Allies back Saudi Arabia in standoff with Iran

 Observers say relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran are at their lowest point in recent memory

Saudi Arabia's regional allies have stepped up diplomatic pressure on Iran, breaking or downgrading relations with the country following an attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran, which followed executions in the kingdom.

Bahrain announced on Monday that it was closing its embassy in Iran, and called upon Iranian diplomats to leave the country within 48 hours.

Bahrain frequently accuses Iran of being behind protests among its majority Shia population.

Within hours of the announcement, Sudan also said it was cutting off diplomatic relations with Iran "in solidarity with Saudi Arabia".

For its part, the UAE said it was downgrading its ties with Iran, replacing its ambassador with an embassy officer-in-charge.

Saudi Arabia announced on Sunday it was severing diplomatic relations with Iran and urged its allies to follow its move.

The decision came after Iranian protesters attacked its embassy in Tehran, following the kingdom's decision to execute Shia religious figure Nimr al-Nimr along with 46 other mostly Sunni convicts on terrorism charges.

Shia minorities across the Middle East have been demonstrating after Nimr's execution.

Saudi Arabia is adamant Nimr got a fair trial. Many of the men executed had been linked to attacks in Saudi Arabia between 2003 and 2006, blamed on al-Qaeda.

Saudi Arabia further announced on Monday that it was cutting commercial ties with Iran and cancelling all flights to and from Iran, according to Reuters.

In an interview with the news agency, Adel al-Jubeir, Saudi foreign minister, said the kingdom was banning all its citizens from travelling to Iran.

However, Iranian pilgrims are still welcome to visit Saudi Arabia and Mecca, Islam's holiest site, he said.

Earlier, Abdul Latif bin Rashid al-Zayani, secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, condemned the attack in Tehran and held Iranian authorities full responsible for failing to protect the Saudi diplomatic mission.

Iranian perspective

It is not the first time diplomatic relations have been cut between Saudi Arabia and Iran. However, there are fears it could lead to more violence.

Iran's foreign ministry said Saudi Arabia was using the attack on its embassy in Tehran as a pretext to fuel tensions..

The statement came after Iran was given a 48-hour deadline to remove its diplomatic mission from Riyadh.

"Iran ... is committed to provide diplomatic security based on international conventions. But Saudi Arabia, which thrives on tensions, has used this incident as an excuse to fuel the tensions," Hossein Jaberi Ansari, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman, said in televised remarks on Monday. 

On the other hand, Jubeir has accused Iranian authorities of being complicit in the attack, saying that documents and computers were taken from the embassy building.

He said the Saudi diplomatic representative had sought help from the Iranian foreign ministry when the building was stormed, but the requests were ignored three times.

Hamid Soorghali, a UK-based Iran observer said, the attack of the Saudi embassy "only works to damage and affect the image of Iran".

He said while the leadership in Iran is unified in condemning the execution of Nimr, it is divided in terms of the reaction.

"We get different responses from different institutions and leaders in Iran. We get a harsher message from Iran's supreme leader, which very much reverberates  in the mood and scenes of protesters in front of the embassy," he told Al Jazeera.

'No love lost'

Ghanbar Naderi, a journalist with Kayhan, a publication closely linked to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, said the breaking of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran was inevitable.

"It was going to happen today or tomorrow. This is a natural outcome of what has been going on for the past four or five years in Syria, Iraq and Yemen,"
"Make no mistake about it, there is no love lost between the Iranians and the Saudis."

On Sunday, Ban Ki-moon, UN secretary-general, issued a statement saying he was "concerned" about both sides of the diplomatic dispute, while criticising both the executions and the attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran.

Ban was to send Staffan de Mistura, the UN special representative for Syria, to Riyadh and Tehran on Monday.

In a call on Monday, Ban conveyed his concerns to the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Iran, a UN statement said.

The statement said he urged the two countries "to avoid any actions that could further exacerbate the situation between two countries and in the region as a whole". 

UNEP report: Ogoni people issue 30-day ultimatum to FG

                                                

Polluted farmlands                                 

                                               Polluted water

THE Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People has given the Federal Government a 30-day ultimatum to implement the recommendations of the United Nations Environment Programme on the clean-up of Ogoniland, according to The Punch Newspapers.

MOSOP President, Mr. Legborsi Pyagbara, said the people of the area were already tired over the continued delay in implementing the UNEP report on Ogoni.

Pyagbara, who spoke on Monday at the 23rd anniversary of Ogoni Day, in Bori, Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State, explained that Ogoni people would not relent in embarking on protests if the Federal Government failed to begin fully the implementation of UNEP recommendations.

He described as pathetic a situation where the FG had refused to carry out the instructions of UNEP on the clean-up of Ogoniland more than four years after the recommendation was made.

The MOSOP president warned that his people would take to the streets in peaceful protests after the expiration of the 30-day ultimatum until the UNEP report was visited.

He said, “As part of Ogoni Project 2015, we launched a multifaceted campaign involving protest, letter writing campaigns, media advocacy and international advocacy for the implementation of the UNEP report.

“We commend the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government for the renewed interest in the UNEP report and his approval of the fast-track actions for the implementation of the report.

“However, we are seizing this opportunity to remind the government that the unusual delay for the take-off of the project is becoming unbearable and indeed taxing our patience.

“We urge the Federal Government to without further delay bring into being the announced structures and the roadmap for the implementation of the report that respects the sensibilities of the communities.

“The ongoing delay on the part of the government will continue to be seen as an act of genocide being committed against the Ogoni people. We are giving the Federal Government a 30-day ultimatum to commence the implementation of the report or we will take up series of non-violent measures to press down our message.”

Pyagbara, however, called on the Rivers State Government to commence the dualisation of Saakpenwa road as it promised during a campaign in the area.

He said the road would boost the economic well-being of the people of the area if it was dualised.

The MOSOP president also called on the youths of the area to desist from attitudes that could sabotage the struggle of the ancestors of the land.

Earlier, Chairman of the occasion, Prof. Ben Naanen, called on the people of the area to form a united front in order to achieve the struggle of the implementation of the UNEP report.

Naanen vowed that the struggle for the actualisation of the freedom of the Ogonis would not stop until their demands were met.

Responding, the Governor of Rivers State, Chief Nyesom Wike, promised that the government would soon commence the construction of Saakpenwa road.

Wike, who was represented at the event by his Commissioner for Housing, Mr. Emma Okah, disclosed that the dualisation project would start before the third week of January.