Here are Highlights Of The Year 2017- From Trump To Rohingya

Unravelling of the GCC

The decades old Gulf Coordination Committee hit rock-bottom in 2017 as Saudi Arabia led an economic and diplomatic blockade against Qatar. Coincidentally, this happened soon after Donald Trump’s visit to the region. 

Saudi, Egypt, and UAE have levelled accusations of aiding terrorism and cosying up to Iran on Qatar, allegations that Qatar has vehemently denied. 

The accession of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has not made things in the region any smoother. Saudi since has increasingly deployed an aggressive foreign as well as domestic policy. The war in Yemen has witnessed an escalation, as humanitarian crisis unfolds in the country putting millions of lives at risk of death and starvation. 

On the domestic front, Prince Salman, on the one hand, announced some progressive reforms such as allowing women to drive, but on the other hand, in an overnight development scores of Saudi elite were rounded up and locked over accusations of corruption and money laundering. 

State sponsored extermination of Rohingya

2017 also witnessed an unfortunate worsening of the plight of Myanmar's Rohingya people. Rohingya people in thousands continued their journey’s west-ward to flee from a government crackdown on the majority-Muslim ethnic group.

The situation worsened in August, when Myanmar's armed forces and their allies under the pretext of launching a military operation against Rohingya armed groups. However, the victims of the military operation have largely been innocent civilians.

The targeted campaign to carry out an ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya has been documented by journalists, aid workers and other independent organisations. The UN has described the situation as ‘textbook ethnic cleansing’.