Pressure on Shias and long-term Iranian residents is reviving sectarian sentiments that had been in decline. The uae has closed Shia mosques and detained dozens of Shias, including at least two officials, on charges of belonging to a Shia terrorist group. Many Shias seek to display loyalty, replacing social-media profiles with images of their rulers and shedding the large tell-tale silver rings on their hands. To little avail. A high-ranking officer in Kuwait says hundreds of Shias have been demoted within the security services. The rulers’ push against their Shia population is matched by the pull of an emboldened Iran. Bahraini Shias held mourning ceremonies for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s late supreme leader. Traditionalist Shias, who favour separating religion from politics, complain that pro-Iranian activists now dominate. Oman stands apart, pursuing ties with Iran. It seeks to join it in charging ships to traverse Hormuz. It is the only Gulf state to keep daily flights to Iran. Alone among Gulf foreign ministers, Oman’s signed the book of condolences opened by Iran’s embassy after Khamenei’s death. It hopes to capitalise on its position as one of only two Gulf states not entirely reliant on the strait, and to displace the uae as the region’s main trade gateway. To its delight, expats are relocating there, including Iranians from the uae and Qatar. Its political system remains despotic. But unlike the others, it eschews identity politics. Oman’s stockmarket has outshone the region over the past year. “Dubai’s days are over,” insists an Iranian coffee-trader who recently moved his regional headquarters to Muscat, the capital. “Now it’s Oman.” ■ Sign up to the Middle East Dispatch, a weekly newsletter that keeps you in the loop on a fascinating, complex and consequential part of the world. This article was downloaded by zlibrary from https://www.economist.com//middle-east-and-africa/2026/06/04/gulf-rulers-are- desperate-to-prove-they-are-in-fact-strongmen
Middle East & Africa | MAGA missionaries Nigeria’s Christian groups scramble to win over Trump’s America To help their cause, they are adopting tropes and rhetoric from the American right June 4th 2026 A BILL currently being considered by America’s House of Representatives would attach new conditions to financial aid sent to Nigeria. Republicans in Congress say they want Nigeria’s government to do more about the violence in the northern and “Middle Belt” states of the country. Specifically, they want it to ensure better protection of Nigerian Christians against “brutal persecution”. The bill would be a pain for Nigeria’s government, which might have a harder time getting American aid if it passes. But it would be a victory of sorts for the country’s Christian pressure groups, which have been lobbying
Donald Trump’s administration since the president’s second term began last year. While Nigeria’s government stresses the complexity of the country’s security crisis, Christian activists are finding it useful to follow American evangelicals in framing the violence in religious terms. Some even allege that a “genocide” of Nigerian Christians is under way. Thousands of people, both Christians and Muslims, are killed in attacks in Nigeria every year, mostly in the north, where the state is weakest. The violence stems from jihadism, banditry and conflicts between herders and farmers. Only a small fraction of incidents involve Christians being directly targeted for their faith. Yet pressure groups claim that Christians are systematically persecuted and demand American intervention. “If international attention is what is required to spur decisive governmental action, then the Christian community in Nigeria welcomes it,” says Archbishop Daniel Okoh, who leads the Christian Association of Nigeria. The archbishop and others echo a narrative forged in America that resonates with officials in the Trump administration. MAGA-friendly missionary groups argue that “mainstream media” underplay the threat to Nigerian Christians. To counter this, the groups package violent scenes into videos for social media to show “the truth” about persecution. “Not every video we see is doctored or manipulated,” says Ebenezer Obadare of the Council on Foreign Relations, an American think-tank, “but at some point, you find it impossible to tell the difference.” One source of viral content is Equipping the Persecuted, an Iowa-based missionary group that runs a website called Truth Nigeria. The site says it reports on violence in Nigeria “with fearless honesty”. But it pursues a clear narrative of Christian victims and Muslim perpetrators, mixing reports of attacks in Nigeria with MAGA-minded content such as reports on supposed mass vigils in Africa for Charlie Kirk, an American right-wing activist who was murdered last year. Christian activists approve of the country’s re-designation by America late last year as a “country of particular concern” for religious freedom. They have also welcomed American air strikes against terrorist groups in northern
Nigeria and the dispatch of American soldiers to help the army fight militants. Other benefits may come in the form of money and power. The bill making its way through the House recommends that some funds be dispensed to “faith-based organisations”. Nigerian groups may get a slice of this pie, as well as a bump in donations from sympathetic American Christians. They may also hope for America to boost their influence vis-à-vis prominent Muslim politicians from northern Nigeria. Yet their focus on the persecution of Christians is poisoning Nigerian politics. The president’s national security adviser faces baseless accusations that he is in league with terrorists because he is Muslim and Fulani (a majority-Muslim ethnic group whose members are often stigmatised as jihadists and criminals). Mr Obadare warns that as next year’s presidential election approaches, “there will be more killings, because those who want to use this issue as a cudgel to beat [the president] are going to try and stoke more tension.” In Abuja, the capital, several people interviewed said they did not feel safe discussing the killing of Christians. Even so, those wishing to draw American attention to security problems or political threats in Africa increasingly speak in terms of Christians’ rights. In Tanzania, the repression of religious leaders who denounced election-time violence is being framed as a threat to Christians. Even the Rapid Support Forces, a party in Sudan’s civil war that has itself been designated by America as a danger to religious freedom, is appealing to the Trump administration by stressing its army foes’ ties to Islamists. The strategy looks likely to spread. ■ Sign up to the Analysing Africa, a weekly newsletter that keeps you in the loop about the world’s youngest—and least understood—continent. This article was downloaded by zlibrary from https://www.economist.com//middle-east-and-africa/2026/06/04/nigerias-christian- groups-scramble-to-win-over-trumps-america
Middle East & Africa | It’s alright, Goma (I’m only wheeling) The parable of the tshukudu, Goma’s quintessential transport War and cheap Chinese tricycles are disrupting a Congolese city’s idiosyncratic scooter June 4th 2026 For many outsiders the symbol of Goma is a young man with an automatic rifle. Last year the city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo was captured by M23, rebels backed by next-door Rwanda. It remains occupied or, according to M23, “liberated”. Recently its name may also have evoked images of health workers in hazmat suits, because of the Ebola outbreak that has spread from the province to the north. The true symbol of Goma, however, is an idiosyncratic, man-powered wooden scooter known as a tshukudu. It looks as if it has been drawn by a child, with its simple, angled frame and two-metre-long deck. Yet as a way
of carrying cargo in this chaotic city, it has proved perfect. It is narrow enough to zigzag through busy markets. Rubber strips around the wheels and a spring beneath the cow-horn handlebars help absorb the shock of potholes. It can bear more weight than a bicycle: riders brag about carrying loads of more than 500kg on a single tshukudu. At $200, with no petrol costs, it is cheaper than a motorcycle. The tshukudu was apparently invented in the 1970s by farmers on the mountain slopes around Goma to take produce downhill. To this day tshukudus allow young men to make ends meet. “The tshukudu is good because we don’t have jobs,” says Sadiki, a 26-year-old whose heaviest load was 50 cans of petrol and who says he once carried a cow. “It was not alive,” he clarifies. The war between Congo and M23 is hurting business. Banks remain closed. Farmers have fled their land. Many aid workers have left. Sadiki says that shoppers who once bought 20kg of rice buy just 5kg at a time, so they need him less. Meanwhile cheap motorised cargo tricycles from India and China —known as “three hills” after the number of wheels—are competing for the remaining heavy loads. “The three-hill drivers are taking our market,” sighs Bahati, 23. Yet the city’s emblem will endure. The UN peacekeeping mission that has been in Goma for 30 years once sponsored a tshukudu race; the winner painted his white with blue UN letters. Souvenir sellers flog little wooden versions. In the centre of town is a statue of a man on his tshukudu. (In a very Goma twist, the sculptor was an army colonel.) As a small crowd waits to take selfies, a local guide watches and says: “When you go to Paris, you take a photo of the Eiffel Tower. When you come to Goma, you must take one of the tshukudu.” ■ Sign up to the Analysing Africa, a weekly newsletter that keeps you in the loop about the world’s youngest—and least understood—continent. This article was downloaded by zlibrary from https://www.economist.com//middle-east-and-africa/2026/06/04/the-parable-of-the- tshukudu-gomas-quintessential-transport
Ukraine is now Europe’s war. Survival can’t be the only aim Why France is uneasy about German rearmament How long can Pedro Sánchez last? Italy has tracked down Cosa Nostra’s riches Europe has reduced illegal immigration without goon tactics
Ukraine is now Europe’s war. Survival can’t be the only aim America’s disengagement means it is now the old continent’s conflict to manage June 4th 2026 “This is a moment of truth for Europe,” declared Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, when Vladimir Putin’s tanks rolled into Ukraine in 2022. Now, after years of dallying, Europe might finally mean it. European Union members, plus other European countries such as Britain, are today responsible for almost all aid to Ukraine (see chart). Military integration is moving ahead, and a Franco-British initiative to police a notional ceasefire has been set up. A €90bn ($105bn) loan to Ukraine will start flowing this month. Sanctions on Russia are growing tougher.