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The Johannesburg-based Afro-Middle East Centre, whose activities have been at a low level for about the past five years, is ready to renew its work with a relaunch scheduled for later this year.
The Centre was founded in 1998 and has since engaged in a number of activities and initiatives, including research on Africa and the Middle East, providing translation services, hosting well-known lecturers from the Middle East, organising conferences and seminars on the Middle East and courses on Islam, and business ventures between South Africa and the Middle East.
AMEC's first Executive Director was Waddah Khanfar, who later went on to join Al-Jazeera, and currently is the General Manager of the group of Al-Jazeera television channels and websites.
The Centre is, according to its new Executive Director Na’eem Jeenah, now "reorienting and refocusing its work to concentrate solely on research on the Middle East and its relations with Africa, South Africa in particular."
Its activities, Jeenah said, will include research, publications, conferences, seminars, roundtable discussions, lectures, and training courses focussing on the Middle East.
"We have identified a few research areas that will constitute the core of our work," said Jeenah. "While a portion of our work will be political and socio-economic research on different aspects of the Middle East, part of it will also throw the spotlight on relations between Africa (especially South Africa) and the Middle East."
The Centre plans on employing researchers, and will also admit student interns and invite research fellows from various parts of the world to be based at AMEC for short periods. AMEC is expected to announce the date for its official relaunch by the end of May. |
