Ten Days in Harare: When the Gulf Closed

It has been over 60 days since the US-Iran conflict started. I vividly remember waking up on 28 February and packing my bags as I was scheduled to fly back to Doha from Harare after a very successful and fulfilling trip. Upon checking my phone at some point, I had to immediately turn on the news to see the realisation of one of the worst fears — the tension had escalated.

I remember frantically checking on my family, who were in Doha, keeping indoors, kids tightly couched next to their mother, asking her questions which she could not confidently answer. Our conversation was brief, but the fear of the unknown was loud. There were a lot of moving parts, and very few answers. I called my meat supplier who had graciously packed my order and prepared it for travel to tell him I was cancelling the order because I did not know if I was going to travel, let alone arrive at my destination.

The airspaces in the region were getting closed, flights were being cancelled or re-routed, but the Qatar Airways flight QR1452 which was supposed to depart from Harare at 19:20 on the day was still on schedule. I still had to prepare and make my way to the airport, so I did just that. I bid farewell to people and headed to the airport. There an intense and anxious wait started. The inbound flight arrived, the plane was in Harare, but eventually the dreaded announcement came. QR1452 was going to depart on schedule, but only to Lusaka, Zambia. The onward flight from Lusaka to Doha had been cancelled.

Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport departure terminal, Harare, Zimbabwe.

Another frantic call with the family ensued. My flight was cancelled and I had no idea when I would be able to depart. Then the few housekeeping discussions — what to stock on, what to avoid doing, what to say to the kids to keep them calm. Next was a call to a friend to request an airport pick-up. I needed to reset. All else had been set for travel. Now I was back to square one.

Next up was a message to my team leader at work. Safety of staff and families was at the top of the priority list, and I acknowledge and appreciate the support which I received. Upon alerting that my flight had been cancelled, I had to be approved for remote working to allow me to carry out my duties from Zimbabwe. Next was providing all key contact details of my family and passing on emergency contact details of the office to my family.

Aside from the safety of family and my safety, there is also the safety of the work. One of the key preconditions of remote working is the confidence of having adequate privacy and a safe workspace. This became the next mission as I needed to secure a comfortable and private workspace. I turned to my usual spot in Harare, Matso Stays in Avondale, and after a hectic 24 hours, I was set to work.

What followed next was a tense ten days of being stuck in Harare, continuously following the news, constantly checking up on the family, but also trying to be positive. Then, on Monday, 9 March, a welcome surprise came. The team at Southern Africa Touring Services in Harare had pulled it off — they got me a flight to Doha leaving that same night. I had to fly to Nairobi on Kenya Airways, then catch a Qatar Airways relief flight from Nairobi to Doha. Almost 24 hours after I received the flight confirmation, I landed in Doha and made it home.

The relief of seeing my family was short-lived. After a few hours of landing, the alert came — my first time receiving it. I could not help but feel for my family who had lived through this for ten days. Thankfully, they were holding up much better than I was.

The loud bangs which followed a few minutes later immediately took me back to June 2025 when the first attacks happened and several interceptions occurred over the skies of Doha. The uncertainty, the unwanted anticipation, the frantic refreshing of the news pages. Then, a few minutes later, the positive alert came through — the threat had been eliminated. You never get used to this.

But I must acknowledge and applaud the Qatari authorities for their protection, communication, and transparency. There was no sugar-coating. The messaging was clear and firm — safety was top priority. While I was afraid, I felt safe. My family was safe, my team at work was safe, and the country was safe. And all this is testament to the amazing efforts of the authorities in Qatar.

We are now in a prolonged ceasefire, but the uncertainty continues. We welcome the quiet skies, we welcome the resumption of travel, we welcome the return to offices and to schools, but we accept the new normal. A new normal of fragmentation, a new normal of adjustment, and a new normal of pivoting. More importantly, we continue to learn about ourselves as individuals — our resilience, our capabilities, and equally, our vulnerabilities.

In times like these, you tend to appreciate those who check in on you, those who reach out, those who provide support, but more importantly, the leadership of the country who work tirelessly to provide the peace and stability we all desire.

What this crisis taught me about the corridor

The Africa-GCC corridor is built on movement — people, goods, capital, ideas. When that movement stops, everything we have built is tested. For ten days in March, I was reminded that the corridor is fragile, that distance is real, and that the work we do at Afrigate is not abstract trade facilitation. It is the infrastructure that holds when everything else breaks.

We build so others do not have to wait ten days to get home. We build so African businesses have partnerships that survive disruption. We build so families separated by continents can trust that the bridge between them will not collapse when the world shifts.

The corridor closed for ten days. But it opened again. And when it did, we were still here — ready to move forward.

---

Rungano Innocent Nyaude is the Managing Director of Afrigate Commercial Brokers, a trade facilitation and advisory firm connecting African businesses to the UAE market.