I am also North African and yes, while you are African American, they do not class us as that as what they really mean is Black African American. At the end of the day, ethnicity is a social construct so you can put whatever you identify as to a certain degree. As my family is Arab North African of Turkish and Tamazight descent, I always put White/Arab if that is an option. Normally this isn't an option so I'm constantly 'Other'. It may not seem satisfying as you're not able to place yourself within their parameters but for me that is the closest I get to a Western acknowledgement of my ancestry!