Politics

Egypt’s foreign minister visits Iran for funeral of late Raisi

Published

3 weeks ago

May 23, 2024

According to a statement from the foreign ministry, Egyptian Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry, travelled to Tehran on Wednesday to attend the funeral of Iranian President, Ebrahim Raisi, who passed away in a helicopter crash on Sunday.

“Shoukry’s visit is the first visit by the Egyptian foreign minister to Iran,” Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said.

Relations between Egypt and Iran have often been fraught in recent decades although the two countries have maintained diplomatic contacts. In the aftermath of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, Iran named its first ambassador to Egypt in nearly three decades. They are both members of the Developing 8, the BRICS, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), despite their sometimes fluctuating tensions.

A 2013 BBC World Service survey indicates that while 48% of Egyptians have an unfavourable opinion of Iran’s impact, 15% have a positive opinion. When 812 Egyptians were asked about Iran’s nuclear program in a 2012 Israel Project survey, 61% of the participants said they supported the country’s nuclear program. In December 2023, the topic of diplomatic relations being restored was considered.

When the foreign ministers of the two nations got together in September of last year at the United Nations leaders’ conference in New York, Raisi—who was also present at the U.N. General Assembly—said at the time that the encounter might lead to the mending of relations.

Hossein Amirabdollahian, the foreign minister of Iran, visited his Egyptian colleague earlier this month in the Gambia during an Organization of Islamic Cooperation session. He also perished in the crash.

The latest events in the region, particularly the continuing crisis in Gaza, and measures to strengthen bilateral relations were topics of discussion between the two ministers.

Related Topics:Egypt Featured Iran Sameh-Shoukry

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Politics

South Africa: Parliament reelects Cyril Ramaphosa as president

Published

1 day ago

June 15, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa has been re-elected for a second term. He was nominated for re-election on Friday by a member of his African National Congress (ANC) party during the first sitting of parliament following last month’s election.

Julius Malema, the opposition Economic Freedom Fighter, was also put forward for the nation’s presidency, necessitating a vote in parliament to determine the winner.

With a majority of votes in the National Assembly, Chief Justice Ramaphosa was proclaimed president. Julius Malema, the leader of the opposition Economic Freedom Fighters party, received 44 votes, while Ramaphosa received 283.

The Democratic Alliance party said earlier in the day that it would support Ramaphosa in the election as part of a deal to establish a unity government with the African National Congress.

Out of the 400 seats in the recently elected National Assembly, 246 are held by the ANC and DA.

Politics

Niamey court revokes immunity of overthrown Nigerien president

Published

1 day ago

June 15, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

The State Court of Niamey has revoked the immunity of Niger’s deposed President, Mohamed Bazoum, signalling the start of criminal proceedings against him by the junta, according to a statement from his attorneys on Friday.

In July of last year, a military coup overthrew Bazoum. Since then, he and his spouse have remained in custody despite numerous requests for his release from Western nations and the ECOWAS regional political and economic grouping.

Colonel Amadou Abdramane, the junta’s spokesperson, stated on state television in August that the military government had “gathered the necessary evidence to prosecute the ousted president and his local and foreign accomplices for high treason and for undermining the internal and external security of Niger before competent national and international authorities.”

In a statement, one of his attorneys, Moussa Coulibaly, claimed that the court’s ruling cleared the path for Bazoum to face charges of treason and conspiracy to compromise state security.

The court proceedings “violated (ed) the absolute rights of the defence: we were not authorised to meet our client and the court refused to hear our arguments,” he added.

It was not immediately able to get in contact with the Niger government for a response. Because of Bazoum’s interactions with foreign heads of state and international organizations, the junta declared last year that it would bring high treason charges against him.

Following 2020, there have been eight coups in West and Central Africa that have brought the military government to power. Calls for Bazoum’s reinstatement have gone unanswered, including by the ECOWAS Court of Justice, which declared last year that his arrest was unjustified.

According to Bazoum’s attorneys, he and his spouse had never appeared before a magistrate. Lawyers said that since October, when their phone line at the White House was taken away, they have been cut off from the outside world and are only permitted to have visitors from their doctor.

Mohamed Bazoum Salem, the 23-year-old son of the deposed president, was given provisional parole from house imprisonment by the Niger military tribunal in January.