ABSTRACT
The Near East has been at the centre of world attention for more than thirty years. Its strategic importance stems from its geographic location between East and West, and from its huge oil reserves which constitute more than 57 per cent of the known world crude oil reserves. It is also a region characterized by rapid change, social upheavals and political conflicts which constitute a constant source of concern to many developed and developing countries. At present, four wars have been underway for many years in the region. The causes of instability are many, and food riots have erupted suddenly in Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, and Sudan consecutively with such violence that they have threatened to destabilize existing regimes. The Sudan food riots led in 1985 to the fall of the Government. This has seldom occurred in other regions of the world. In essence, food politics have become an important new dimension of food security in this vital region, as will be demonstrated later in this paper.
