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28 December 2016
Tricontinental solidarity and Palestine today
on Palestine
By Maren Mantovani By defending their national rights the Palestinian people have defended the rights of all revolutionaries in the world and the blood spilled by their sons is li...
Read more19 December 2016
The east Aleppo deal and the survival of Asad
on Syria
The east Aleppo deal and the survival of Asad The 13 December surrender agreement between rebel groups and the regime of President Bashar al-Asad marked a turning point in the fi...
Read more17 November 2016
The Libyan tragedy: Power in the contemporary geopolitical setting
on Libya
By Thabo Mbeki Analysing two recent key reports issued in the UK regarding the 2011 NATO assault on Libya, former president, Thabo Mbeki, argues that regime chan...
Read more17 November 2016
Turkey, Islamic State group and the Mosul operation
on Turkey
By Afro-Middle East Centre Of the myriad political and social developments since the spectacular rise of the Islamic State group (IS) in mid-2014, it is perhaps the movement’s abi...
Read more15 November 2016
Lebanon’s long awaited president
on Lebanon
By Afro-Middle East Centre The election of General Michel Aoun as president of Lebanon earlier this month ends a two-and-half year stalemate when the country could not agree on wh...
Read more27 October 2016
Moroccan Elections: Where process trumps result
on Morocco
By Afro-Middle East Centre The results of the recent, 7 October, Moroccan parliamentary election means little in terms of the exercise of actual political power, but is indicative...
Read moreMosul: the beginning of the end for the Islamic State?
By Afro-Middle East Centre The 16 October declaration by Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi of the beginning of the offensive t…
South Sudan: Beyond the logjam of UNSC Resolution 2304
By Majak D’Agoôt and Remember Miamingi No country is entirely self-contained or lacking in interdependencies. These interlocking …
Unenforced Syrian ceasefire was bound to fail
By Afro-Middle East Centre The collapse of the recent Syrian ceasefire and resultant blame game being played by the USA and Russi…
Yemen: Putting humpty dumpty together again
By Afro-Middle East Centre Although the United Arab Emirates recently announced that its troops would no longer be involved in Ye…
28 December 2016
Tricontinental solidarity and Palestine today
on Palestine
By Maren Mantovani By defending their national rights the Palestinian people have defended the rights of all revolutionaries in the world and the blood spilled by their sons is li...
Read more19 December 2016
The east Aleppo deal and the survival of Asad
on Syria
The east Aleppo deal and the survival of Asad The 13 December surrender agreement between rebel groups and the regime of President Bashar al-Asad marked a turning point in the fi...
Read more17 November 2016
Turkey, Islamic State group and the Mosul operation
on Turkey
By Afro-Middle East Centre Of the myriad political and social developments since the spectacular rise of the Islamic State group (IS) in mid-2014, it is perhaps the movement’s abi...
Read more15 November 2016
Lebanon’s long awaited president
on Lebanon
By Afro-Middle East Centre The election of General Michel Aoun as president of Lebanon earlier this month ends a two-and-half year stalemate when the country could not agree on wh...
Read more29 September 2016
Unenforced Syrian ceasefire was bound to fail
on Syria
By Afro-Middle East Centre The collapse of the recent Syrian ceasefire and resultant blame game being played by the USA and Russia is an indication of the complex nature of the Sy...
Read more02 September 2016
Complex web of relations around Turkey's Syria intervention
on Turkey
By Afro-Middle East Centre While being a violation of the sovereignty of a neighbouring country, Turkey’s incursion into Syrian territory along the Syria-Turkey border and its att...
Read moreNetanyahu’s tour shores up support for Israeli AU observer status
By Afro-Middle East Centre The visit by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya and Ethiopia early Jul…
Read moreSyria's war crimes: prosecutions must begin before conflict ends
By Caroline Timoney On 22 June, Qatar called for the national prosecution of those who had committed crimes against internation…
Read more
A failed coup and the domestic, regional and global aftermath
By Afro-Middle East Centre The evening of Friday, 15 July, saw one of the most severe attacks on Turkey’s democracy since 1997, a…
Read moreTurkey’s Kurdish question: Historic foundations and contemporary issues
By Afro-Middle East Centre Turkey’s Kurdish question: Historic foundations and contemporary issues After about eighty…
Read more
25 October 2016
Mosul: the beginning of the end for the Islamic State?
on Iraq
By Afro-Middle East Centre The 16 October declaration by Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi of the beginning of the offensive to retake the city of Mosul from the Islamic State ...
Read more09 September 2016
Yemen: Putting humpty dumpty together again
on Yemen
By Afro-Middle East Centre Although the United Arab Emirates recently announced that its troops would no longer be involved in Yemen’s civil war, the conflict in that hapless coun...
Read more21 July 2016
Bahrain strengthens repression of dissent
on Bahrain
By Afro-Middle East Centre On 17 July, a Bahraini court banned the main opposition party, Al-Wefaq, on charges of terrorism and inciting violence in the kingdom. Wefaq is the larg...
Read more16 June 2016
The battle for Fallujah and the challenge for Iraqi unity
on Iraq
By Afro-Middle East Centre The Iraqi army’s assault on the city of Fallujah held by the Islamic State group (IS) has ground to a halt in light of fierce house-to-house fighting wi...
Read more15 March 2016
GCC ‘terrorist Hizbullah’ declaration may backfire
on Iran
By Afro-Middle East Centre The decision by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on 2 March declaring Hizbullah a terrorist organisation is the latest in a string of moves by Saudi A...
Read more02 March 2016
Evolving Saudi foreign policy: Same goal, different threat perceptions
on Saudi Arabia
By Afro-Middle East The accession to the throne of Salman Bin Abdulaziz has led to a reprioritisation of Saudi Arabian foreign policy. The rise of the Islamic State group (IS) and...
Read moreThe nuclear deal’s impact on Iranian politics and society
By Afro-Middle East Centre The International Atomic Energy Agency’s 16 January certification that Iran had complied with the prov…
No massive change expected in Iran-US relations after nuclear deal
By Afro-Middle East Centre Relations between the two countries were non-existent since the 1979 Islamic revolution and the subse…
Does Pakistan’s refusal to join Saudi Arabia in Yemen indicate…
By Afro-Middle East Centre Allegedly, the current Saudi-led onslaught on Yemen has already caused destruction that resembles…
Regional consequences of the Iranian nuclear deal
By Afro-Middle East Centre The agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme concluded this week seems to be an example of the bene…
17 November 2016
The Libyan tragedy: Power in the contemporary geopolitical setting
on Libya
By Thabo Mbeki Analysing two recent key reports issued in the UK regarding the 2011 NATO assault on Libya, former president, Thabo Mbeki, argues that regime chan...
Read more27 October 2016
Moroccan Elections: Where process trumps result
on Morocco
By Afro-Middle East Centre The results of the recent, 7 October, Moroccan parliamentary election means little in terms of the exercise of actual political power, but is indicative...
Read more25 July 2016
Expanding UN mandate in South Sudan: Militarising politics?
on Sudan
By Afro-Middle East Centre The recent African Union decision adding a more ‘robust’ peace enforcement component to the current 12 000 strong UN mission in South Sudan (UNMISS...
Read more03 July 2016
Tunisian Ennahda’s ‘second founding’
on Tunisia
By Larbi Sadiki Ennahda’s Tenth Congress in May 2016 was a leap of faith into re-endorsing the movement’s historical leadership as well as learning to ‘Tunisify’ its specific bran...
Read more09 June 2016
Upgrading Morocco-SA ties: good for both, but no difference for…
on Morocco
By Afro-Middle East Centre The February 2016 announcement by Moroccan King Mohammed VI that the kingdom intended to upgrade diplomatic ties with South Africa pointed to a recalcul...
Read more25 May 2016
Passionate supporters, now Egypt’s new ‘dissidents’
on Egypt
By Afro-Middle East Centre Protests by Egypt’s main journalist syndicate and Egyptians previously loyal to the military regime point to increasing opposition to President Abdel-Fa...
Read moreIslands for aid: A deal between Cairo, Riyadh, Tel Aviv…
By Afro-Middle East Centre The recent handing over of two islands – Tiran and Sanafir – to Saudi Arabia by the Egyptian governmen…
The economic collapse in Egypt
By Yehia Hamid All economic indicators in Egypt point to the fact that the country has entered a phase of serious economic coll…
UN’s Libya Government of National Accord: Refusing to learn from…
By Afro-Middle East Centre The recently-signed agreement between sections from Libya’s warring factions will likely have litt…
Sisi’s Egypt: The illusion of stability and the perpetuation of…
By Al-Jazeera Centre for Studies Late on Sunday, 25 January 2015, hundreds of protests broke in various Egyptian cities a…
10 October 2016
South Sudan: Beyond the logjam of UNSC Resolution 2304
on South Sudan
By Majak D’Agoôt and Remember Miamingi No country is entirely self-contained or lacking in interdependencies. These interlocking interests form the critical part of any country’s ...
Read more28 April 2015
Nigeria’s elections and future challenges
By Afro-Middle East Centre The election of General Muhammadu Buhari as Nigeria’s president will see a renewed focus by the government on domestic challenges posed by endemic...
Read more26 September 2013
Kenyan hostage crisis: The desperation of al-Shabab
By Afro-Middle East Centre The hostage drama at the Westgate Mall in Nairobi over the past week has raised a number of questions about the Somali organisation al-Shabab. After the...
Read more23 January 2013
French military intervention will add to Mali’s problems
By Afro-Middle east Centre The north of Africa was plunged into yet another international conflict with France’s invasion of Mali on Friday, 11 January. Without im...
Read more26 October 2012
The effects of the ‘War on Terror’ on states’ foreign…
By Afro-Middle East Centre Recent statements that ‘there is no alternative….it’s going to take military force’, made by Jack Christofides, a senior offici...
Read more13 October 2012
Will Al-Shabab recover from a major defeat?
on Somalia
By Osman Abdi Mohamed In recent months Al-Shabab has been suffering successive losses at the hands of Somali government forces fighting alongside the African Union Mission in Soma...
Read moreThe core of the Somali crisis, and the challenges of…
Unlike the Lebanese crisis, or that of Kosovo, the Somali crisis is characterised by ongoing self-igniting and self-sustaining vio…
Thinking differently in an attempt to break the Somali impasse
By Afro-Middle East Centre On the 22 July 2010, an African Union Summit in Kampala, Uganda, resolved to increase the number of tr…
Somalia's Divided Islamists
By International Crisis Group Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) must engage dissidents among the country's insurgen…
Abstract : ‘Jihad’ as a form of struggle in the…
by Na'eem Jeenah Muslim opposition to colonialism and apartheid in South Africa began soon after the arrival of the first…
28 August 2015
Does Pakistan’s refusal to join Saudi Arabia in Yemen indicate…
on Pakistan
By Afro-Middle East Centre Allegedly, the current Saudi-led onslaught on Yemen has already caused destruction that resembles the destruction wrought in Syria over the la...
Read more31 March 2012
The feasibility of a continued United States presence in Afghanistan
on South Asia
By Alex Strick van Linschoten and Felix Kuehn Recent events in Afghanistan have fuelled speculation over the ability of international forces to continue their presence in the coun...
Read more28 February 2012
Dangerous uncertainty in Pakistan
on South Asia
By Junaid S. Ahmed With relations between Pakistan's civilian government and military incredibly tense, speculation is rife in the Pakistani and international media of a looming m...
Read more30 May 2011
Pakistan-US relations in the post-Osama era
on South Asia
By Junaid S. Ahmad The assassination of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan by US Special Forces was supposed to have been a landmark triumph that would bring peace and stability to the r...
Read more13 December 2010
Kashmir and Obama's Indian appeasement
on South Asia
By Mohammad Abdullah Gul Obama's recent jive with school children in Delhi symbolises the nature of the new relationship that is emerging between India and the United States of Am...
Read more13 September 2010
Pakistan’s floods: Pressing problems and potential risks
on South Asia
By Najam Abbas Pakistan's recent floods have left eight million people dependent on aid for their survival, and washed away huge swathes of the rich farmland on which the country...
Read moreWikileaks, Afghanistan, and Pakistan
By Mohammed Abdullah Gul On 25 July 2010, the New York Timescarried an explosive story by Mark Mazzetti, Jane Perlez, Eric …
India walks a tightrope in its relations with Israel, Arab…
By Ramananda Sengupta 'We do have a defence relationship with India, which is no secret. On the other hand, what is a secret is w…
Afghanistan: terrain for India-Pakistan proxy war
By Ramananda Sengupta The savage attack on Kabul hotels housing Indian workers on 26th February 2010 - the fourth major attack on…
Obama's Strategy in Afghanistan: The Afghanisation of the War
By AlJazeera Centre for Studies Early in December 2009, and after lengthy consultations, United States president Barack Obama ann…
14 May 2016
The Paradox of Survival and Expansion: How the Islamic State…
Omar Ashour This paper examines the reasons for the military steadfastness of the Islamic State group (IS) in the face of local and international forces that are larger in numbers...
Read more19 December 2015
ISIS in Africa: Reality far different from IS propaganda
By Afro-Middle East Centre The revelation that the alleged mastermind of the 13 November Paris attacks claimed by the Islamic State group (IS) was of Moroccan descent, the tur...
Read more20 July 2015
Remaining and expanding: Measuring the Islamic State group’s success in…
By Afro-Middle East Centre Since its declaration of a ‘caliphate’ on 29 June 2014, the Islamic State group (IS), the brutal successor to al-Qa'ida, has gone from stren...
Read more31 January 2012
The rise of 'Ikhwanophobia': Fear of the Muslim Brotherhood
By Dr. Mohsen Saleh Introduction Fear of the Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwanal-Muslimoon), the leading Islamist movement, has gained unprecedented international prominence since the b...
Read more23 February 2010
Dialogue with the Taliban: Negotiation or inducement?
By AlJazeera Centre for Studies The London Conference, held at the end of January 2010 in recognition of, and support for, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, was the sixth internati...
Read more11 February 2010
Al-Qa'ida Hot Spots
By AlJazeera Centre for Studies At the end of the phase known as the "Afghan Jihad", most Arabs and Muslims who participated in the Afghan war returned to their homelands. Some fo...
Read moreAl-Qaeda, Jihad and the Democratization of Islamic Authority
by Faisal Devji On the fifth anniversary of 9/11 a jihadist website posted a long interview with Osama bin Laden's lieutenant, A…
Abstract : ‘Jihad’ as a form of struggle in the…
Abstract for paper presented by Na'eem Jeenah, Executive Director of the Afro-Middle East Centre, at the conference on "Rethinking…
21 November 2015
The Paris attacks: Aftermath and the Islamic State group’s future
By Afro-Middle East Centre The terror unleashed on Paris streets on 13 November reverberated throughout the world. From the G20 summit in Antalya to social media debates about how...
Read more28 May 2010
Al-Qaeda in the New National Security Strategy
By Mark Lynch The Obama administration's new National Security Strategy has been released today. It goes a long way towards providing a coherent framework for American foreign pol...
Read more16 February 2010
Pakistan’s attitude towards Obama’s plan to negotiate with the Taliban
By Dr. Ijaz Shafi Gilani U.S. President Barack Obama's plan to negotiate with the Taliban in Afghanistan has generally been welcomed in Pakistan. It is being seen as a vindication...
Read more07 February 2010
Mission Absolute: American hegemony in space
By Sourav Roy Come April 2010, officials from the sleepy Polish municipality of Morag will be gearing up for perhaps their most critical assignment in the new decade. Their job wi...
Read moreAMEC's recent books
The Battle for Justice in Palestine
January 19, 2014
Buy your copy now Winner of the 2014 Palestine Book Award Efforts to achieve a “two-state solution” have fin...
Lineages of Revolt: Issues of Contemporary Capitalism in the Middle East
January 19, 2014
Buy your copy now While the outcomes of the tumultuous uprisings that continue to transfix the Arab world rem...
Tomorrow's Battlefield: US Proxy Wars and Secret Ops in Africa
January 19, 2014
Buy your copy now You won’t see segments about it on the nightly news or read about it on the front page of A...
AMEC insights Volume 1 - 2014
January 19, 2014
Buy your copy now AMEC insights 2014 brings together the series of AMEC briefs and AMEC insights published by...
News from Middle East and North Africa
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Turkey car bomb and gun attack near courthouse in Izmir - BBC News
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Azaria exposed the reality of Israel's colonial project - Aljazeera.com
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Syria's Civil War: Deaths as car bomb hits Jableh town - Aljazeera.com
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Oil prices rise as Saudi Arabia discusses supply cuts - Reuters
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Lebanese president accuses Israel's Mossad of murder in Angola - Jerusalem Post Israel News
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Flunking the Israel test - Power Line (blog)
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Turkey questions US coalition presence at Incirlik Air Base amid 'confidence crisis' - RT
Media Gallery
14 April 2016
Nick Rodrigo on the latest Syria elections
Syrians voted in a parliamentary election in government-held areas on Wednesday. The result of the vote is expected on Thursday. The election is going ahead independently of a U.N. led peace process a...
Read more
02 January 2016
IS militants strike Iraqi forces in Ramadi
IS militants struck back in an attack on an Iraqi army base near Ramadi. This comes just days after the city was recaptured by government troops. At least sixty government soldiers are reported to hav...
Read more
22 November 2015
Ebrahim Deen on terror attacks in Europe and…
AMEC's Ebrahim Deen, with Minister Of State Security Mr David Mahlobo, and Sheila Khama of the Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Rights Commission, talking about terror attacks in Europe, Middle East...
Read more
19 November 2015
More analysis on the Paris and Lebanon attack:…
For some analysis on the Paris and Lebanon attacks, AMEC researcher Omar Shaukat, spoke to SABC News
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