Dakar to Riyadh: Links for 11/15/2024
News and analysis from the Sahel, North Africa, the Horn, and the Middle East
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General
The COP29 climate meeting is ongoing in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Sahel and West Africa
Senegal will hold snap legislative elections on November 17. The atmosphere is somewhat tense. The opposition is fragmented into three main coalitions, but are cooperating to a limited extent when it comes to the diaspora districts and Dakar, strategically working to make sure the best-positioned coalition wins in each district.
In Guinea, supporters of military ruler General Mamady Doumbouya appear to be preparing the ground for him to run for president.
Mali’s junta is having conflict with multinational gold mining corporations. See the Financial Times and RFI for coverage. An excerpt from the FT:
John Meyer, partner at corporate advisory firm SP Angel, said the new rules represented a “significant increase in the effective taxation of miners” operating in the country.
“A near worst-case scenario now appears to be evolving whereby companies are being required to hand over a further 15 per cent of their projects in Mali for very little in the way of compensation,” he said. “The situation will dissuade many companies from further investment in Mali, and we suspect all but the most essential exploration will stop.”
However, Barrick is sanguine about its prospects of resolving its dispute in Mali, which accounts for 13 per cent of the company’s gold production.
New abuses by the Malian Armed Forces and the Wagner Group, this time in the Timbuktu region.
Reuters: “Nigeria's NNPC [Nigerian National Petroleum Company] Signs 10-Year Gas Sale Deal with Dangote Refinery.”
In Mauritania, the appeals trial of ex-President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, accused of corruption, has begun, but the defense has successfully convinced the court to suspend the proceedings while the Constitutional Court weighs in on the constitutionality of the charges and on jurisdictional issues.
The Muslim World League inaugurated a major new mosque in Nouakchott, Mauritania.
North Africa
Another major kidnapping rocked Libya recently - that of Security Director Mustafa al-Whayshi, who has since been freed.
In Tunisia, a 1.5-year prison sentence for former presidential candidate Imed Daïmi.
At Jeune Afrique, Akram Torki writes on the controversial reception meeting a new book called Algérie juive (Jewish Algeria).
France’s Ambassador to Morocco visited Laâyoune, in the Western Sahara, amid growing French engagement with the territory.
Matt Unicomb at Middle East Eye: “From Cassettes to Streaming: Moroccan Classics Are Getting a New Life Online.”
Greater Horn of Africa
Dr. Samar Al-Bulushi has a brand new book: War-Making as Worldmaking: Kenya, the United States, and the War on Terror (Stanford University Press).
The breakaway territory of Somaliland held elections on November 13. At DW, Nikolas Fischer takes a regional view of the implications.
Amnesty International: “French-manufactured military technology incorporated into armoured personnel carriers made by the United Arab Emirates is being used on the battlefield in Sudan in what likely constitutes a violation of the UN arms embargo on Darfur, Amnesty International said in a new investigation.”
Justus Ochieng’ in Kenya’s The Nation: “Meg Whitman: The Billionaire US Envoy Who Stirred Controversy in Kenya.” Whitman resigned following Trump’s victory.
International Crisis Group: “Chad: Limiting the Impact of the War in Sudan on Ouaddaï.”
France24: “Two Years After Ethiopia's Tigray War, Eritrean Forces Still Occupy Border Regions.”
Alex de Waal writes at the BBC on what Trump might mean for Africa, especially for the Horn.
Mashriq
The World Bank:
The cost of physical damages and economic losses due to the conflict in Lebanon is estimated at US$8.5 billion, according to a new World Bank report that provides an initial assessment of the impact of conflict on Lebanon’s economy and key sectors. The Lebanon Interim Damage and Loss Assessment (DaLA) finds that damages to physical structures alone amount to US$3.4 billion and that economic losses have reached US$5.1 billion.
William Deadman et al. have published an article titled “Locating al-Qadisiyyah: Mapping Iraq's Most Famous Early Islamic Conquest Site” in the journal Antiquity.
Der Spiegel‘s Susanne Koelbl interviewed Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. An excerpt:
DER SPIEGEL: Let's talk about Iran. Your country is suffering from more than 30 percent inflation, poverty is becoming widespread and a majority of the population strictly rejects the authoritarian-religious leadership in addition to its alliances with militias in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Gaza. Can you explain to the Europeans, to the Germans, what goals the Islamic Republic is pursuing with this policy – other than propping up its own system?
Araghchi: I suppose I have to accept that you and the Western world have never understood the Islamic Revolution in Iran and our ideals. The Iranian Revolution fought against a dictatorship and a despotic regime that was dependent on the United States. The slogan of the revolution in Iran was "independence – freedom.” That is why we have been supporting all those who share these ideals ever since. Unlike you, I am not calling Hamas, Hezbollah and others "proxies.” I call them freedom movements. Supporting them brings no benefits to Iran.
Rushdi Abualouf at the BBC:
The most prominent Islamic scholar in Gaza has issued a rare, powerful fatwa condemning Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, which triggered the devastating war in the Palestinian territory.
Professor Dr Salman al-Dayah, a former dean of the Faculty of Sharia and Law at the Hamas-affiliated Islamic University of Gaza, is one of the region’s most respected religious authorities, so his legal opinion carries significant weight among Gaza’s two million population, which is predominantly Sunni Muslim.
Associated Press: “A U.S. Jury Awards Former Iraqi Detainees $42 Million for Abu Ghraib Prison Abuse.”
Kelsey Warner at Semafor: “Gulf Cashes in on Bitcoin Boom.”