11, April 2023

Football: Madrid coach Ancelotti saddened by Chelsea slump ⁰

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said he was sad to see Chelsea’s slump this season, ahead of their Champions League quarter-final clash on Wednesday.

The Italian coach led the Blues between 2009-2011, winning a Premier League and FA Cup double in 2010.

Chelsea, 11th in the Premier League, sacked coach Graham Potter at the start of April and hired their former coach Frank Lampard on an interim basis.

“I am sad, yes,” Ancelotti told a news conference on Tuesday before the first leg clash at the Santiago Bernabeu.

“I have a fantastic memory of this club, of the people that are still working there.

“I’m a supporter of Chelsea, of course, because I spent two really nice years there.”

Ancelotti, who has a year left to run on his contract with Madrid, said he did not see himself returning to Stamford Bridge for a second stint in charge.

“Be back? No, I hope that Lampard is able to do a fantastic job with them,” added Ancelotti.

The Real Madrid coach did not think his extra years of experience compared to Lampard, whom he managed at Chelsea, would make the difference in the tie.

“He has 20 years less experience, but that will not change what will happen in the game,” continued Ancelotti.

“He was a fantastic player, extraordinary, he knows very well what can happen in these games but experience, in these matches, I don’t think counts for much.

“He arrived at the club a week ago, with a lot of players that he already knew, I think he’ll do well in the time that he’s at Chelsea.”

Madrid, who won the Champions League last season, are looking to lift the trophy for the sixth time in 10 seasons.

Ancelotti said midfielder Fede Valverde was training well, despite the storm brewing around him in recent days.

Spanish reports say he punched Villarreal midfielder Alex Baena after their La Liga clash on Saturday.

Baena said he had reported a Real Madrid player to police after being attacked following his team’s 3-2 win over the Spanish and European champions.

“He was motivated today, like the rest of them, he trained well, I know him very well,” said Ancelotti.

“He has a special human quality, extraordinary, and about what happened, I don’t want to speak about it, but I’m sure tomorrow he’ll give everything, as always.”

Real Madrid defender David Alaba also showed his backing for his team-mate.

“He’s (doing) very good, he’s got all the support from us for sure,” Alaba told reporters.

“He’s training well, he looks sharp and focused for the game tomorrow, but I can’t say more about those things that happened.”

Source: AFP

10, April 2023

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Gunmen storm Mile 16 Buea, seven cars burnt ⁰

Armed Amba fighters have stormed Mile 16 in Buea today Monday, according to the Francophone dominated police force and local residents, the latest violence to hit Southern Cameroons.

Many Southern Cameroons Self Defense Forces raided Mile 16 district, Cameroon Concord News cited the sources as saying on Monday.

The Amba fighters fired guns in the air, attacked the Mile 16 Motor Park and pursued others who fled to escape the assaults.

Cameroon Concord News correspondent said seven cars were burnt and added that policemen were deployed in the area following the attacks.

Local residents said Amba fighters attacked the occupants of the cars because they did not respect the ghost town order.

The Mile 16 district has been repeatedly raided by Ambazonia fighters.

The Southern Cameroons conflict has killed thousands and forced at least two million to flee their homes, creating one of the worst humanitarian crises in Cameroon.

Most of the burnt cars were used for public transport between Buea and Limbe or Buea and Douala, in the Littoral Region.

According to our information the Amba fighters disappeared into thin air after the attack, which left at least three people seriously injured among those in the burnt-out cars.

Since the outbreak of the crisis in Southern Cameroons, separatist fighters have so far imposed ghost town known as “Kontry Sunday” every Monday. This order has been scrupulously respected in some towns in the South West and North West Regions, notwithstanding the fact that, to encourage the population to go about their business, the authorities have deployed defense and security forces in sensitive areas.

By Rita Akana

10, April 2023

The Resurrection of Jesus: God’s Verb in the Grammar of Human Existence ⁰

When we studied English Grammar at St. Joseph’s Primary School in Mamfe, Cameroon several years ago, we were taught that a verb is a word that it used to describe an action, that is, the doing part of a sentence. A verb therefore connotes an occurrence. To say, therefore, that the Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth is God’s verb in the grammar of human existence implies that the Resurrection is the action of God that fully captures, unravels, shapes, defines, and orients the meaning of human existence, of who we are in terms ofsource, purpose and the destiny of human being. The French philosopher, Blondel, pointedly asked in his phenomenology of human action: yes or no, does life make sense and does life have a meaning? To understand the Resurrection as God’s verb, God’s action in the totality of human existence points to the person of Jesus as the interpretive key to human existence.

To understand the Resurrection of Jesus one might find a helpful framework in the philosophical consciousness that came about, thanks to the problem of injustice, pain, misery, in fact, evil in the world. Plato offers a fitting capture of this in the Apology, as Boethius does in the Consolation. The protagonists in both texts are unjustly imprisoned. And so, the question appears on the radar: What is the outcome for the innocent who wrongly suffer in this world? Does evil, pain, injustice and the finality of evil, death, have the last word? Greek philosophy responded with a resounding NO! It explained itself by pointing to the immortality of the human soul, which it understood would outlive the body. Pain, suffering and death affect only the body and not the soul. The immortality of the soul is therefore philosophy’s solution to the human problem of evil, injustice, and death. And that explains Plato’s conviction that evil cannot afflict the good person, because evil cannot afflict the soul. But the immortality of the soul does not correspond to the reality of what Christianity understands by Jesus’ Resurrection from the dead, for it speaks only about half of the human reality, the soul, leaving the body to rot. Philosophy or human reason alone, therefore, cannot establish or bring about the reality of the Resurrection. Human reason encounters an unsurmountable barrier in this regard.

The next step is the consciousness that developed in the inner experience of Israel’s faith. Judaism, when confronted by the question of evil, pain, and death, gradually arrived at the consciousness of the reality of the Resurrection. The high mark of this consciousness is found in Ezekiel, Maccabees, and Daniel. The most explicit articulation of Biblical Israel’s understanding of the Resurrection, however, is embodied in the response that Martha makes to Jesus before the tomb of his deceased brother, Lazarus: Yes, I know that he would rise again on the last day (John 11:24). The understanding of the Resurrection in Judaism was therefore tied to the eschaton, to the last day. To talk of a Resurrection within history was entirely foreign to the Jewish religious imagination, and as Ratzinger points out in Jesus of Nazareth, this fact explains the Jewish rejection of the Resurrection of Jesus. If Jesus did in fact rise from the dead, then history was supposed to have come to an end. The Resurrection of the just meant God rewarding the good and punishing the bad. The problem of pain and evil would only be finally resolved at the end of history. Once again, as with Greek philosophy, Judaism as a religious experience, does not capture the full import of what Christianity understands when it professes faith in the Resurrection of Jesus. By limiting Resurrection to eschatology, Judaism misses out on what is most essential about faith in the Resurrection.

And this brings us now to the question, what is the nature of Jesus’ Resurrection. Aquinas captures this succinctly: Jesus bodily died. Jesus is bodily risen. In this way, Aquinas avoids the two pitfalls that can eclipse the true meaning of the Resurrection, namely, Platonization and Judaization. We must not delve too deep into the metaphysics of both positions here. Summarily, we can say two things: Firstly, that the Resurrection of Jesus is not the immortality of the soul. And secondly, that the Resurrection of Jesus cannot be limited to eschatology or more precisely, that Resurrection faith should not be restricted to the end of human history. Overcoming these two limitations brings us to the central nexus of the matter, which is, what difference, then, does the Resurrection of Jesus make?

A fitting response to this invites us to understand the Resurrection, not as noun but as a verb. God has done something in Jesus of Nazareth that has implications for the world. By raising Jesus from the dead, God has shown that God is interested in doing something about evil, pain, injustice, and sin in the world. God is not sitting on a distant sofa in heaven with a glass of red wine in his hand, watching humans wallow in pain, suffering, evil, and misery. With the Resurrection, God has shown that he is not a passive spectator. God has made an irrevocable intervention in history, which is no longer a series of neutral, disinterested events, but above all, salvation history.

With the Resurrection of Jesus, the Christian enters into a different time zone, in which salvation history permeates world history. This explains why John Paul II declared and rightly so, that we are an Easter people, and alleluia is our song. It means that with the Resurrection, we have the power of God to shape history from within. God did not wait for history to end. God acted in history regarding injustice and evil. And so must we. And that is the challenge and invitation of living the life of the Resurrection today. And that is why the Resurrection is essentially a verb and not a noun. German Idealism understood the Resurrection from a somewhat nominalist perspective that failed to engage the reality of the Resurrection. Kant reduced it to the resilience and survival of the moral law in Religion Within the Boundaries of Mere Reason. Hegel completely ignored it in his Life of Jesus. Both of them could not move from the noun to the verb.

But with the Resurrection understood as verb, God’s energy enters history and breaks the barriers of physics as put forth by Newton and Einstein. With the Resurrection, we enter, to use a category of Teilhard de Chardin, an evolutionary leap that while being quantitative and qualitative, still transcends the former and the latter. Hence, we can live differently, in the here and now. We do not have to wait for the eschaton to right wrongs and to do something about evil. We have power from beyond to make a positive difference in the world of the here and now. We have power to transform our world into the image and likeness of God. That is the mission and mandate that the verb of the Resurrection bestows on believers. And so, yes, we are truly an Easter people, and alleluia is our song (St John Paul II), because in the power of the Risen Christ, we can do something about evil, pain, misery, and injustice in the world, by living the Easter life which is a life of a different time zone in the here and now, a life that allows salvation history to permeate and shape world history, so much so that history becomes His-story, the story of Jesus Christ, the Risen Lord

By Fr Maurice Agbaw-Ebai

9, April 2023

Yaoundé to begin online visa application from April 30 ⁰

Lejeune Mbella, the foreign minister of Cameroon, said on Friday that starting on April 30, all applications for entrance visas to Cameroon must be submitted online.

The minister said that applications will be processed “exclusively” online using the website www.evisacam.cm, after which the applicant would be given an online authorisation for a visa.

Mbella said in a statement earlier on Thursday night that the applicant may next proceed to either a diplomatic mission or a border checkpoint to actually get the visa.

For applicants who live in remote locations or who are not serviced by diplomatic missions, Mbella said that “an online visa authorization, together with a QR code, shall round out the phase.”

The process will be finished within 72 hours of the pre-enrollment date, or within 24 hours for expedited visa applications, according to the ministry.

“The e-visa system is part of an effort to make the nation a more attractive destination, while also addressing some of the concerns of the nationals in diaspora and aligning our consular system with the highest international standard,” the government of Cameroon said.

Source: Chronicle.ng

9, April 2023

Biya regime cancels visit from Canadian envoy to discuss Southern Cameroons crisis ⁰

Ottawa will have to show a little more patience before attempting to initiate talks again about the Southern Cameroon Crisis. Its assistant deputy minister for global affairs, Peter MacDougall, was expected in Cameroon at the end of March, but Yaoundé ended up cancelling at the last minute, reports Africa Intelligence.

All known peace initiatives including those led by the United Nations, the Catholic Church and regional and international governments – have either stalled or failed.

That has included the “Swiss process”, a behind-the-scenes move by the Geneva-based NGO Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue to host a series of “pre-talks” — capacity-building sessions with separatist leaders. It ran aground in 2019 after the Cameroon government rejected the approach.

Secret bilateral negotiations, led primarily by the office of Prime Minister Joseph Ngute and a group of imprisoned separatist leaders known as the “Nera 10” , also stumbled after two exploratory rounds – the result of infighting among secessionists and a perceived lack of will within the government to make the necessary political concessions.

That lack of control over fighters has encouraged a sense of lawlessness, which has undermined the appeal of the separatist cause.

In some cases, tired of the war – and what is often the high-handedness of the armed men in the bush – communities have demanded that secessionist fighters leave their villages, or have attacked separatist camps. That does not necessarily mean a vote of confidence in the government; rather, it’s likely a sign of frustration over the disruption caused by the conflict.

Yet, the perception of the fighters is that they are local champions, risking their lives for a legitimate cause.

Edited by Nelly Epupa

7, April 2023

Cameroon’s legal system: A real farce! ⁰

For decades, Cameroon has distinguished itself in more ways than one. The country was once considered a rising footballing nation in 1990s following its stellar performance at the 1990 World Cup.

But for some time now, the world has been helplessly watching the country’s footballing performance take a nosedive, with small countries like Cape Verde, the Comoros and Burundi demonstrating that the once ferocious indomitable lions are today toothless bulldogs.

Politically, the country has made massive giant strides backwards. Way back in the early 1990s, Cameroonians told the world that their version of democracy was advanced democracy even when in 1992, many experts agreed that the country’s president, Paul Biya, had lost the 1992 election by a wide margin but refused to yield the floor to the opposition leader, John Fru Ndi.

Mr. Fru Ndi had claimed victory and many reports, including that of the Washington-based National Democratic Institute, had demonstrated that the election results had been tampered with to give the incumbent a victory he did not deserve. And to punish Mr. Fru Ndi for drawing negative attention to the unpopular president, a three-month state of emergency was declared in the Northwest region where Mr. Fru Ndi was living at that time.

After the 1992 presidential election, Mr. Biya and his party have claimed many election victories which have been questioned by many monitoring bodies around the world and opposition political parties in the country.

Cameroon’s advanced democracy has been tested on many occasions and it has not been up to the billing. Corruption, supported by a flawed electoral code, has become the major determinant of election victory in the country.

Today, the country’s ruling party, the Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement (CPDM), has clearly demonstrated that democracy as practiced in Western countries is not in its political ecosystem. Corruption is in the political party’s DNA and it is obvious that with the current electoral code, only the incumbent and his party can win an election.

The country’s senate is today a purely CPDM affair with children replacing their dead parents. Even those who are still alive are unable to walk because of age and retiring or resigning is not something that can be put in the same sentence with the CPDM.

The country’s president, Paul Biya, is 90 years old, the senate president, Marcel Niat Njipenji, is 89 years old and the Speaker of the House, Cavaye Yegue Djibril, is well over 85 years and has been a parliamentarian for 53 years.

Today, there is no opposition in Cameroon. Opposition politicians are being hunted like game in Cameroon and many are in jail on trumped up charges.

Many journalists have been killed for expressing views which are not music to the ears of the members of the ruling party. Samuel Wazizi, a prominent journalist, was tortured and killed by government-trained forces and his body has never been returned to his family.

Recently, Martinez Zogo, a whistleblower and firebrand who had assigned to himself, the duty of exposing the regime’s moral decadence was killed with the help of the country’s intelligence community. He was kidnapped, tortured, killed and dumped like trash on a dirt road as a message for others who may nurse the idea of criticizing the government or members of the ruling party.

Cameroon’s advanced democracy has simply morphed into advanced dictorship wherein the country’s president is treated like a demi-god and every decision, including the appointment of night watch men, must be signed by the president.

However, the most baffling thing is the way the country’s legal system operates. Cameroon is unique in the world and nothing in the country works for the taxpayer. Nobody understands how the country works, including the president who rules by decree. Democracy has been replaced with kleptocracy, gerontocracy and kakistocracy.

The president’s age and diseases have reduced him to a pawn in the hands of the members of his inner circle and these members are using their new found power to settle scores and to eliminate those whose political views are at variance with theirs. The country’s judiciary has been emasculated and most court decisions are dictated by those who are holding the ailing and old president as a captive.

In other countries where the judiciary is independent, crimes are investigated by the police and if there is probable cause, the matter is sent to the courts for a fair trial of the suspects.

In Cameroon, it is the president who must order the investigation into a crime like the case of Martinez Zogo. Without the president’s intervention, the matter would have been swept under the carpet, especially as the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Finance were cited as possible suspects in the death of the whistleblower.

Despite such irregularities, the supporters of the moribund government still insist that the country’s judiciary is still independent. How independent can the courts be when appointments and promotions in the judiciary are the president’s prerogative?

Politics trumps everything in Cameroon. A few days ago, a young lady was robbed of her baby in a Douala hospital. The matter had gathered momentum and social media was giving Laquintini, the hospital wherein the incident took place, a very bad name.

It was alleged that two nurses in the health facility were involved in the trading of newborn babies, a situation which should have brought in the police.

Strangely, it was the governor of the Littoral Region who set up a commission of inquiry and the next day, the country’s Health Minister travelled to the crime scene. After a discussion with the victim’s lawyers and family members, the lady who had declared on social media that her pregnancy was over eight months, had to change her story, accepting that her pregnancy was only five months old and that there was a fetus and not a baby.

Childbearing has not started today in Cameroon. Every hospital has laid down procedures, especially in the maternity wards. Those procedures were put in place to ensure transparency and confidence. How come the minister’s arrival in Douala had to result in the victim’s change of heart? If there was a fetus, where was it buried? And since when did hospital staff start to bury fetuses and placentas without the presence of family members of a woman who was pregnant?

Cameroon is sick. It is an Augean Stable which needs to be cleansed by a new team. Those who are governing the country have made corruption a way of life. Nothing works in the country without money changing hands and poverty has made Cameroonians who are the primary victims of the system to lose their sense of decorum and principle.

The country’s legal system like its political system is nothing but a farce. In Cameroon, losing a life is the easiest thing. Without social media, the government will never take any action to address all the ills which have become normal in Cameroon.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

7, April 2023

Dozens killed in Nigeria amid clashes between herders and farmers ⁰

Gunmen have attacked a rural village in northern central Nigeria, killing dozens of people, local government officials said on Friday.

The attack happened on Wednesday in Umogidi community in Benue State, where tit-for-tat clashes are common between nomadic herders and settled farmers competing for land and resources.

“The 46 casualties were from the bodies of victims found and retrieved. Many people are still missing, so the number of those killed may be higher,” Paul Hemba, security advisor to Benue State governor, told AFP.

He blamed herdsmen who he said had been attacking local communities over the last month.

“Soldiers have been dispatched to the area, so the situation is a bit calm now.”

The motive for the attack was not clear but Benue has been one of the hardest hit by clashes between farmers and herders who they accuse of destroying farmland with their cattle grazing.

A representative of the national herders’ association was not immediately available for comment.

Bala Ejeh, Otukpo local government chairman, said the gunmen attacked on Wednesday afternoon when people were mourning three others killed a day earlier.

He also said 46 bodies had been recovered so far, including that of his own son and two relatives.

Communal violence is just one of the security challenges facing President-elect Bola Tinubu who won a presidential ballot last month that was marked by heavy delays and accusations of vote rigging.

Security forces are also battling a 14-year-long jihadist conflict in the country’s northwest and attacks by separatists in the southeast.

Intercommunal violence has spiralled into broader criminality in the northwest and centre of the country, where heavily armed bandit militias ransack villages and carry out mass abductions for ransom.

Source: AFP

7, April 2023

Gunmen abduct at least 25 people in Ako Sub Division ⁰

At least 25 people were abducted during a week of attacks by armed men in Cameroon, local officials said Thursday.

The kidnappings by gang members took place in several villages in Ako district along the Nigerian border, Patrick Kernyuy Tah, the top official in Ako, said.

“Several hundred people fled the attacks by unidentified gunmen in Abafum, Akwancha and Abutu villages,” he said. The government has deployed the military to rescue those abducted and help the injured, he said.

Local residents have been calling on Cameroon authorities to increase security in the area, as armed gangs operate on both sides of the border. While it’s unclear who is responsible for the abductions, officials believe it could be ethnic Fulani herders from Nigeria, a largely Muslim semi-nomadic group who regularly cross into Cameroon with their cattle and clash with farmers.

The Central African nation has been plagued by fighting since English-speaking separatists launched a rebellion in 2017, with the stated goal of breaking away from the area dominated by the French-speaking majority country and setting up an independent, English-speaking state. The government has accused the separatists of committing atrocities against civilians. The conflict has killed more than 3,300 people and displaced more than 750,000 others, according to the U.N.

Ako, where the abductions took place, hasn’t been prone to attacks and many people fleeing the separatist violence have sought refuge there.

Those who fled the fighting, which began last week, said people were tortured if they refused to give the attackers money, while many were taken away from their families.

“I am not very concerned about the several bags of rice which were looted from my shop. My main worry is the whereabouts of my two children,” said Cyprain Meme. “I do not know if they are hiding in the bush or if they were abducted.”

Source: Fox News

7, April 2023

Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine and Cost-of-Living Crisis Dim Growth Prospects in Emerging Europe and Central Asia ⁰

Economic activity in the Europe and Central Asia region is likely to remain subdued this year due to the ongoing fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, persistent high inflation and tighter financial conditions, says the World Bank’s Economic Update for the region, released today.

Regional output is now expected to grow by 1.4% in 2023, substantially better than the previously anticipated 0.1%. The positive, though deeply depressed, economic activity in 2023 reflects a softer contraction of Russia’s economy and an improvement in Ukraine’s outlook. Regional growth is expected to increase to an average 2.7% over 2024-25 as inflation eases, domestic demand recovers, and the external environment improves.

A sharp rise in consumer prices, particularly for food and energy, resulted in median annual inflation spiking to 15.9% by late 2022 in the emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs) of Europe and Central Asia, the highest in more than 20 years, and the highest among all developing regions of the world. Inflation averaged less than 4% in Europe and Central Asia EMDEs before it began rising in 2021.

The outlook remains highly uncertain. Growth in 2023 may be weaker if the war caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine escalates further, food and energy prices continue to increase, interest rate hikes accelerate globally or in the region, or there is a sudden reversal of capital flows to the region. There could be spillovers to growth from the current banking developments in some advanced economies.

Ukraine’s economy is projected to grow by 0.5% this year, following a staggering contraction of 29.2% in 2022, the year of Russia’s invasion of the country. While the economic toll suffered by Ukraine as a result of the invasion is enormous, the reopening of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports and resumption of grain trade, as well as substantial donor support, are helping support economic activity this year. According to recent World Bank estimates, the cost of reconstruction and recovery in Ukraine has now grown to $411 billion, which is more than 2 times the size of Ukraine’s pre-war economy in 2021.

Türkiye experienced two devastating earthquakes on February 6, 2023, which have resulted in direct damages of about $34.2 billion, or 4% percent of the country’s 2021 GDP, according to World Bank estimates. Actual costs to meet the full range of recovery and reconstruction needs could be double the direct damages. Incorporating the impact of the recent earthquakes, growth is projected at 3.2% in 2023, rising to an average of 4.2% over 2024-25, underpinned by government support to households and investment amid ongoing reconstruction efforts.

Against the background of slow growth and high inflation, the report includes a special focus chapter on the cost-of-living crisis, which examines the impact of high inflation on the standards of living of people in the region.

“Inflation erodes the real incomes of people – and high inflation affects the poorest much more than the richest segments of the population,” said Ivailo Izvorski, World Bank Chief Economist for Europe and Central Asia region. “To better protect vulnerable groups and promote economic growth, policies should take into account the varying impacts of inflation across different income levels and use more precise indicators to measure the actual cost of high prices on the poorest.”

Governments across the region responded to the cost-of-living crisis with social assistance and subsidies, the latter involving moratoriums on energy price increases, reduced public transport fees, and caps on electricity and natural gas prices for households and businesses.

The report’s analysis, however, reveals the unequal burden of the cost-of-living crisis. It finds that inflation was 2 percentage points higher for the poorest 10% of the population compared to the wealthiest 10%. This difference exceeded 5 percentage points in some countries in the region, including Moldova, Montenegro, and North Macedonia.

Policies that do not account for the different inflation rates faced by households are likely to provide inadequate support to vulnerable groups and may end up being both inefficient and less effective, the report notes. It recommends going beyond the standard consumer price index (CPI) to measure inflation in order to capture more precisely the actual cost of living of the poorest. This is essential for designing better growth and poverty alleviation policies.

6, April 2023

Iran, Saudi Arabia move to reopen embassies, vow to bring ‘stability’ to Mideast ⁰

Top diplomats from Middle East rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia met in Beijing on Thursday, pledging to work together to bring “security and stability” to their turbulent region following a surprise China-brokered deal.

In a joint statement released after talks between Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan, the two sides vowed to continue to work together to improve ties.

“The two sides emphasised the importance of following up on the implementation of the Beijing Agreement and its activation in a way that expands mutual trust and the fields of cooperation and helps create security, stability and prosperity in the region,” said the statement.

Tehran and Riyadh announced a Beijing-brokered agreement in March to restore relations that had been severed seven years ago when protesters in Iran attacked Saudi diplomatic missions.

The ministers’ visit to Beijing came as French President Emmanuel Macron and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen were also in the Chinese capital, seeking to make Europe’s case in a meeting with Xi Jinping for bringing an end to the conflict in Ukraine.

The shock rapprochement between mainly Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, and Shiite-majority Iran, strongly at odds with Western governments over its nuclear activities, has the potential to reshape relations across a region characterised by turbulence for decades.

The two sides “negotiated and exchanged opinions with the emphasis on the official resumption of bilateral relations and the executive steps towards the reopening of the embassies and consulates of the two countries”, Iran’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

Saudi state TV channel Al Ekhbariya aired footage of the pair shaking hands in front of Saudi and Iranian flags and then talking and smiling.

In a readout from state broadcaster CCTV, Beijing hailed “the first official meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries in more than seven years” and Beijing’s “active mediation” in the diplomacy.

Under last month’s agreement, the two countries are to reopen their embassies and missions within two months and implement security and economic cooperation deals signed more than 20 years ago.

Saudi Arabia severed relations with Iran in January 2016, after protesters attacked its embassy in Tehran and consulate in the Iranian city of Mashhad over Riyadh’s execution of the Saudi opposition Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.

Talks between the foreign ministers are expected to be followed by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s visit to Riyadh.

Raisi accepted an invitation from Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber said on Monday.

Challenge to US

Iran and Saudi Arabia support rival sides in several conflict zones across the region, including in Yemen, where the Huthi rebels are backed by Tehran and Riyadh leads a military coalition supporting the government.

The two sides also vie for influence in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq.

Riyadh’s traditional ally Washington welcomed the detente agreement, but said it remains to be seen whether the Iranians will “honour their side of the deal”.

China’s success in bringing Iran and Saudi Arabia together has challenged the United States’ long standing role as the main outside power broker in the Middle East.

An expert told AFP that Beijing’s role would likely increase confidence that any deal would stick.

“Because China is a strong backer of Iran, Saudi should have more confidence in Iran’s ability to comply with the agreement, an issue that has always been in doubt,” said Joel Rubin, former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs.

Thursday’s meeting “suggests that the process hasn’t gone off track since the Beijing announcement last month”, said Ali Vaez, Director of the International Crisis Group’s Iran Project.

“But it’s still early days to judge whether this is just a tactical detente or a way-station towards strategic rapprochement.”

Warming ties

Officials from Iran and Saudi Arabia held several rounds of dialogue in Baghdad and Oman before they met in Beijing.

In 2016 a number of Gulf countries followed Riyadh’s action in scaling back ties with Tehran, but they have led the way in restoring diplomatic relations.

Iran welcomed an Emirati ambassador last September, after a six-year absence, and on Wednesday named its own ambassador to the UAE, following a nearly eight-year hiatus.

Last year Iran said Kuwait had sent its first ambassador to Tehran since 2016.

Iran has also welcomed a potential rapprochement with Bahrain, a close Saudi ally, which in the past accused Iran of backing a Shiite-led uprising in the Sunni-ruled kingdom, an accusation Tehran denies.

Source: AFP