Art Moves Africa – Retracing Roots and Tracing New Routes: Mobility and Touring in North Africa
A study by Lara Bourdin for Art Moves Africa, October 2019
A study by Lara Bourdin for Art Moves Africa, October 2019
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33<br />
Summary of Outcomes<br />
Overl<strong>and</strong> travel <strong>in</strong>to <strong>and</strong> out of Libya is not recommended<br />
due to the presence of militias<br />
along the road.<br />
Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria <strong>and</strong> Egypt also have<br />
decent to good road networks connect<strong>in</strong>g major<br />
cities. Morocco boasts the region’s most developed<br />
rail system, with high-speed rail <strong>in</strong> place<br />
between Tangiers <strong>and</strong> Casablanca <strong>and</strong> plans to<br />
extend the network east to Oujda <strong>and</strong> south to<br />
Agadir via Marrakech. The national rail operator<br />
is the ONCF. Algeria <strong>and</strong> Egypt also have rail<br />
systems connect<strong>in</strong>g major cities, namely along<br />
the coast <strong>and</strong> the Nile river <strong>in</strong> Egypt.<br />
—<br />
AIR TRAVEL<br />
—<br />
Dancer Jenny Mezile perform<strong>in</strong>g at Harambee Days<br />
at L’Uz<strong>in</strong>e, 2018.<br />
Photo: Ahlam Maroon/L’Uz<strong>in</strong>e.<br />
The closure of the Morocco <strong>–</strong> Algeria border makes<br />
road travel between the two countries impracticable.<br />
Likewise, entry <strong>in</strong>to Western Sahara via<br />
road is subject to controls, which can be unpredictable,<br />
especially <strong>in</strong> periods of strife.<br />
Algeria’s road system <strong>in</strong>cludes the Trans-Saharan<br />
Highway’s Route 2, which l<strong>in</strong>ks Algiers to<br />
Lagos via Tamanrasset, Agadez <strong>and</strong> Kano. The<br />
highway is almost complete, with the exception<br />
of a 200 km-long segment <strong>in</strong> the north of Niger.<br />
Cairo is connected to Khartoum via road. However,<br />
border cross<strong>in</strong>g has been complicated due<br />
to diplomatic disputes between Egypt <strong>and</strong> Sudan<br />
<strong>and</strong> arms smuggl<strong>in</strong>g at the border.<br />
Due to the above-described impediments to road<br />
travel <strong>and</strong> the large distances between major<br />
<strong>North</strong> <strong>Africa</strong>n cities, air travel is the preferred<br />
method of transportation. Flight connections<br />
are frequent between capital cities, provided by<br />
national air carriers Royal Air Maroc, AirAlgérie,<br />
TunisAir <strong>and</strong> Egypt Air. The exception is Tripoli,<br />
which is at present only connected to Tunis <strong>and</strong><br />
Cairo (although the latter is subject to change).<br />
Royal Air Maroc (RAM) is emerg<strong>in</strong>g as the region’s<br />
most active carrier, creat<strong>in</strong>g connections with<strong>in</strong><br />
the region <strong>and</strong> the cont<strong>in</strong>ent that used to only<br />
be possible via European cities such as Paris<br />
<strong>and</strong> Barcelona. In recent years, RAM has exp<strong>and</strong>ed<br />
its network <strong>in</strong> <strong>Africa</strong> significantly, rivall<strong>in</strong>g<br />
Ethiopian Airl<strong>in</strong>es as the cont<strong>in</strong>ent’s number one<br />
carrier. RAM currently connects Casablanca to<br />
26 dest<strong>in</strong>ations <strong>in</strong> <strong>Africa</strong>. AirAlgérie <strong>and</strong> TunisAir<br />
are also develop<strong>in</strong>g their connections <strong>in</strong> West<br />
<strong>Africa</strong>, connect<strong>in</strong>g with 9 <strong>and</strong> 11 dest<strong>in</strong>ations,<br />
respectively.