The fallout from Hamas s attack on Israel raises the spectre of a regional war and further undermines western influence, When Jordan s King Abdullah II judged the Middle East was on the brink of falling into the abyss in the days after Harakat al Muqawama al Islamiya s (Hamas) unprecedented attacks on Israel on 7 October and the Israel Defense Force s (IDF) bombardment of Gaza, few in the region were ready to contradict him.
, The visit by Russia s Deputy Defence Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov to Benghazi on 16-17 September is seen by local pundits as another attempt by a foreign power to use the flooding disaster at Derna to re-establish influence in Libya. It is the second visit in a month by Yevkurov, who has been flying the Russian flag in tours of African countries where the Wagner Group has been active.
Rescue efforts held back by poor infrastructure and administrative dysfunction, The Mediterranean storms that lashed Libya s coastline on 10-11 September have destroyed two major dams and unleashed floods killing over 2,300 people in Derna, one of the biggest cities in Cyrenaica, the country s eastern region. Relief agencies fear that those casualty figures could more than triple.
Rumblings about coups and the ANC s failures on corruption set the stage for defeat of presidential allies in key province, It started about as badly as it could for President Cyril Ramaphosa with the news that the Public Protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, was investigating whether he had breached the Executive Ethics Code in his handling of a break-in at his farm in which some US$4 million was reported to have been stolen. Mkhwebane s office served a time-limited subpoena on Ramaphosa on 22 July.
The country is back to rule by two governments – but support is growing for devolution instead of the stalled international push for national elections, Libya looks more divided than at any time since the 2011 revolution. It boasts one government in Tripoli ruling the west, and another in Sirte which is recognised in the east – but there are also divisions inside both areas. The south is contested but remains largely ignored.