The 2nd North African Crystallographic Conference (NACC2) was intended as a follow-up of the IYCr2014 PAN African Summit meeting and the IYCr Legacy conference, which nurtured a growing interest in developing crystallography in the African region. NACC2, as part of the IUCr-ICSU initiative "Building Science Capacity in Africa via Crystallography", was aimed at analyzing the state-of-the-art of crystallography in North Africa and revitalizing it by involving European countries from the Mediterranean area with a strong and established tradition in crystallography. NACC2 also aimed at reinforcing the collaborations among the North African countries and at continuing the process towards the foundation of the African Crystallographic Association (AfCA) by establishing the role of North African countries to facilitate this initiative, together with representatives from all parts of Africa.
Unfortunately, despite the many efforts made and various solutions offered, it proved impossible to find an agreement with the local crystallographic community about the organization of this event, which has therefore been cancelled.
Habib Boughzala and Michele Zema