Menas Associates Blog
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Nigér, the US, and jihadist and inter-communal disputes
Four American and an uncertain number of Nigérien soldiers were killed in an ambush in Nigér on 4 October. According to the authorities, reporting immediately after the attack, five Nigérien soldiers were killed. Some later reports put the number at four, while a...
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Brazil: Temer’s ambitious privatisation plan facilitated by opposition’s weakness
President Michel Temer’s popularity may be at a low point but there are signs that his administration’s orthodox economic policies are taking effect. A demoralised left-wing opposition has opened up the field for Temer to act that was, until recently, quite...
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Dates for Nigeria’s 2019 elections now set
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) set dates for the 2019 elections but neither main party appears ready. The presidential and National Assembly 2019 elections will be held on 16 February, 2019 while the gubernatorial and State Assembly 2019...
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Reform of Algerian hydrocarbon law
Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia has stressed that if Algeria wants to attract the necessary investment to significantly boost oil and gas — and especially shale gas — production then it must revise Algerian hydrocarbon law. He said it was essential to rewrite the...
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Finding Neverland: exploring the risks in exporting Kurdistan’s oil
For the last few years, the Federal Government of Iraq (FGI) has largely turned a blind eye to independent exports of oil from Kurdistan. In June, however, the FGI took legal action against the “Neverland”, a tanker departing the Turkish port of Ceyhan, loaded with...
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Age bill reform in Uganda challenges local democracy
Efforts to eliminate the Uganda age bill, which sets age limits for the president, led to chaos both inside and outside of parliament. The current Uganda age bill sets an upper age limit of 75 years for presidential candidates which would prevent President Yoweri...
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Iraq’s parliamentary and local elections to be delayed?
It is increasingly likely that Iraq's elections, due to take place in March 2018, will be postponed. The same is true of the local elections meant to take place this year but which had already been rescheduled to coincide with the parliamentary polls next March. With...
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Egypt’s new capital city
Prime Minister, Sherif Ismail, announced on 23 September that state institutions will be headquartered in Egypt's new capital city, to the east of Cairo, by the end of 2018. In what is, by Egyptian standards, an exceptionally ambitious programme to move ministries and...
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New US air-strikes in the Sirte Basin
Islamic State (IS) cells in the Sirte Basin have become increasingly brazen in the last few months. After high-profile attacks on checkpoints manned by the self-styled local Libyan National Army (LNA), all of Libya’s major factions agree that something should be done...
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Caspian: Low enriched uranium bank opens
President Nursultan Nazarbaev and Yukiya Amano, director-general of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), attended the opening ceremony of the Low Enriched Uranium Bank at Oskemen in eastern Kazakhstan by video-conference. The new facility was...
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