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Algeria's President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has banned the export of foodstuffs that the country imports, the state news agency has said.

The commodities include sugar, oil, pasta, semolina and wheat derivatives.

A source is quoted by the agency as saying that the president called it economic sabotage to sell commodities that the country does not produce locally.

The president's decision also bans importation of frozen meat products, agency said.

President Tebboune made the announcement after listening to a presentation by trade and agriculture ministers on the availability for food staples.

He did not give any reason for the ban but it comes amid fears of a sharp increase in the global prices of basic foods such as wheat because of the conflict in Ukraine, which is one of the world’s biggest exporters.

Algeria imports most of its foodstuff. There have been protests in the past over increase in food prices in the country.

Last week, Egypt banned the export of wheat, flour, pasta and pulses for three months. It is one of the largest importers of Ukrainian wheat.

Egypt has this week executed seven people convicted of carrying out Islamist attacks, human rights groups say.

Three of them were found guilty of taking part in an attack at Helwan in the suburbs of Cairo in 2016 which killed eight policemen.

The other four were convicted of killing police officers in earlier attacks.

Egypt has handed down hundreds of death sentences in recent years.

Human rights organisations say that not only Islamists but a range of opponents of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi have been targeted.

AFPCopyright: AFP

Thirteen Tunisian and international rights groups, including Amnesty International, are urging Tunisia to immediately scrap plans for new restrictions on civil society groups.

The leaked proposals would crack down on freedoms gained during the country’s 2011 revolution, Amnesty warned.

“Tunisians know from experience the dangers that restrictive laws can pose to civil society and public debate,” Middle Eastern and North African Amnesty deputy regional director Amna Guellali said.

“During the deeply repressive Ben Ali era, the authorities used restrictive regulations on associations and cumbersome administrative procedures as key tools to smother dissent,” Ms Guellali continued.

A leaked draft law revealed government plans to interfere in the running of civil society organisations, including their funding and freedom of speech, according to Amnesty, although the Tunisian government itself has not commented on a change of law or officially released a draft, the AFP news agency reports.

In 2020, President Kais Saied suspended parliament, meaning any new laws will not have oversight from the legislative body.