern frontier.
These cutting-edge desalination facilities, engineered to operate exclusively on renewable energy, will collectively produce 900 million cubic meters annually.
Notably, they will maintain competitive pricing at or below MAD 4.50 per cubic meter (excluding tax), aligning with national benchmark rates established for ongoing desalination initiatives – all without requiring public subsidies.
The electric heartbeat: Energy sovereignty reimagined
The consortium’s energy infrastructure vision is anchored by a groundbreaking high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission network spanning 1,400 kilometers between Morocco’s southern territories and its central economic hub.
This sophisticated “electricity highway” will connect Dakhla to Casablanca with a 3,000 megawatt capacity, dramatically strengthening energy distribution capabilities while catalyzing economic and industrial development throughout the corridor.
This transmission masterpiece will be fed by 1,200 megawatts of fresh renewable capacity, predominantly harvested from the sun-drenched southern provinces. The geographic strategy is to harness the natural abundance of Morocco’s desert regions, translate it into clean energy, and deliver it to industrial centers at competitive rates.
Complementing these renewable ambitions, the Tahaddart complex will undergo a renaissance. This gas-fired installation will see its capacity quadrupled through new combined-cycle units, elevating total output to 1,500 megawatts. This expansion offers crucial ballast to a grid increasingly danced upon by the variable rhythms of wind energy.
The human dividend, capital choreography, and implementation cadence
Beyond pipes and pylons lies perhaps the most valuable yield: people. This grand design promises to spawn over 25,000 employment opportunities through construction and operation, with 10,000 permanent positions taking root after commissioning.
The consortium envisions not merely infrastructure but ecosystem – a fertile soil where technology transfer blooms and local industrial expertise in desalination and renewable energy flourishes. From this terrain will grow new educational pathways and technical specializations, training the standard-bearers of Morocco’s water and energy future.
The financial architecture of this mammoth endeavor will be orchestrated by the consortium, drawing capital from domestic and international financial wellsprings. The urgency is palpable; the project’s partners have pledged to assemble elite technical minds to ensure methodical implementation through 2030.
As with all ventures of this magnitude, regulatory gauntlets must be run, particularly regarding concentration operations. Each project component will be governed by bespoke development agreements between ONEE and the consortium. The first such accord, focusing on Tahaddart’s expansion, has already materialized.
The architects of the alliance
This historic partnership harmonizes complementary strengths. Nareva, Morocco’s private electricity champion, brings 3,200 megawatts of installed capacity producing over 15 terawatt-hours annually. As Africa’s wind energy pioneer, it operates eleven parks totaling 1,810 megawatts alongside the thermal goliath of Safi (1,386 megawatts).
With extensive expertise in electrical transmission infrastructure (exceeding 300 kilometers of high-voltage lines) and advanced water engineering, Nareva currently leads the innovative Amensouss project and is constructing the world’s first exclusively renewable-powered desalination facility in Dakhla.
TAQA Morocco, publicly traded on the Casablanca Stock Exchange since 2013, delivers 34% of Morocco’s national electricity requirements despite representing only 17% of installed capacity.
With a strategic focus on desalination, renewable energy development, low-carbon solutions, and infrastructure networks, the company actively advances national energy transition objectives and water security initiatives.
Its parent organization, Abu Dhabi National Energy Company PJSC (TAQA), operates as a diversified energy and utilities powerhouse with operations spanning 25 countries worldwide.
A diplomatic masterpiece
These accords signal the diplomatic renaissance between Morocco and the Emirates after a period of relative ambiguity. They physically manifest the vision sketched during King Mohammed VI’s December 2023 meeting with Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan – a blueprint for collaboration in strategically vital domains.
This official visit established a “renewed partnership” between the Maghreb and Gulf country with announcements of strengthened collaboration in strategic domains including energy and infrastructure development.
The sovereign’s subsequent private voyage proved equally fertile, brokering peace between telecommunications titans Maroc Telecom and Inwi, ending a decade-long legal skirmish and birthing a joint venture to develop 5G infrastructure for international events including the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations and the 2030 World Cup.
For fifteen years, Morocco has methodically invested in renewable energy, which now covers 38% of its electricity needs, with aspirations to reach 52% by 2030. Simultaneously confronting chronic water scarcity, the kingdom has embraced desalination as salvation. This Emirati partnership accelerates both these vital transitions, binding two desert nations in a quest for resource security and sustainable prosperity.
Egypt’s presence at Cannes Film Market wins top honour for design, programming, and industry engagement.
The Egyptian pavilion at Cannes Film Market, headed by a joint cooperation between El Gouna Film Festival, Cairo International Film Festival and the Egyptian Film Commission, has won the award for Best Pavilion Design Award during the 78th Cannes Film Festival.
Designed by cinematic set designer Shereen Farghal, and recognised over competing pavilions from 150 nations, the Egyptian pavilion was awarded for its design, curated programming, and strategic networking opportunities offered to Arab and international filmmakers.
“This award is a global recognition of the position Egyptian cinema occupies today, and of the continuous efforts we make to represent it in international contexts,” Hussein Fahmy, President of Cairo International Film Festival, said. “We made sure that the pavilion reflects the spirit of cooperation and openness to the world through a program full of dialogue, and cultural and artistic interaction, and represents a new step for Egypt’s presence in the global film industry.”
Held annually in parallel with the Cannes Film Festival, Marché du Film is a key space for co-productions, distribution deals, and film financing.
Trump described crown prince as “very great man like no other” and “greatest representative of his people”
Prince Mohammed said Kingdom looking at $600bn of investment opportunities, hoped this would raise to $1tn
Saudi Arabia has signed deals with the US worth more than $300 billion, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said at the Saudi-US Investment Forum in Riyadh on Tuesday.
During an address at the event, Prince Mohammed said the Kingdom was looking at $600 billion of investment opportunities, adding that he hoped this would raise to $1 trillion.
He noted that the US was among the largest partners of the Saudi Vision 2030 reform agenda, adding that joint investments were one of the most important pillars of the economic relationship between the two countries.
“The US is a major destination for the Public Investment Fund, accounting for approximately 40 percent of the fund’s global investments,” he said.
He also said that cooperation with Washington was not limited to economic cooperation, but also extended to “establishing peace in the region and the world.”
Also speaking at the event, US President Donald Trump praised the transformation underway in Saudi Arabia, as he attributed it to the leadership of King Salman and the crown prince.
Trump described the crown prince as a “very great man like no other” and “the greatest representative of his people,” and highlighted the role of Saudis in driving development in their own country and the region as a whole.
Trump pointed to Riyadh’s rise as a global business hub and noted that the Kingdom’s non-oil sector revenues had now surpassed those of the oil sector.
He said Saudi Arabia deserved praise for preserving its culture and tradition while also embracing its forward-looking, modern Vision 2030 reform agenda.
During his speech, Trump criticized the Biden administration for removing the Houthis from the US terrorist list, calling it a serious mistake.
He contrasted regional developments, stating: “Some (in the Gulf) have turned deserts into farms, while Iran has turned its farms into deserts,” and warned that if Iran rejected Washington’s outreach, the US would be forced to impose maximum pressure.
Condemning Hezbollah for destabilizing the region and looting Lebanon, Trump said: “The biggest and most destructive of these forces is the regime in Iran, which has caused unthinkable suffering in Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, Iraq, Yemen and beyond.”
He described Lebanon as a victim of Hezbollah and Iran and expressed a desire to help the country.
Trump also praised Saudi Arabia’s role in Russia-Ukraine peace talks and affirmed US support for the Kingdom, saying it has “a great future.”
Earlier on Tuesday, the two leaders signed a strategic economic partnership agreement in Riyadh, the first leg of Trump’s regional visit.
The partnership included the signing of Memorandums of Understanding in the energy, mining, and defense sectors.
Defense cooperation between the two countries centered on the modernization of the capabilities of the Saudi armed forces, along with an agreement between the Saudi Space Agency and NASA.
Other agreements included an MoU on mineral resources; an agreement with the Department of Justice; and cooperation on infectious diseases.
Trump arrived in Saudi Arabia Tuesday on what he called a “historic” tour of the Middle East that will mix urgent diplomacy on Gaza with huge business deals.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman warmly greeted Trump as he stepped off Air Force One at King Khalid International Airport in the Saudi capital and kicked off his Middle East tour.
The two leaders then retreated to a grand hall at the Riyadh airport, where Trump and his aides were served traditional Arabic coffee by waiting attendants wearing ceremonial gun-belts.
Royal Saudi Air Force F-15s provided an honorary escort for Air Force One as it approached the kingdom’s capital. Trump and Prince Mohammed took part in a lunch at the Royal Court, gathering with guests and aides.
* With AFP and AP
source/content: arabnews.com (headline edited)
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Saudi Arabia has signed deals with the US worth more than $300 billion, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said at the Saudi-US Investment Forum in Riyadh on Tuesday. (SPA)
The Moroccan Poets Festival concluded its sixth edition after three days of illustrious writing and celebrating the word.
The closing ceremony was held at the National School of Crafts and Arts in Tetouan, in the presence of Abdullah bin Mohammed Al Owais, Chairman of Sharjah Department of Culture; Professor Mohammed Ibrahim Al Qaseer, Director of the Cultural Affairs Department at the Department; Rachid Al Mustafa, Head of the Cooperation Department in the Culture Sector at the Moroccan Ministry of Youth, Culture, and Communication; Dr. Youssef Al Fahri, President of the Higher School of Teachers in Martil; Mukhlis Al Sagheer, Director of the House of Poetry in Tetouan; and a large number of writers, intellectuals, and university students.
Al Sagheer pointed out that the Moroccan Poets Festival strives to innovate with each new edition, and to grow in poetry and cultural resonance in the Arab world. He highlighted that the sixth edition enjoyed a prominent official presence, alongside a public audience with a passion for poetry and art.
He explained that the House of Poetry in Tetouan, founded in 2016, affirms its tireless efforts to organise a distinguished seventh edition next year, to celebrate its tenth anniversary.
Participants in the Moroccan Poets Festival agreed that Sharjah has become a pioneering model in supporting Arab culture and actively contributing to shaping a new generation of Arab intellectuals. They emphasised that Sharjah’s cultural, intellectual, and cultural achievements over the past decades were not a coincidence, but rather the result of the broad cultural vision of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah. His Highness believes that culture is the cornerstone of human and societal development.
Participants believe that Sharjah’s experience represents a model to be emulated, as it has not only supported cultural production but has also strived to create an integrated knowledge environment that attracts new generations and instils in them a love of reading, thinking, and criticism. They explained that many young Arabs who have benefited from Sharjah’s cultural experiences have now become prominent voices in the fields of literature, thought, and the arts.
The second day of the festival featured a critical symposium titled “Poetry and the Performing Arts”. The speakers emphasised that when poetry is recited on stage, or combined with movement or music, it transforms into a performance art. This is where what is known as “the poetics of performance” emerges, where poetry emerges from the page and is embodied through the body, voice, gaze, and silence. They noted that at this moment, literature intersects with the live arts, providing the recipient with a multi-sensory artistic experience.
Speakers emphasised the intersection of poetry and performance, where word meets movement, voice meets silence. This is when a magic called the poetics of the performing arts is born; where the poem becomes a vibrant body, and the scene becomes a visual poem that is read by the eye and felt by the heart.
The Moroccan Poets Festival has an exceptional section, bringing the audience together with visually impaired poets at the Taha Hussein Institute in Tetouan, in a poetic and humane moment where poetry met with a number of visually impaired creatives who drew inspiration from life’s features and, from its details, wove their vast worlds.
The festival saw the participation of more than 40 poets, poetesses, intellectuals, and artists amidst a festive atmosphere of poetry and its creators. It honoured 83 students in a poetry writing workshop organised by the House of Poetry in Tetouan, in collaboration with the Faculty of Arabic Language at the Higher Teachers’ School in Martil.
Eighteen students were also honoured in the regional competition for Arabic Language Pioneers, organised by the House of Poetry in collaboration with more than 37 secondary and middle school educational institutions.
The award is in recognition of the professor’s efforts in scientific research, teaching, and online learning.
Moroccan scholar and researcher Younes Nafid received this week the Excellence Award in Online Learning from Naif Arab University for Security Sciences in Saudi Arabia.
He received the award on Thursday, recognizing his academic excellence and efforts in scientific research, teaching, and learning.
Nafid is a professor in the Department of Criminal Law at the College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences in Riyadh. He also serves as an advisor for scientific research and innovation at the same university.
The Moroccan scholar authored various books and studies, and also supervised research projects and doctoral theses.
A PhD in Criminal Law and Forensic Sciences from Mohammed First University in Oujda, Nafid previously worked in Moroccan universities as a professor, including Cadi Ayyad University and Chouaib Doukkali University.
At the award ceremony, the Saudi university celebrated the Moroccan professor and his fellows, honoring the “outstanding efforts in the fields of scientific research, teaching, and online learning, in line with the university’s strategic vision to enhance the academic environment and support the Arab security system.”
In addition to Nafid, several Moroccan professors and teachers were honored on an international scale for their efforts, contributing to enhancing research, teaching, and learning.
In January, Messaoud Ariba, a Moroccan teacher, received an award at the Global Teacher Awards in New Delhi.
Ariba was the sole representative of both North Africa and the Arab world at large, earning recognition from thousands of applicants during the ceremony.
“For me, this is not just about personal achievement but about honoring the incredible work of all those shaping education in the country,” Ariba said.
In February, Moroccan professor Anasse Bari received the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.Faculty Award for 2025 at New York University. The award recognizes leadership work and commitment to justice and fairness.
In a statement to Morocco World News, Bari said he dedicates the award to his fellow Moroccans.
“Every day in my classroom, I encourage my students to use the skills they have learned at New York University to serve the world,” Bari said, noting that his students are finding “new ways” to use AI and data science to improve the world.
The Kingdom of Bahrain’s Heatwave exhibition , curated by architect Andrea Faraguna has been announced as the winner of the Golden Lion for the Best National Participation at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale.
The winner has been selected by an international jury comprising of Swiss curator, critic, and art historian Hans Ulrich Obrist as jury chair, South African architect, lecturer, and curator Mpho Matsipa, and Italian curator Paola Antonelli .
The awards ceremony is broadcast live from the headquarters of the Biennale at Ca’Giustinian. The pavilion stands out for addressing the pressing issue of extreme heat through a site-specific installation that showcases passive cooling strategies rooted in Bahrain’s climatic realities and cultural context.
The design of the pavilion explores passive cooling using geothermal wells and solar chimneys connected via a thermo-hygrometric axis, which links underground conditions to outdoor air. In exhibition settings where excavation isn’t possible, mechanical ventilation mimics this system. The modular structure features a floor and cantilevered ceiling supported by a central column, adaptable for various urban environments. The project highlights low-impact, climate-responsive design for outdoor workspaces in hot climates, emphasizing environmental responsibility, social fairness, and innovative architectural solutions.
The Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement and the Special Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in Memoriam have been previously announced to be awarded to American philosopher Donna Haraway and the late Italian architect and designer Italo Rota (1953–2024), respectively. Donna Haraway is participating via remote connection to highlight the wider implications of this edition’s biennale. “Intelligence is a word that bubbles with meaning of the power of discerning,” she declares. The Golden Lion in Memoriam is awarded in absentia to Italo Rota.
Two special mentions have been awarded to participants in the international exhibition. The first one goes to Alternative Urbanism: The Central Organized Markets of Lagos by Tosin Oshinowo, Oshinowo Studio. “This award is for the Global South,” Oshinowo declares in her acceptance speech. The second special mention for a project of a participant goes to Elephant Chapel by Boonserm Premthada.
For the national pavilions, a special mention is awarded to Opera Aperta, the Holy See’s Pavilion by Paul Tighe of the Department of Education and Culture of the Holy See. The project is a “construction site, an ongoing process, which everyone is invited to collaborate.” The pavilion is curated by Marina Otero Verzier, curator and researcher, and Giovanna Zabotti, artistic director of Fondaco Italia and former curator of the Venice Pavilion, in collaboration with the design studios Tatiana Bilbao Estudio of Mexico City and MAIO Architects of Barcelona.
The other special mention goes to the Pavilion of Great Britain: GBR: Geology of Britannic Repair, commissioned by Sevra Davis of the British Council and curated by Owen Hopkins, Kathryn Yusoff, Kabage Karanja, Stella Mutegi. The selected team of expositors comprises experts from the UK and Kenya, including Nairobi–based Cave _bureau, aiming to open up difficult conversations about interconnected relationships between the two countries, decolonization, and the embedded relationships to the ground.
Golden Lion for Best Participant in the exhibition Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective
Golden Lion for Best Participant in the exhibition Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective is awarded to Canal Café by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Natural Systems Utilities, SODAI, Aaron Betsky, Davide Oldani. The installation is set up to use natural filtration systems to purify water from the city’s canals and make it info coffee that visitors of the Arsenale can enjoy.
NASA’s mapping of Mars now bears the names of three iconic Algerian national parks, Algerian physicist Noureddine Melikechi, a member of the US space agency’s largest Mars probe mission, has told AFP.
The Tassili n’Ajjer, Ghoufi and Djurdjura national parks have found their Martian namesakes after a proposition by Melikechi, which he sought as both a tribute to his native Algeria and a call to protect Earth.
“Our planet is fragile, and it’s a signal to the world that we really need to take care of our national parks, whether they are in Algeria or elsewhere,” the US-based scientist told AFP in a recent interview.
He said the visual resemblance between some of the Martian landscapes and the ones after which they were labeled was also a key reason for the naming.
“The first one that came to my mind was the Tassili n’Ajjer,” he said of the UNESCO-listed vast plateau in the Sahara Desert with prehistoric art dating back at least 12,000 years.
“Every time I see pictures of Mars, they remind me of Tassili n’Ajjer, and now every time I see Tassili n’Ajjer, it reminds me of Mars,” added Melikechi, who left Algeria in 1990 for the United States, where he now teaches at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.
The ancient art found in Tassili n’Ajjer depicts figures that can seem otherworldly, he said.
Some of the paintings show single-eyed and horned giants, among others which French archaeologist Henri Lhote dubbed as “great Martian” deities in his 1958 book, “The Search for the Tassili Frescoes”.
“Those paintings are a signature… a book of how people used to live,” said Melikechi.
“You see animals, but also figures that look like they came from somewhere else.”
‘Historic’
Melikechi’s second pick was the Ghoufi canyon in eastern Algeria, whose rocky desert landscape was the site of an ancient settlement off the Aures Mountains.
Now a UNESCO-listed site and a tourist attraction, it has cliffside dwellings carved in the mountain, a testament to human resilience in a place where survival can be adverse.
“Ghoufi gives you a sense that life can be hard, but you can manage to keep at it as you go,” Melikechi said.
“You can see that through those homes.”
The third site, Djurdjura, is a snowy mountain range some 140 kilometers (about 90 miles) east of the capital Algiers.
Comapred to Tassili or Ghoufi, it bears the least resemblance to Mars.
Melikechi said its pick stemmed of Djurdjura’s “reminder of the richness of natural habitats”.
He said the naming process came after Perseverence, NASA’s Mars rover exploring the Red Planet, made it into uncharted territory.
That area was then split into small quadrants, each needing a name.
“We were asked to propose names for specific quadrants,” he said.
“I suggested these three national parks, while others proposed names from parks worldwide. A team then reviewed and selected the final names.”
The announcement, made by NASA earlier this month, sparked celebrations among Algerians.
Algerian Culture Minister Zouhir Ballalou hailed it as a “historic and global recognition” of the North African country’s landscapes.
Melikechi said he hopes that it will attract more visitors as Algeria has been striving to promote tourism, especially in the Sahara region, with authorities promising to facilitate tourist visas.
Official figures said some 2.5 million tourists visited the country last year—its highest number of visitors in two decades.
“These places are a treasure that we as humans have inherited,” Melikechi said.
