Dec 6, 2018 | Libya, Menas Associates
The divergent characters of the National Oil Corporation (NOC) and the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) reflect the different roles that they each played during the Qadhafi era. As the country’s principal source of income it was essential that the NOC remained...
Dec 6, 2018 | Iraq & Kurdistan, Menas Associates
After a standoff of more than a year, Baghdad and Erbil have agreed on a deal to resume oil exports from Kirkuk. Under the deal, which the Oil Ministry has described as a ‘preliminary agreement’, Erbil has agreed to pump between 50,000 b/d and 100,000 b/d from Kirkuk...
Dec 6, 2018 | Caspian, Menas Associates
Rumours about presidential and parliamentary early elections in Kazakhstan are intensifying. Presidential elections may take place as soon as the beginning of 2019 – more than one year ahead of schedule. The last presidential elections were held on 26 April 2015, when...
Dec 6, 2018 | Menas Associates, Sahara
The combined backdrop of the post-9/11 global war on terror (GWOT), post 2011 Qadhafi crisis, northern crisis in Mali, and current Sahel War have all combined to destroy livelihoods of most of the Sahel’s local population. The tourism industry, in particular, has been...
Nov 22, 2018 | Menas Associates, Nigeria
The official campaigns for Nigeria’s 2019 elections — both presidential and National Assembly — officially began on 18 November. President Muhammadu Buhari kickstarted his campaign with an official launch of documents tagged as the ‘Next level’, which listed his...
Nov 22, 2018 | Iran, Menas Associates
One of the known political patterns of the Islamic Republic is that increased external pressure leads to increased internal cohesion. Nonetheless, the competition for power means that factionalism has not been stamped out. Even though the top leadership has instructed...
