Middle East & Africa

The Saudi Arabia government has formally welcomed the IAEA resolution for Iran to allow access to its nuclear sites. The decision by nuclear watchdog calls the Iranian regime to allow weapons experts to access areas where the nuclear sites are located or where the country might have hidden atomic material.

The 25-member Board of Governors passed a resolution yesterday, 19 June asking Iran to comply with the decision. The IAEA Board suspects that two not in use sites in Iran might have nuclear weapons-making material.

The Saudi government representative at the IAEA Prince Abdullah bin Khalid bin Sultan said the Kingdom “supports” the resolution. The resolution is an important step to counter Iran’s efforts to circumvent and breach terms of international treaties and regime that controls the nuclear weapons program.

The resolution was proposed by the UK, Germany, and France.

Prior to this resolution, the Director-General of IAEA Rafael Grossi had expressed that the Islamic republic had denied access to inspectors to two suspected locations. Tehran has not allowed inspectors to visit this location for more than four months.

The IAEA has issued two reports early this year where it questioned the activities in three sites.

As per reports, these suspected sites must have been in existence since the early 2000s, whereas Iran signed the nuclear deal with major powers in 2015.    

The Iran Nuclear Deal was signed between Iran and P5+1 (comprising of the US, UK, France, Germany, Russia, China, and the EU). Under this arrangement, Tehran agreed to bring down its uranium enrichment activities, eliminate its stockpiled material, among other things. 

After the US walk out from the arrangement in May 2018, Iran is reported to have violated agreements signed in 2015. Since then the US President Donald Trump’s administration has imposed economic sanctions against Tehran. 

The Friday resolution tabled got the support of 25 countries, and seven abstentions. China and Russia voted against the decision.  The UK, France, and Germany staying with then deal want to persuade Iran to comply with the agreement instead of imposing stricter economic sanctions like the US.

The day after the imposition of the stringent Caesar sanctions on Syria by the US, the regime’s allies came out to condemn this measure and pledge support for President Bashar al Assad.

On Wednesday, the United States imposed some of its most severe sanctions under the Caesar Act against the Bashar al Assad regime in Syria, blacklisting and banning people, governments and entities who assist the Syrian government in rebuilding activities in the territories controlled by it. Among those in the crosshairs is first lady Asma al Assad who has been getting more deeply involved with governance in the country. The foreign aid coming through her network of charities are accused of funnelling funds into regime coffers.

Iran and Hezbollah have come out to condemn the sanctions saying they were inhumane and came at a bad time, adding to the suffering of the Syrian people when the whole world was grappling with the coronavirus crisis. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi dismissed the unilateral sanctions as bullying and economic terrorism against the people of Syria. They were against international laws, he said, adding that Iran will stand by its ally, continuing and even bolstering economic trade with the regime. It is worth mentioning that Iran itself has been under heavy US sanctions since the collapse of the US nuclear deal in 2018. The Hezbollah has also spoken out against the sanctions, calling them cruel and an attempt to starve the Syrian and Lebanon, the Syrian regime’s last remaining ties to the outside world. A spokesperson for Hezbollah in Lebanon said that Syria has won the war militarily and politically and Caesar Act was the last weapon of the enemies against Damascus. He spoke about the US’ hand behind the collapse of the Syrian currency and he too vowed to stand by the regime, saying they will not abandon Syria to face this economic warfare alone.

The UAE Ambassador to the United States and Minister of State, Yousef Al-Otaiba, wrote for the first time on the front page of the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot, an article to address the Israeli people and their decision-makers on the risk of Palestinian territories’ annexation. This move, planned from early July, would represents the destruction of any further rapprochement between Israel and the Arab world.

“A unilateral and deliberate act, annexation is the illegal seizure of Palestinian land.  It defies the Arab – and indeed the international – consensus on the Palestinian right to self-determination.It will ignite violence and rouse extremists.  It will send shock waves around the region, especially in Jordan whose stability – often taken for granted — benefits the entire region, particularly Israel.” Ambassador Al-Otaiba warned.

His message was clear and straightforward, and his article formed widespread interest and evolved like a road map for peace. “For years, the UAE has been an unfailing supporter of Middle East peace.   We have promoted engagement and conflict reduction, helped to create incentives-carrots rather than sticks – and focused attention on the collective benefits for all parties.” He says, adding that the UAE consistently and actively opposed violence on all sides:“we designated Hezbollah a terrorist organization, condemned Hamas incitement and denounced Israeli provocations”. 

Al-Otaiba’s article won the attention of Israeli and Western public opinion, so much that there are already those who think of a new peace plan led by the Emirates.The ambassador, addressing the people of Israel directly in a calm, almost fraternal tone, convinced the Israelis to review any step, and this is what the American writers went to by taking into account Emirati warnings.

The United Arab Emirates has understood that hate speech and violence lead to nothing, preferring the diplomacy of the compromise for peace between peoples.Populist speeches towards the Palestinian cause does not reach any solution, and therefore, UAE diplomacy tended to address the Israeli public. “I worked closely with the Obama Administration too, including on a plan for confidence building measures that would provide substantial benefits to Israel – improved links with the Arab states – in return for greater autonomy for and investment in Palestine”. The ambassador wrote, affirming that annexation will certainly and immediately upend Israeli aspirations for improved security, economic and cultural ties with the Arab world and with UAE.

“Our shared interests around climate change, water and food security, technology and advanced science could spur greater innovation and collaboration. As a global airline, logistics, educational, media and cultural hub, the UAE could be an open gateway connecting Israelis to the region and the world.” Al-Otaiba added. UAE has employed its network of diplomatic relations against Netanyahu’s expansion of the occupation of the Palestinian territories, and has not used it to serve an anti-issue agenda. But prepaid journalist and media outlets financed by the Muslim Brotherhood organizations altered the UAE diplomatic article to serve their party’s agenda and turned a blind eye to the goals Al-Otaiba sought.

The Gulf country knows that politics is the art of the possible and this is achieved by the UAE leadership. Israel wants to establish relations with Arab countries, but from the point of view of Emirati diplomacy, this should not contradict with Palestinian rights and Israeli intentions to expand the annexation of lands. Al-Otaiba’s message to Israeli people only confirms that the UAE is keen on the stability and security of the MENA area, and to lead this tense region into a starting point for global successes.

The UAE government is considering suspending visas for expats from Nepal, Bangladesh, and Nigeria. Although the government is yet to make an official announcement, the government might decide on such lines, according to sources.

According to an unofficial source, the government is looking at the possibility of making such a decision, as the governments in Nepal, Bangladesh, and Nigeria have not taken back the migrants stuck in the gulf country during the COVID lockdown.

Due to shutdown, thousands of migrant workers have been left jobless and want to return to their native country. However, these three countries have been reluctant to bring back their nationals.

According to an unofficial source, the Emirati government had made several requests with these governments to take back their nationals. However, these governments are yet to show any commitment to their nationals’ repatriation.

These native governments have even failed to allow migrants to return home who wanted to visit their country for annual holidays. The Nepalese government has come under criticism for the tardy pace at which it has been arranging the repatriation of its nationals. More than 17,000 Nepalese passport holders want to return; however, it is still unknown when they will be allowed back home. Some of them recently staged angry protests outside the Nepalese Embassy in Abu Dhabi before the security officials dispersed them. Critical posts on social media were also circulated criticizing government inaction.

(4) This apparently the Nepali migrants descending on UAE embassy and told to ‘be patient’ फोन नउठाएको भन्दै यूएईको दूतावासमा नेपालीको घुईंचो, दूतावास भन्छ: धैर्य गर्नुहोस् https://t.co/QFnLouJRzN i also tried to assist one sick young man in UAE, very challenging @ba_dhur

— Andy Hall (@Atomicalandy) June 8, 2020

“We don’t want to die in this desert”: Nepali workers in the UAE plead to be brought homehttps://t.co/veoG58hNOu
By @CK_Mandal

— Sanjeev Satgainya (@SanjeevSatgainy) April 16, 2020

The Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr. AK Abdul Momen spoke to his Emirati counterpart Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan to persuade him to allow Bangladeshi migrants to stay back. The minister is yet to announce any timeline for the return of its nationals stuck in UAE.

UAE had imposed months’ extended lockdown due to check the spread of Novel Coronavirus. However, since May, thousands of migrants from other countries like Pakistan and India have returned home.   It is however unclear, how many expats are still stuck in UAE.

North Africa has been hit with the worst form of drought this year.  According to agriculture experts, this has nothing to do with the pandemic but will exasperate the demand for wheat this fiscal.

According to economist Chuck Penner, looking ahead to June, July and August, “the COVID issue is actually starting to fade into the background” and many nations will start to look at stocking their pulses.  One can blame it on scant rain through mid-April that dimmed Morocco’s crop prospects in 2020. Additionally, harvests in neighboring nations also suffered.

Lackluster local supply may boost the region’s wheat purchases by 7.4% to a record 29.7 million tons in the year from July, the U.S. Department of Agriculture forecasts. The shortage of rain has been as bad as it was in 2016. Harvest prospects are as bleak as they were then prompting that Morocco will have to import a substantial amount of wheat for the year 2020-21.

It has been confirmed that Morocco might be forced to buy a record 5.8 million tons of foreign wheat and has already taken the unusual step of exempting import taxes through the end of 2020. This was compounded with private importers already pushing to double wheat inventories to six months of milling needs by October. Five months’ worth of soft wheat and four months’ worth of durum wheat was stockpiled by the end of May.

Drought like condition has exasperated over a decade due to increase in livestock and human population that has dwindled the meager supply of water to this rather dry area of the Middle East North Africa (MENA). This year, the rains have scanty. Usually the government would help needy farmers and herders with assistance. This would take the form of distribution of subsidized animal feed, rescheduling of loans, investments in water development, and in animal health. But due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation, funds have not come that easily to the drought hit lot.