Somalia Archives - Arab Digest

The Eid – cricket queers the pitch

3 June 2019Oliver MilesArab Digest EmailAfghanistan, Islam, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Syria, Turkey, UAE, Yemen

Festival marking end of Ramadan probably 5 June. Long holidays, traditional family celebrations, a travel boom. Clash with the cricket World Cup. Multiple wars continue.

FGM: progress in Africa

13 November 2018Oliver MilesArab Digest EmailDjibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Mauritania, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, UAE, Yemen

Huge decline since 1990 in FGM in Africa where it is most prevalent. Information about the Middle East remains scanty.

Qatar vs. the four, one year on

11 June 201811 June 2018Oliver MilesArab Digest EmailChina, Europe, France, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, UAE, USA

Qatar vs. the four: no sign of compromise. The dispute static but not safe, and causing harm. The four have won no friends.

Horn of Africa: Middle East tensions

6 March 2018Oliver MilesArab Digest EmailDjibouti, Eritrea, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, UAE, Yemen

Dubai Ports terminal in Djibouti seized by the government. DP sells a part stake in Berbera port to Ethiopia. Background is Qatar vs. four dispute.

The Bab al-Mandab strait: an important choke-point on the maritime trade route between Asia and Europe

16 February 2018Oliver MilesArab Digest EmailChina, Djibouti, Eritrea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Yemen

Freedom of navigation through the Bab al-Mandab is important to the trade in oil, LNG, foodstuffs and manufactured goods between Europe and Asia. Vessels passing through the strait continue to be at risk of attack.

The Horn of Africa: more military activity

19 July 2017Oliver MilesArab Digest EmailChina, Djibouti, Eritrea, France, Iran, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Syria, Turkey, UAE, UK, Yemen

China, USA, UAE and others building up their presence in the Horn of Africa – why?

The Horn of Africa: UAE and Saudi bases

6 April 2017Oliver MilesArab Digest EmailChina, Djibouti, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Turkey, UAE, USA, Yemen

UAE naval base at Berbera, its second on the African coast. Saudi base planned in Djibouti. Yemen war one among several reasons.

FGM in the Arab world

9 February 2017Oliver MilesArab Digest EmailDjibouti, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kurds, Kuwait, Mauritania, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, UAE

Worldwide campaign against Female Genital Mutilation. More information about FGM in the non-African Arab world as well as in Africa.

Britain and the Arabs

12 May 201521 May 2015Oliver MilesArab Digest EmailIran, Iraq, Israel, Libya, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Syria, UAE

Britain’s relations still conditioned by history, but the election revealed declining British interest in “overseas”. UK remains involved in the Middle East, but likely to be reactive rather than proactive. Britain’s relations with the Arab world today can not be divorced from history, which has of course both a positive and a negative side. British imperialism and in particular the history of the British mandates in Palestine and Iraq have left bitter memories, still only partly faded. To some extent this has been compensated by the close …

Russia and the Middle East

27 April 201520 May 2015Oliver MilesArab Digest EmailEgypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Libya, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Syria, Turkey

As sometimes in Cold War days, the congruence between Russian and Western interests in the Middle East is so close as to be almost embarrassing. But the Russian style has changed; asked by a listener how he got such a nice tan the Russian Foreign Minister replied "Just dark complexion, I take after my mother …