The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Saudi Arabia

  • Erdogan approves deployment of Turkish troops to Qatar

    Erdogan approves deployment of Turkish troops to Qatar

    President Tayyip Erdogan on Friday approved legislation on deployment of Turkish troops in Qatar, signaling support for the Gulf state as it faces isolation imposed by fellow Arab states over its alleged support for terrorism.

    Turkey’s parliament pushed through the bill on Wednesday and Erdogan’s rapid approval of it, announced by his office late on Thursday, was followed by its publication in the Official Gazette on Friday, completing the legislative process.

    Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt severed relations with Qatar on Monday, accusing it of supporting Islamist militants and their arch-adversary Iran – charges Qatar calls baseless. Several countries followed suit.

    Qatar vowed on Thursday to ride out the isolation and said it would not compromise its sovereignty over foreign policy to resolve the region’s biggest diplomatic crisis in years.

    After an initial deployment of Turkish troops at a base in Doha, Turkish warplanes and ships will also be sent, the mass-circulation Hurriyet newspaper said on its website on Friday.

    “The number of Turkish warplanes and Turkish warships going to the base will become clear after the preparation of a report based on an initial assessment at the base,” Hurriyet said.

    A Turkish delegation would go to Qatar in the coming days to assess the situation at the base, where around 90 Turkish soldiers are currently based, it said.

    Turkish officials were not immediately available to comment on the report but Hurriyet said there were plans send some 200 to 250 soldiers within two months in the initial stage.

    Erdogan also approved another accord between Turkey and Qatar on military training cooperation late on Thursday.

    Both bills were drawn up before the dispute erupted.

    Turkey has also pledged to provide food and water supplies to Qatar.

    The president has said isolating Qatar would not resolve any problems.

    Erdogan, who has long tried to play the role of a regional power broker, said Ankara would do everything in its power to help end the regional crisis.

    Turkey has maintained good relations with Qatar as well as several of its Gulf Arab neighbors.

    Turkey and Qatar have both provided support for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and backed rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

    The bill did not specify how many troops would go or when.

  • UAE bans expressions of sympathy toward Qatar

    UAE bans expressions of sympathy toward Qatar

    The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Wednesday banned people from publishing expressions of sympathy toward Qatar and will punish offenders with a jail term of up to 15 years.

    The UAE, along with several other powerful Arab states, severed diplomatic ties with fellow Gulf state Qatar on Monday over its alleged support for Islamist groups and Iran. Qatar denies the accusations.

    U.S. President Donald Trump took sides in the deep rift in the Arab world on Tuesday, praising Middle East countries’ actions against Qatar, but later spoke by phone with Saudi King Salman and stressed the need for Gulf unity.

    UAE Attorney-General Hamad Al-Shamsi announced the ban.

    Al-Shamsi said: “strict and firm action will be taken against anyone who shows sympathy or any form of bias toward Qatar, or against anyone who objects to the position of the UAE, whether it be through the means of social media, or any type of written, visual or verbal form.”

    On top of a possible jail term, offenders would also be hit with a fine of at least 500,000 dirhams, the newspaper said, citing a statement to Arabic-language media.

    Since the diplomatic row erupted, slogans against and in support of Qatar have been among the top topics discussed on Twitter in Arabic, which is a hugely popular medium of expression in the Arab world, particularly in Saudi Arabia.

    Newspapers and television channels in the region have also been engaged in a war of words over Qatar’s role.

  • Hajj sponsorship an important social, religious responsibility – Official

    Hajj sponsorship an important social, religious responsibility – Official

    Alhaji Abass Egwuu, Executive Chairman, Ebonyi State Muslims Pilgrims Welfare Board, says the state government considers hajj sponsorship as an important social responsibility.

    Egwuu said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Tuesday that Gov. David Umahi was supporting the board to discharge its duties effectively.

    According to him, hajj sponsorship is part of a social responsibility of every sensitive government.

    He urged other state governors to take hajj sponsorship serious to enhance public confidence in governance.

    Egwuu said that preparations for the 2017 hajj operation had reached advanced stage, adding that the board had secured decent accommodation for its pilgrims in Saudi Arabia.

    “Gov. Umahi has made the job very easy for me since I was appointed. He has consistently sponsored the board, paid allowances to board members and also sponsored private pilgrimage,” he said.

    Egwuu added that the board had organised several orientation programmes for intending pilgrims in the state.

    He said that pilgrims enlightenment and education was ongoing in Yoruba, Hausa and the indigenous Muslim communities in various mosques across the state.

    “Apart from that we have a centre which is known as the Islamic Centre located at Ebonyi South Senatorial District.

    “So, what we normally do is to encourage our Muslim brothers and sisters to go to the mosque for education.

    “However, we do enlightenment through radio and television programmes to ensure wider coverage,” he said.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the National Hajj Commission had allocated 97 hajj slots to Ebonyi and approved N1.52 million as 2017 hajj fare for the state.

  • Qatar ready for mediation on Gulf conflict

    Qatar ready for mediation on Gulf conflict

    Qatar’s foreign minister Tamim Al-Thani said on Tuesday Doha was ready for mediation efforts after the Arab world’s biggest powers severed ties with it.

    Al-Thani said that Qatar’s ruler had delayed a speech in order to give Kuwait a chance to ease regional tensions.

    Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain severed diplomatic relations with Qatar in a coordinated move on Monday.

    Yemen, Libya’s eastern-based government and the Maldives joined later and transport links were shut down.

    Al-Thani spoke by telephone overnight with his counterpart in Kuwait, which has maintained diplomatic ties with Qatar, and decided to postpone a speech to the Qatari people as requested.

    Doha also decided not to retaliate against the measures.

    Qatar wants to give Kuwait’s Sabah Al-Jaber the ability to “proceed and communicate with the parties to the crisis and to try to contain the issue,” Al-Thani said in comments to Qatar-based Al Jazeera television.

    Kuwait’s emir had an important role in a previous Gulf rift in 2014 and Qatar’s Sheikh Tamim “regards him as a parent and respects his desire to postpone any speech or step until there is a clearer picture of the crisis,” Al Jazeera quoted the foreign minister as saying.

    Al-Thani told the channel that the measures taken against Qatar had an “unprecedented impact” on its citizens and on family relations in the Gulf Arab region, but said Doha will not take counter measures.

    Qatar “believes such differences between sister countries must be resolved through dialogue.”

  • Egypt, Saudi Arabia, three others cut links with Qatar

    Egypt, Saudi Arabia, three others cut links with Qatar

    Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen have cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing it of destabilising the region.

    They claimed Qatar backs militant groups including so-called Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaeda, which Qatar has denied.

    The Saudi state news agency SPA said Riyadh had closed its borders, severing land, sea and air contact with the tiny peninsula of Qatar.

    Qatar called the decision “unjustified” and with “no basis in fact.”

    The BBC reports that the unprecedented move is being seen as a significant split between powerful Gulf countries, who are also close United States allies.

    It comes in the context of increased tensions between Gulf countries and their near-neighbour Iran.

    The Saudi statement accused Qatar of collaborating with Iranian-backed militias.

    The diplomatic withdrawal was put into motion by Bahrain then Saudi Arabia early on Monday. Their allies swiftly followed.

    SPA cited officials as saying the decision was taken to “protect its national security from the dangers of terrorism and extremism.”

    The three Gulf countries have given Qatari nationals two weeks to leave their territory.

  • 2 die in school shooting in Saudi Arabia

    2 die in school shooting in Saudi Arabia

    Authorities said that two people were killed and another injured when a man opened fire inside a private school’s administration building in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, on Wednesday, but no students were present.

    Talal al-Maiman, Chairman of Kingdom Schools, told Reuters that the shooting was “a case of a disgruntled employee.”

    “It is with regret that the administration building of Kingdom Schools witnessed this morning a shooting incident by an Arab national who was dismissed from the school four years ago on the basis of anger issues and an unstable personality,” he told Reuters.

    He said that the victims were a Saudi national and a Palestinian national, adding that the situation at the school was contained as of mid-afternoon.

    The school had been closed about a week before the Ramadan holiday, in line with a royal decree.

    The holiday began on Saturday.

    Police cars could be seen at the school campus, but the scene was otherwise quiet.

    An Interior Ministry spokesman said it was a “criminal case” and that Riyadh Police would issue a statement with further details.

    Kingdom Schools is owned and operated by Kingdom Holdings, a company of Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed Talal.

    It is situated in northern Riyadh.

    Maiman said the school’s private security guards followed established procedures until the case was handed over to government authorities.

  • OPEC, non-OPEC members hold informal talks on new oil cuts

    OPEC, non-OPEC members hold informal talks on new oil cuts

    OPEC and non-OPEC ministers would meet on Wednesday for informal consultations in Vienna in a last-ditch bid to agree the duration of oil output cuts.

    The ministers would also seek to clear a global stocks overhang that has pulled down the price of crude.

    Top OPEC oil producer, Saudi Arabia, favours extending the output curbs by nine months rather than the initially planned six months, to speed up market rebalancing and prevent crude prices from sliding back below 50 dollars per barrel.

    OPEC members Iraq and Algeria as well as top non-OPEC producer Russia also supported a nine-month extension but some Gulf OPEC members, including Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates have pointed to a need for further analysis.

    OPEC would meet formally in Vienna on Thursday to consider whether to prolong the deal reached in December in which OPEC and 11 non-members agreeded to cut output by about 1.8 million barrels per day in the first half of 2017.

    A ministerial monitoring committee consisting of OPEC members Kuwait, Venezuela, Algeria and non-OPEC Russia and Oman meets in the Austrian capital to discuss the progress of cuts and their impact on global oil supply.

    Saudi Arabia, which holds the current OPEC presidency, will also attend.

    Several OPEC delegates said they expected the meetings on Wednesday and Thursday to be relatively painless, resulting in an output cut extension by nine months.

    “I think the meeting will go smoothly,” an OPEC delegate said, referring to signs of consensus in the group, including Iran, which has fought Saudi Arabia in many recent OPEC meetings.

    However, several delegates and ministers said they did not believe cuts could be extended to a full year.

    Possible surprises could include a deepening of the cuts, but this would likely be minor because the non-OPEC producers that are expected to join the accord for the first time on Thursday, such as Turkmenistan and Egypt, are fairly small.

    OPEC’s cuts have helped push oil back above 50 dollars a barrel, giving a fiscal boost to producers.

    By 0750 GMT on Wednesday, Brent crude was up 0.5 per cent at around 54.50 dollars a barrel.

    However, the price rise has spurred growth in the U.S. shale industry, which is not participating in the output deal, thus slowing the market’s rebalancing with global stocks still near record highs.

    “This is a bit tricky as production cuts cause higher prices which will incentivise more production for the U.S. shale oil and reduce the impact of the production cuts.

    “So it’s a bit cyclical,’’ Sushant Gupta, research director for consultancy Wood Mackenzie, said.

  • Trump says has new reasons to hope for peace in Middle East

    Trump says has new reasons to hope for peace in Middle East

    U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that he had new reasons to hope for peace and stability to the Middle East after his visit to Saudi Arabia.

    In a stopover lasting 28 hours, Trump is to meet separately with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

    “During my travels in recent days, I have found new reasons for hope,” Trump said in a brief speech on arrival.

    “We have before us a rare opportunity to bring security and stability and peace to this region and its people, defeating terrorism and creating a future of harmony, prosperity and peace, but we can only get there working together.

    “There is no other way,” he said.

    Later on Monday, he will pray at Judaism’s Western Wall and visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, and on Tuesday he will travel to Bethlehem.

    Netanyahu and his wife Sara, as well as President Reuven Rivlin and members of the Israeli cabinet, were at Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion airport to greet Trump and first lady Melania in a red carpet ceremony after what is believed to have been the first direct flight from Riyadh to Israel.
    Trump’s tour comes in the shadow of difficulties at home, where he is struggling to contain a scandal after firing James Comey as FBI director nearly two weeks ago.

    The trip ends on Saturday after visits to the Vatican, Brussels and Sicily.

    Netanyahu said Israel shared Trump’s commitment to peace, but he also repeated his right-wing government’s political and security demands of the Palestinians, including recognition of Israel as a Jewish state.

    “May your first trip to our region prove to be a historic milestone on the path towards reconciliation and peace,” Netanyahu said.

    U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters en route to Tel Aviv that any three-way meeting between Trump, Netanyahu and Abbas was for “a later date”.

    Trump has vowed to do whatever is necessary to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians, something he has called “the ultimate deal”, but has given little indication of how he could revive negotiations that collapsed in 2014.

    When he met Abbas this month in Washington, he stopped shortly of explicitly recommitting his administration to a two-state solution to the decades-old conflict, a long-standing foundation of U.S. policy.

    He has since spoken in support of Palestinian “self-determination”.

    Trump has also opted against an immediate move of the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a longtime demand of Israel.

  • 2017 Hajj: Kwara Pilgrims Board warns drug traffickers

    2017 Hajj: Kwara Pilgrims Board warns drug traffickers

    The Kwara State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, says it is collaborating with the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to ensure that no suspected drug trafficker is found among the 2017 intending pilgrims.

    Mohammed Tunde-Jimoh, the Executive Secretary of the board disclosed this on Monday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in llorin.

    The secretary, who was reacting to the arrest of three pilgrims from Kwara in Saudi Arabia during 2016 pilgrimage, said the incident was regrettable and would not happen again in the history of the board.

    He said the NDLEA had assured the board of availability of modern scanning machines to detect suspected drug peddlers who might attempt to travel to the Holy Land from the state.

    According to him, any drug baron planning to travel with through the board should have a rethink, as adequate arrangement has been put in place to fish them out.

    Tunde-Jimoh advised intending pilgrims not to travel with Kola nuts or other substances outlawed by Saudi Arabia.

    He said the board had made arrangements to conduct series of enlightenment programmes to acquaint them with Hajj rites.

    According to him, the board has already secured befitting accommodation for the comfort of 2017 pilgrims in Makkah ,Madinah.

    Tunde-Jimoh warned the intending pilgrims from paying the balance of their Hajj fare through agents, saying payment should be made to only the banks designated by the board.

    NAN reports that a total of 2,168 pilgrims and 20 officials are expected to perform the 2017 Hajj from Kwara.

     

  • Saudi Arabia stops hiring foreign dentists

    Saudi Arabia on Tuesday announced its decision to stop hiring foreign dentists to provide job opportunities for locals, a report said.

    The decision that was announced by the Labour Ministry aims at encouraging private sectors to hire more local dentists in the medical area.

    The latest move is part of Saudi Arabia’s effort to expand and reinforce its labour force.