Four Gulf State Foreign Ministers Are In China For Meetings That Can Shift Relationships From the West
Good day from REEDNEWSARABWORLD for Tuesday, January 11, 2022! The news is out of Beijing where Gulf Arab foreign ministers are in week-long meetings that can tilt relationships around the world. The officials are in China for a visit that the Chinese described as "historically unprecedented" and aimed first at kickstarting a stalled free trade agreement. The visiting officials are four foreign ministers, out of the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, and the GCC's secretary general. Represented are Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman. Only the United Arab Emirates and Qatar are not attending.
For the Gulf countries, it's an opportunity to demonstrate strong interest in a larger Chinese relationship, diversifying their oil-dependent economies, and shifting more from the United States. For China, it's energy supplies, particularly if unrest in neighboring Kazakhstan disrupts supplies to a key pipeline. Only the Gulf countries could act as a replacement if the pipeline is halted.
The United Arab Emirates has asked the United Nations to help retrieve its hijacked ship, the Rwabee, from Yemen's Houthi rebels. The Houthis have been pushed out of their last bastion in the oil-rich province of Shabwa by the pro-government Giants Brigade. Princess Basmah, released from a Saudi prison after three years, is home in her penthouse apartment in Jeddah, the same apartment where she was seized in 2019. In the United States, a group of former hostages held by Iran when the U.S. embassy in Tehran was sacked in 1979, has gone to court against Chase Bank, arguing that the bank prolonged their confinement by helping the deposed Shah of Iran get refuge.
And Saudi Arabia and Qatar are talking about a railroad link -- this after a years-long dispute when the Saudis threatened to build a canal and cut off Qatar from the mainland.
News from Kuwait, Iraq, Morocco, Tunisia, Sudan, and More.
Four foreign ministers of Gulf countries have started a five-day series of meetings in China that Chinese analysts are saying is "not run-of-the-mill" and will have "historic and strategic significance."
The ministers of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman are in Beijing, with the secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council. One aim of the meetings is to revive negotiations for a free trade agreement between GCC countries and China that started in 2004 and now is struggling after nine rounds of talks. (Li Shaoxian of the China Institute for Arab Studies said the negotiations have "little success of note so far.")
But the weeklong visit is expected to produce more than reviving free trade. Saudi Arabia's foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud met separately with China's foreign minister, Wang Yi, and indicated they were working for a broader strategic relationship.
Associated Press, Middle East foreign ministers head to China for meetings.
Al Monitor, Gulf foreign ministers, GCC chief visit China for talks.
South China Morning Post, China to host ministers from oil-rich Gulf states as Kazakhstan unrest heightens energy security fears.
Al Jazeera, Gulf ministers visit China to discuss strengthening energy ties.
The United Arab Emirates has gone to the United Nations in an effort to retrieve the ship Rwabee and its crew, hijacked by the Iran-backed Houthi militia. In a letter to the UN Security Council signed by Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh, the ship was described as carrying medical equipment to a field hospital on Socotra island. The UAE said the Houthis in Yemen have hijecked at least three ships in the Red Sea and used explosive-laden boats to target at least 13 ships.
Al Arabiya, UAE calls for immediate release of ship hijacked by Houthis.
The National, UAE pushes UN on Houthi 'act of piracy' after ship hijacking.
The ship Rwabee hijacked by Yemeni rebels in the Red Sea has an onboard crew of 11 who are from five countries, the United Arab Emirates told the United Nations Security Council. Seven of the crew are from India. The others come from Ethiopia, Indonesia, Myanmar, and the Philippines.
AFP, 11 crew held on ship hijacked by Yemen rebels: UAE.
Yemen's northern province of oil-rich Shabwa is now controlled by pro-government forces supported by the Saudi-led military coalition. Government forces and Houthi rebels have been locked in fierce battle for months over control of Shabwa and Marib provinces. Both are oil and gas centers. The pro-government Giants Brigade, backed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, said that in Shabwa it had liberated Ain district, the last part of Shabwa left in Houthi control, after a 10-day assault.
AFP, Yemen pro-government troops capture oil-rich Shabwa.
Al Arabiya, Yemen's forces take control of Shabwa province from Iran-backed Houthis.
Yemen's Houthi rebels have burned 40 homes of government supporters in the Hodeidah area, and "they have taken all our belongings and property." The attacks came after hundreds of local people had joined the Saudi Arabia-backed coalition in Hodeidah province, then fled to the government-controlled province of Hadramout. The houses were empty, and their owners said they were burned by Houthi forces in retaliation. "The Houthis burned more than 40 houses belonging to 40 families and confiscated our farms," one homeowner said.
Arab News, Houthis burn houses of Yemeni government supporters in Hodeidah.
Saudi Arabia's newly-freed Princess Basmah and her daughter are back in their home in Jeddah, and she has tweeted her thanks to King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Sources said there were no conditions attached to her release from a Saudi prison after being held without charges since 2019, and that she was released on humanitarian grounds due to ill health.. She was taken to a hospital immediately after her release, then to her penthouse apartment on Jeddah's seafront promenade, the same apartment from which she had been taken by a Saudi force. Security footage in the apartment, obtained by a Spanish newspaper, showed that the apartment had been entered in 2019 by a group of men who then covered the security cameras.
Princess Basmah, a businesswoman and human rights activist, was held in al-Ha'ir prison, a facility near Riyadh that is known to house high-profile prisoners. Before her release, her family had lobbied the U.S. State Department and members of Congress to apply pressure on Riyadh. Both the State Department and the House Foreign Affairs Committee raised the issue with the Saudi government.
Insider/Yahoo News, Freed Saudi princess Basmah is back living at the penthouse where she was kidnapped 3 years ago, source says.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar are planning to resurrect a railroad connection between the two countries, a big change from Saudi Arabia's threat during the recent crisis to dig a canal cutting off Qatar from the mainland. The rail project had been scheduled to start in 2016, then was abandoned when relations were severed in 2017. Now a number of initiatives are being taken to strengthen relationships between the two Gulf countries, and Qatar's minister of transport, Jassim Al-Sulaiti, and Saudi minister Saleh bin Nasser Al-Jasser have held discussions about establishing the rail link.
Doha News, Plans to connect Qatar and Saudi by rail 'back on track.'
Qatar and Saudi Arabia have notified the World Trade Organization they are suspending requests for resolution of a dispute over alleged piracy of content from a Doha-owned sports channel.
The countries had been at odds over intellectual property rights in sports broadcasting, but last year a broad agreement ended a four-year dispute between the countries and, as part of the agreement, they agreed to quit the legal battles about sports television. The WTO published notices ending the case.
Reuters, Qatar, Saudi Arabia halt WTO efforts to resolve piracy broadcast dispute.
Turkey's President Erdogan wants to reconcile with Saudi Arabia. Pressed by financial woes at home, Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit Riyadh next month on a trip that he hopes will be a new milestone in relations between the two countries. Their ties suffered when Turkey investigated the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and earlier when Turkey accused Saudi Arabia of financing an attempted coup in 2016. Erdogan has recently improved relations with the United Arab Emirates and now is setting his sights on Saudi Arabia.
Al Monitor, Erdogan hopes fence-mending trip to Saudi Arabia eases financial woes.
A court in Germany is set to rule this week in a case charging state-sponsored torture against a former Syrian intelligence agent. The case is one of a number being brought in Europe against loyalists of Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad. In the latest case, a court in Koblenz will rule Thursday on the case of Anwar Raslan, who is accused of crimes against humanity. Prosecutors are demanding a life sentence.
Guardian Nigeria, Syria's Assad regime on trial in Europe.
AFP, Syria torture verdict due this week as many still seek relatives.
Iraq has repatriated 111 Iraqi families linked to the ISIS group from a camp in northern Syria. They arrived in Iraq and were transferred to Al-Jadaa camp north of Mosul, in Nineveh province. In the past six to eight months, some 339 families tied to ISIS have been moved from Syria to Al-Jadaa, which houses around 7,500 internally displaced people.
Al Arabiya, Iran takes back 111 ISIS-linked families from Syria.
Americans who were held captive in Iran are asking a U.S, court to revive a lawsuit against Chase Bank, claiming the bank prolonged the 1979 crisis when Iranians took over the U.S.embassy in Tehran. The suit had been dismissed as untimely, but an attorney argued that the embassy hostages are being punished for Chase bank's coverup of the narrative.
After former Chase chairman David Rockefeller died in 2017, Yale University records were revealed showing that the bank worked to get refuge in the United States for the former Shah of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, after an uprising ended his rule. The lawyer for the former captives said Chase was liable for delaying release of the hostages and had concealed its involvement for decades.
Courthouse News Service, Survivors of Iran hostage crisis clamor to hold Chase Bank liable.
Iraq has approved a plan to build a crude oil pipeline from Basra in Iraq's south to Jordan's Red Sea port of Aqaba. The 1,665-kilometer project will have a transport capacity of crude oil at one million barrels a day and will cost between $7 billion and $9 billion. Jordan will have the right to buy 150,000 barrels a day of oil, to be refined by Jordan Petroleum Company in Zarqa governate.
Xinhua, Iraq, Jordan agree to build Basra-Aqaba oil pipeline.
Iran's trade with Gulf countries amounted to 41.16 million tons of goods valued at $20.05 billion over an eight-month period, according to Iran's customs administration. The United Arab Emirates was the top trading partner, with $13 billion, followed by Iraq at $6.84 billion Other large traders with Iran are Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain. Saudi Arabia is the least, at $41,000.
Financial Tribune, Iran's trade with Gulf countries surpasses $20 billion in 8 months.
Kuwaiti authorities have approved construction of a new airport in its northern area. The state's news agency disclosed the decision, but did not report on the value of investment or a completion date.
Reuters, Kuwait to build a new airport in the northern area - state news agency.
Libya's oil production reached 1 million barrels a day after its biggest oil field resumed output. Militias had forced a three-week stoppage, but a deal was reached with the Petroleum Facilities Guard, a paramilitary force that had halted operations in the Sharara field in Libya's southwest.
Bloomberg, Libya oil output said to hit 1 million b/d on field-restarts.
Tunisia's Ennahda party has called on its supporters for a protest on January 14 against President Kais Saied. The demonstrations are planned on the anniversary of a revolution that brought down ruler Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali a decade ago.
Asharq Al-Awsat, Tunisia's Ennahda to take part in Jan. 14 demonstrations against Saied.
France has refused to extradite the former president of Tunisia, Moncef Marzouki, after a Tunisian court issued an international arrest warrant against him. Marzouki, a critic of incumbent Tunisian President Kais Saied, was sentenced in absentia to four years in prison. Marzouki lives in Paris but is a Tunisian citizen. When he was accused of being a French citizen, he said: "How many times should I repeat that I have no other citizenship except the Tunisian one? How many times will they keep repeating the same lie and others? They are all students of Goebbels," the World War II Nazi propaganda minister who taught to lie, saying remnants of the lies remain.
Middle East Monitor, Paris refuses to extradite Marzouki.
One of the last independent human rights organizations in Egypt has closed. The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, founded in 2004 by lawyers and activists, said it was shutting down because of increasing government intimidation and targeting its workers.
Al Jazeera, Egypt: Leading rights group closes citing government persecution.
The United Arab Emirates is pushing for redoubled efforts against ISIS and Boko Haram across Africa's Sahel belt of nations. UAE ambassador to the United Nations told the UN Security Council that the "fragile situation in West Africa and the Sahel is worsening" and called for tougher counter-terrorism measures.
The National, UAE pushes for 'redoubled' Sahel anti-terror effort.
The United Nations is starting consultations in Sudan to try to salvage the country's move to democracy after a military coup. UN officials were contacting parties to look for a way forwarrd , and Sudan's army has raised no objection. Volker Perthes, the UN special representative for Sudan, said "We want to move quickly."
Reuters, U.N. starts talks in Sudan to resolve post-coup crisis.
MORE: Iran calls for US to unfreeze Afghan funds amid humanitarian crisis, Al Monitor... Second Sudanese protester dies after Sunday protest - medics, Reuters... Algerian opposition figure sentenced to two years' jail, AFP... One of the world's biggest wealth funds targets sustainable finance, Bloomberg... Iran ready for bilateral talks on downed jet, ignores call for reparations, Reuters... Egypt, US Navies conduct transit naval exercise in the Red Sea, Egypt Independent.... Egypt PM: The draft budget of 2022-2023 raises the standard of living for 60% of Egyptians, Egypt Independent.
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