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📰 Saudi Prince's deadly fear

📰 Saudi Prince's deadly fear

and Somalia's Iran U-turn

Billy Robinson
August 15, 2024

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Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman has expressed concerns about his own safety if he proceeds with normalising relations with Israel, drawing a parallel to the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat following the Camp David Accords.

In the Horn of Africa, Somalia and Iran are working to mend their relationship after eight years of strained ties, while initial US-led peace talks for Sudan have struggled to make headway.

Additionally, Germany has issued an arrest warrant for a suspect involved in the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage.

Top 5 Stories

1️⃣ 🇵🇸 🇮🇱 Iran and Somalia restore ties after a eight year enmity: Somalia's Foreign Minister Ahmed Moallim Fiqi met with Iran's Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Bagheri on Thursday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to enhance bilateral relations, officials announced. The meeting took place during the Executive Committee of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) gathering. Iran's caretaker foreign minister welcomed Somalia’s initiative to restore ties, strained since 2016. This diplomatic shift follows Somalia's announcement in March 2024 to reestablish relations with Iran, highlighted by the recent release of 33 Iranian fishermen detained for illegal fishing off the Somali coast. Somalia severed diplomatic ties with Iran in January 2016 under then-President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who returned to the presidency in 2022.

2️⃣ 🇲🇷 Mohamed bin Salman reportedly fears assassination threat from normalising ties with Israel: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has expressed concerns to U.S. lawmakers that his life could be at risk due to his efforts to forge a major agreement with the U.S. and Israel, which includes normalising relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel. He has reportedly drawn parallels with Anwar Sadat, the Egyptian leader assassinated after his peace deal with Israel, questioning what protections the U.S. offered Sadat. The emerging agreement, still largely confidential, is said to involve U.S. security guarantees, support for a Saudi civilian nuclear program, and economic investments, including in technology. In return, Saudi Arabia is expected to limit its interactions with China and establish diplomatic relations with Israel, a significant win for Israel given Saudi Arabia's influence in the Muslim world. However, Prince Mohammed is reportedly frustrated that the Israeli government has refused to incorporate a viable path to a Palestinian state into the deal, despite the increased Arab backlash against Israel due to the ongoing Gaza conflict.

3️⃣ 🇱🇧 🇮🇱 Landmark trial sees former Lord’s Resistance Army convicted for crimes against humanity: Thomas Kwoyelo, a former commander of the Ugandan militant group LRA, has been convicted of crimes against humanity in Uganda's first war crimes trial. Kwoyelo faced 78 charges for atrocities during the LRA’s two-decade insurgency. The high court in Gulu found him guilty of 44 offenses, including murder, rape, torture, pillaging, abduction, and the destruction of settlements for displaced people. He was acquitted of three murder charges, and 31 alternate charges were dismissed. Abducted by the LRA at age 12, Kwoyelo rose to a low-level commander but denied all charges. Founded by Joseph Kony in the 1980s, the LRA aimed to establish a regime based on the Ten Commandments. Its rebellion against President Yoweri Museveni resulted in over 100,000 deaths and 60,000 child abductions, affecting Uganda, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and the Central African Republic (CAR).

4️⃣ 🇦🇲 🇷🇺 Weaponised starvation persists in Sudan amid US Envoy's unsuccessful mediation Attempts: The U.S. special envoy for Sudan has condemned the warring factions in Sudan's civil war for their "cowardice" ahead of critical peace talks set for Wednesday. Tom Perriello criticised the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese military for lacking "courage and honour," citing their use of starvation as a weapon of war. This tactic has exacerbated the world’s largest hunger crisis in a nation once considered a global breadbasket. The weaponization of food supplies has led to an official famine declaration at a displacement camp in Darfur, with over 25 million people across Sudan now facing acute hunger. U.S.-mediated talks to end Sudan's 15-month conflict began this week in Geneva, Switzerland. While the RSF has agreed to participate, the Sudanese army has indicated it will not attend this latest diplomatic effort to end the fighting.

5️⃣ 🇨🇳 🇷🇺 Germany issues arrest warrant for Ukrainian linked to Nord Stream pipeline sabotage: Germany has issued a European arrest warrant for a Ukrainian diving instructor in connection with the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines, German media reported. Investigators believe Volodymyr Z was part of a team that planted explosive devices on the pipelines in September 2022. German law prohibits the publication of his full surname. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has consistently denied Ukraine's involvement in the sabotage, which significantly impacted Russian gas exports to the European Union and Moscow’s energy revenues. Nord Stream 1 previously transported Russian natural gas to Germany with a capacity of 63 billion cubic metres per year. Nord Stream 2, of similar capacity, was not yet operational. These pipelines were designed to bypass Ukraine’s transit routes for Russian gas exports to the EU. Russia's gas sales to the EU, once its most lucrative market, dwindled following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and subsequent political tensions.

Major Story

IDF ACCUSED OF USING CIVILIANS AS HUMAN SHIELDS IN NEW ISRAELI NGO REPORT

Israeli soldiers are reportedly using Palestinian civilians as human shields in Gaza to clear suspected booby-trapped tunnels and buildings, according to a leading Israeli NGO and a major newspaper, Haaretz.

Breaking the Silence, an organisation founded by Israeli combat veterans to document military misconduct, claims that this practice is widespread among different units and could be considered a “protocol.” The NGO has gathered testimonies from veterans of the 10-month Gaza conflict, which align with findings from an investigation by Haaretz. The newspaper's report suggests that the Israeli chief of staff's office was aware of these practices.

The practice of using Palestinian civilians as human shields by Israeli soldiers is reportedly so common that the civilians are given the informal term "shawish," referring to a low-ranking soldier. According to testimonies and reports from Haaretz and the NGO Breaking the Silence, Israeli soldiers routinely dress these civilians in military uniforms and send them into potentially hazardous tunnels and damaged buildings ahead of the Israeli forces.

The civilians, mostly young men, are bound and equipped with cameras as they enter these sites. They are reportedly told they will be freed after completing a mission. Following their tasks, they are released to return to their families, indicating they were used solely for clearance operations.

Al Jazeera aired footage in July showing civilians, some in IDF uniforms, entering destroyed buildings. Breaking the Silence reported that the use of civilians as human shields was evident from the early stages of the Gaza conflict and appeared to be a widespread practice rather than isolated incidents.

One soldier mentioned that civilians were used to replace canine units for detecting explosives due to the high number of dogs that had been lost. Despite concerns raised by many soldiers, this practice remains illegal under both international and Israeli law.

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Other News

1️⃣ 🇷🇺 🇺🇦 Knesset Finance minister Smotrich signs off on latest illegal West Bank settlement plan: The Israeli government has approved building a new settlement on a UNESCO World Heritage Site near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced on Wednesday that his office had finalised and published the plan for the new settlement, Nahal Heletz, in Gush Etzion. This follows a July ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) stating that Israel has no sovereignty over these territories, is violating international laws against acquiring land by force, and is obstructing Palestinians' right to self-determination. The ICJ emphasised that other nations should not support Israel's presence in the area. Despite the ruling, Smotrich declared on social media that no anti-Israeli or anti-Zionist decision would halt settlement development. He stated that Israel would continue to oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state by creating facts on the ground. Smotrich himself resides in an illegal settlement in the West Bank.

2️⃣ 🇵🇬 🇦🇺 Japanese PM to step down in September: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced that he will not seek re-election as the leader of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) next month, paving the way for a new party leader. Kishida, who has faced challenges including low approval ratings and a fundraising scandal, stated that an “open contest” is needed to foster debate within the party. His departure in September concludes a three-year term characterised by controversy, increasing living costs, and unprecedented defence spending.