Middle East Near You

The abolition of the apostasy laws and the relaxation of rules allowing non-Muslims to drink alcohol is unlikely to have any real impact on the day to day life...

Observers of the situation in Sudan have long doubted that the United States will ever take it off Washington’s list of “countries sponsoring terrorism”. The recent report from Anadolu...

Sudan’s continued insistence on maintaining a neutral stance in the negotiations between Egypt and Ethiopia over the Grand Renaissance Dam could be hindering rather than assisting the prospect of finding a...

The role of the former intelligence chief, Salah Abdullah, in bringing down Sudan’s former President, Omar Al-Bashir, has become the most talked about controversy in Sudan. The admission that...

The death of Sudan’s defence secretary in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic was not only a shock for Sudanese people, but it placed unprecedented pressure on the country’s...

The Sudanese government is to be commended for its swift response to the coronavirus pandemic, there being just one death to date, and 19 cases of infection. Schools and...

The shocking news of the attempted assassination of Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok is an indication of the political turmoil that threatens to derail the democratic aspirations of the...

Since Sudan’s transitional head of state Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on 3 February, an unverified list of demands reflecting agreed points has emerged. This...

Details of the meeting between Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Sudan’s transitional head of state General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan suggest that the normalisation of diplomatic relations between the...

The gap between the military and civilian government in Sudan appears to be widening. The rift is threatening the political stability of the country and the power-sharing agreement. In...

For many people in Sudan, the conviction of 27 intelligence officers for the killing of a protestor is a step in the right direction, but it raises questions about...

Four months into the rule of Sudan’s transitional government and the cracks are beginning to appear. The 2020 budget has yet to be revealed because of major differences emerging...

As Sudan celebrates the first anniversary of the beginning of the protests which led to the fall of the three-decade old regime of Omar Al-Bashir, it also completes the...

An arrest warrant for two leading members of the 1989 coup d’etat; a lawsuit against a conservative scholar accused of breaching religious freedom, an accusation the curriculum is being...

The decision by United States’ President Donald Trump to continue sanctions against Sudan is the clearest indication yet of the unwillingness to acknowledge or accept the progress made by...

With the arrival at the Murted Airbase outside Ankara of Russian planes, over the past six days, carrying the S-400 missile defence system, the expected fall out between the...

According to well-informed sources, on the night of 22 February this year, as the invited guests in Sudan’s presidential palace gardens and television crews waited for the President to...

Few Sudanese support the notion that the ideals of the revolution should be abandoned, but most have surrendered to the reality that the desired civilian transitional rule is unlikely...

Historians and political scientists who have followed recent events in Sudan closely will point to the irony of the current dispute between the military and protest groups over the...

There are at least a dozen reasons, some fictitious, why Sudan’s ruling Transitional Military Council (TMC) appears reluctant to give up power, but protest groups are becoming increasingly aware...

If the walls of Sudan’s presidential palace could speak, they would tell of a stark difference in the atmosphere of the talks between the Transitional Military Council (TMC) and...

The agreement between the signatories to the Declaration for Freedom and Change and the Transitional Military Council in Khartoum has not been fleshed out in great detail, but the...

There is an almost hysterical level of mistrust in Sudan which in the view of some observers is crippling the country’s attempt to reach an agreement about its future....

Here in Sudan, claims of responsibility for the downfall of the government of Omar Al-Bashir have become commonplace. On the dusty walls of buildings are graffiti-like writings proclaiming hashtags...

Almost 30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall which brought communism to an abrupt end in Europe, communism has emerged alive and flourishing in Sudan. After last...

The events unfolding in Sudan are unprecedented. Tens of thousands of protestors have gathered for a fourth consecutive day outside the Armed Forces headquarters in the capital Khartoum demanding...

The Sudanese President’s government reshuffle following the imposition of a state of emergency on 22 February has been greeted with mixed reactions. The most outstanding feature of the changes...

Outside an unmarked building in a residential area of Khartoum, Um Mohammed crouched down with her head between her knees unable to stand any longer. She and a few...

Permanently dressed in his army fatigues when seen in public, President Field Marshall Omar Hassan Al-Bashir has downed his civilian attire and has rolled up his sleeves to begin...

As the world awaited President Omar Al-Bashir’s speech on Friday, frantic negotiations resulted in a last-minute change of direction. Intelligence Chief Salah Abdullah Gosh had been told to announce...

The decision to dissolve the government, the Council of Ministers and declare a state of emergency will come as little comfort for the hundreds of thousands of protestors who...

In a country with no nightclubs or bars, strolling along the River Nile or picnicking in Khartoum’s parks used to be the usual form of entertainment for young people...