Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Thembisa Fakude
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Egypt must accept that the Nile belongs to Ethiopia and 8 other African states
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) continues to create political tensions between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia. The GERD is a $4 billion hydroelectric project on the Blue Nile, in the Benishangul-Gumuz Region of Ethiopia, about 15 kilometres east of the border with Sudan. The construction of the dam started in...
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Socotra could become one of Yemen’s environmental and cultural tragedies
War and politics in Yemen have created hardships resulting in what the UN and relief organisations refer to as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Moreover, the country has seen a lot of heritage and historical sites destroyed, particularly in the capital city of Sana’a, placing some of the world’s...
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Khashoggi’s fiancée is right to reject his family’s pardon for his killers
Over the past couple of weeks Saudi Arabia has upped the ante with regard to retaliation against the family members of political dissenters in the Kingdom. Former senior official Saad Al-Jabri’s children and other members of his family, for example, have been amongst the victims. According to reports, the Saudi...
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Saudi Arabia’s client-state relationship with the US should concern the whole world
When Saudi Arabia approached members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its affiliates recently to cut oil production in an attempt to cushion the impact of the falling oil prices as a result of Covid-19, Russia rejected the proposal. The subsequent spat between Moscow and Riyadh...
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Iran must show humility for the sake of its people
Iran is facing what is arguably one of its most difficult periods in its history. Years of US-led economic sanctions continue to have a negative impact on the economy, and the recent tug of war between the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia has not made things...
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Turkey is the only hope for the victims of the genocidal onslaught in Idlib
It is worth remembering that the initial protests in Syria were calling for social change, not regime change. It was the heavy-handed response of the Bashar Al-Assad government to the protests which changed attitudes and radicalised many ordinary people in the country. Assad could have responded peacefully, but opted...
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Will Iran be able to match its revenge rhetoric with action following the assassination of Qassem Soleimani?
The most plausible reason why President Trump ordered the assassination of the Iranian general commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Qassem Soleimani, is to shift attention away from the ongoing impeachment process in the US media. Soleimani and the commander of the Kata’ib Hezbollah militia in Iraq, Abu...
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Saudi Arabia assumes the G20 presidency with a backdrop of negative publicity
Saudi Arabia is set to assume the presidency of the G20, the first time that an Arab state has held such a position....
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Saudi Arabia tells its citizens to buy Aramco as an ‘act of patriotism’, but is it?
The world’s largest oil company, Saudi Aramco, has finally decided against listing its shares in New York, London or Hong Kong, the world’s most lucrative stock exchanges. The company has decided instead in favour of Saudi Arabia’s own Tadawul Stock Exchange in Riyadh. This is an interesting and revealing...
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Sudan needs to tread carefully in its political transition
Sudan has always featured on the news for a variety of reasons. Over the years, it has been the ongoing conflicts that engulfed the country attracting media attention. The mass killing of people in Darfur, a region west of Sudan, is perhaps the main event that has captivated people’s...
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Attacks on Saudi Arabia unlikely to stop Trump’s keenness towards Iran
Abqaiq petroleum processing facilities and Khurais oil field in Saudi Arabia were attacked by a multitude of missiles and rockets last Saturday. Saudi Arabia has said Iran was behind the attacks and has used the incidence to garner empathy from the world, saying the attacks were against the “international...
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Sudan achieves a miracle and disappoints sceptics
“Sudanese are proud Arabs, they master the Arabic language and their firm Islamic adherence further emphasise their position as Arabs.” Most Sudanese are sceptical, for various reasons, of being referred to as Africans. Their political trajectory, therefore, over the years, has tended to mimic those of the Arab world....
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Saudi Arabia’s dilemma as the UAE pulls out of Yemen
The war in Yemen is entering its fifth year with no solution in sight. Every day thousands of people, including women and children, are injured and maimed. According to Amnesty International, “there is extensive evidence that irresponsible arms flows to the Saudi Arabia-led coalition have resulted in enormous harm...
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Years after the blood dumping scandal, Ethiopians are still resisting racism in Israel
Bags of blood donated by Ethiopian Jews were found dumped Israel in 1996; stacks of them. The discovery led to protests and riots in Israel. According to the New York Times on 29 January of that year, “Thousands of Ethiopian Jews clashed with riot policemen outside the Prime Minister’s...
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Gulf ‘attacks’ on oil tankers are a cover for a bigger agenda
The attacks on two Japanese oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman last week have raised both concerns and exasperation in the region. Saudi Arabia, Britain and the US — of course — accuse Iran of carrying out the attacks; it has rejected the accusations. The US made the...
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Sudanese protesters and opposition groups have few options left
The military junta in Sudan has changed its political rhetoric; it has entrenched its position and is not yielding to the demands of the opposition. This is obvious, not least because the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia and Egypt have declared their support for the Transitional Military Council...
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Arab League, GCC meetings only further destructive regional agenda
Saudi Arabia hosted three summits side-by-side this week. Saudi King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud hosted the 14th summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Friday. Saudi Arabia exploited the date and place of the OIC meeting to further its agenda, by calling for emergency meetings with the Arab...
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Bashir learns the hard way: Bread protests are powerful
The people of Sudan have been engaged in the protest against the government for the past four months. The protestors have been calling for the resignation of President Omar Al-Bashir who has ruled the country for 30 years. There are a number of lessons we can learn from the protests;...
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Bashir's visit to Qatar must not be misunderstood by the Sudanese people
Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir visited Qatar on Wednesday. His visit comes during the most tumultuous time of his presidency back in his home country, in which Al-Bashir and his government have been facing sustained protests calling for his resignation. Al-Bashir has since asked a number of countries for assistance, including...
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The demotion of its foreign minister will not help Saudi Arabia’s international relations
There have been a number of significant political events in the Middle East over the past few days. The ongoing protests in Sudan, for example, have claimed the lives of at least 19 people in just over a week. These protests are regarded as a tough test for President...
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It is time for ‘not in our name’ to be heard from ordinary Saudis
I have just been to Soweto in South Africa, where I was surprised by how well-versed people are about what happened to journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Istanbul. Their awareness convinces me that it will take a long time for Saudi Arabia to recover from...
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The Khashoggi case leads to calls for the ‘Vaticanisation’ of Makkah and Madinah
The disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul has raised a number of questions about the safety and security of dissenting voices in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, especially those critical of Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman. The country that prides itself on being the custodian of the two...
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South Africa got it wrong on Yemen at the UN Human Rights Council
South Africa’s proactive foreign policy often punches way above its weight. It draws its confidence from the country’s political history and what many still refer to as a “political miracle” of the end of apartheid rule. The manner in which it managed its political transition from apartheid to democracy...
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Iraqi uprisings expose cracks in Iran’s expansionist project in the Gulf
Shia Islam, like many religious sects, continues to be polarised by political opinion. This has in history led to further sub-divisions of Shia Islam. Notwithstanding, there is still an insistence to present Shia Islam as a bloc. This insistence has consequently invited a blanket of disdain for Shia Islam...
