International Conference
In whose interests? Exploring Middle East involvement in Africa
5 – 6 November 2013
Draft Programme
Tuesday
09:00 Middle Eastern foreign policies and Africa
- Welcome & Introduction – Na’eem Jeenah
- Development cooperation and the foreign policies of Middle Eastern states: Towards a conceptual framework – Garth le Pere
10:30 Tea
11:00 Aid to Africa: For whose benefit?
- Assessing GCC states’ humanitarian aid programmes to Africa – Ahmad Amal
- Does “Rising Power” mean “Rising Donor”? Turkey’s development aid in Africa – Mehmet Ozkan
- Emerging Middle East donors and post-conflict reconstruction in Africa – Agnieszka Paczynska
13:00 Lunch
14:00 Religion and education as soft power
- Exploiting the religious link: Saudi Agenda in Africa and its effects in Somalia and Mali – Marco Zoppi
- Understanding the transnational Gulen movement in the African context – Erkan Toguslu
- Islamic institutions of higher learning in Africa: Collaboration or co-option? – Mbaye Lo
- Turkish public diplomacy and its implications in Sub-Saharan Africa” – Ali Osman Mert
16:00 Tea
Wednesday
09:00 Neocolonialism: Resources, land and markets
- Strategic partnership between Africa and Turkey: Self-interest or altruism – Abdurrahim Siradag
- The Arab Gulf in Africa: Neocolonialism or something else? – David Mednicoff
- Israeli war profiteering in Africa – Terry Crawford-Browne
- Food security or land grabs: what’s behind the large-scale purchase of African land by GCC countries? – Yacoob Abba Omar
11:00 Tea
11:30 Africa as battleground
- Iran’s struggle for Africa: Anti-colonialism and Shi’a rhetoric among Muslim communities – Metin Atmaca
- Iran and Israel in East Africa: Extending the cold war to Sudan – Rawia M.Tawfik Amer
- The Iranian Construction Jihad: A Case of Shiite-Sunni transnationalism in Africa – Eric Lob
- Cracks in the walls: Israel’s aid-ideology in Sub-Saharan Africa 1958-1973 – Ayala Levin
13:30 Lunch
14:30 Future prospects for Middle East-Africa relations
- A Pan-Africanist insight to straighten out Africa-Middle Eastern relationships – Mahgoub Mahmoud
- The Arab League and the African Union: Reflections – Kojo Opoku Aidoo
- Towards a framework for future Africa-Middle East relations – Galip Dalay
16.15 Closing Remarks by Na’eem Jeenah
16:45 Tea
