Search results

The UAE was among 12 countries to attend the Berlin Conference on Libya on 19 January, at the invitation of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Others at the gathering included Algeria, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Turkey, Republic of the Congo, the UK and US, along with representatives from the United Nations, the African Union, European Union and League of Arab States. They agreed to refrain from “interference in the armed conflict or in the internal affairs of Libya” and to “full respect” the UN arms embargo.

Omani acting undersecretary for diplomatic affairs Mohammed Bin Awadh Al-Hassan led a delegation to Tehran on 22 October to take part in the sixth session of the Iran-Oman strategic consultation committee. The following day he held talks with foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. There were no major new developments or agreements, but the meetings highlighted Oman’s continued willingness to talk to all sides in the region, even under pressure from Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and as fresh sanctions are due to be imposed on Iran by the United States.

Kuwait’s National Assembly (parliament) speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim has again ventured into the role of diplomat, leading a delegation of MPs to Iraq and Jordan. Arriving in Baghdad on 28 February he held talks with president Barham Saleh and prime minister Adel Abdulmahdi, as well as his Iraqi counterpart Mohammad Al-Halbousi and head of the Supreme Judicial Council Faek Al-Abbdoudi. The delegation then moved on to Amman, to take part in the Arab Inter-Parliament Union conference.

Kuwait finance minister Nayef Al-Hajraf was the most prominent Gulf figure at conference in London on 28 February designed to shore up support for the beleaguered Jordanian economy, which is struggling under the weight of an estimated 1 million Syrian refugees, along with age-old problems such as a lack of domestic energy resources and high unemployment. Speaking from the stage, Al-Hajraf said he had visited Jordan five or six times in recent years and pointed out that the Kuwaiti private sector had invested $18bn in the economy, making it one of the largest international investors in the country.

Minister of state and advisor to King Salman Prince Mansour Bin Miteb Bin Abdelaziz landed at Velana International airport in the Maldives on 16 November to represent Saudi Arabia at President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s inauguration the following day.

Iran unveiled the Hoveizeh long-range, ground-launched cruise missile at the Eqtedar 40 defence exhibition, held at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Grand Prayer Grounds from 30 January. Defence minister Brigadier Amir Hatami said the missile has a range of 1,350km; it is based on the Soumar cruise missile which Iran has had since at least 2015 – the Houthi rebels in Yemen are believed to have fired Soumar missiles before. The Hoveizeh announcement is likely to increase the controversy over Tehran’s much-criticised missile programme.

Bahrain’s long-standing ambassador to Iraq is leaving his post, just a few months after a diplomatic spat saw him briefly recalled. In June, Salah Ali Al-Maliki was withdrawn from Iraq after protestors had forced their way into the Bahrain Embassy in Baghdad. Al-Maliki returned the following month, but he is now permanently stepping back from that position, after being appointed ambassador to Kuwait. However, in an unusual move, the envoy appears set to remain in the Iraqi capital.

Kuwait and Iraq have both turned to the United Nations over a lingering maritime border dispute that has become inflamed over a decision by Kuwait to build a new platform. Iraq wrote to the UN Security Council on 7 August to complain about the Fisht Al-Eij platform, which is close to Boubiyan Island. Kuwait responded in kind on 20 August, stating that the facility was within its territorial waters.

Saudi and Emirati authorities have been continuing their public support for the new military regime in Sudan, which quickly emerged following the ousting of President Omar Al-Bashir on 11 April. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Bin Abdelaziz (MBS) held a meeting with the powerful Transitional Military Council (TMC) deputy head General Mohammed Hamdan Daglo (‘Hameti’) in Jeddah on 23 May, attended by ministers of state Musaed Bin Mohammed Al-Aiban and Adel Bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir.

The two countries’ armed forces on 3 February began an 11-day military exercise in the UAE. The Joint UAE-Oman Military Drill is aimed at boosting individual and collective combat capabilities.

Tehran has warned British ambassador Robert Macaire to avoid any more “illegal gatherings”, following his brief arrest on 11 January at a vigil for those killed on Ukraine International Airlines flight PS 752, which was shot down soon after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran on 8 January. Iranian officials claimed he was trying to foment unrest, but Macaire said he had gone to pay his respects for those killed and had left after five minutes “when some started chanting”.

Prime minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah led a delegation to the Jordanian capital Amman on 11 February for a series of talks and events. Sheikh Jaber held talks with King Abdullah II and prime minister Omar Razzaz and also opened the new Kuwaiti embassy. Also in the delegation was commerce and industry minister Khaled Al-Roudhan, who signed an agreement on industrial co-operation – one of more than a dozen deals finalised during the trip. There were also a memorandum of understanding on energy co-operation and an existing debt rescheduling treaty was amended.

Kuwaiti economist Rola Dashti took over as executive secretary of the Beirut-based United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) on 7 February; she is also a UN under-secretary-general. Dashti is a former planning and development minister in Kuwait and was part of a group of four women who became the first to be elected to the National Assembly (parliament) in May 2009. She has also served as minister of state for parliamentary affairs and is currently a member of Kuwait’s Supreme Planning Council.

Iran has expressed its deep irritation with Kuwait, following a meeting late last year between a senior Kuwaiti official and Hakim Al-Kaabi, a member of the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz, a violent separatist group in Iran. National Assembly (parliament) speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim met Al-Kaabi in late December on the sidelines of a conference in Kuwait; MP Abdullah Fahhad Al-Enzi was also at the meeting.

Bahrain’s attempt to extradite footballer Hakeem Al-Araibi from Thailand came to a halt on 11 February, when the authorities in Bangkok said they had dropped the case. Al-Araibi had been detained in the Thai capital in December while on honeymoon. He had previously been granted political asylum in Australia in 2014, after being charged (and later convicted in absentia) with vandalising a police station. Human rights groups had described the trial as unfair. There was also sharp criticism over Bahrain’s use of an Interpol red notice to have him detained in Thailand.