Kieran Lawrence looks at autonomous weapons and the effect they could have on modern warfare
Continuing a series on world leaders, Miles Deverson takes a look at Angela Merkel
Ben Bland examines the fallout from the Iowa caucuses and looks forward to the New Hampshire primaries.
In the first of a series on world leaders, Miles Deverson takes a look at Nicholas Sarkozy
President Ben Ali who ruled Tunisia with an iron fist for twenty three years has fled the country and a new national unity government has been set up following a popular revolt that holds the promise for democracy and greater freedom in the Arab world.
Starting in December last year protests exploded across Tunisia with discontent reaching boiling point over high food prices and the fact that even official figures placed unemployment at 14%. This tinderbox was finally sparked by the suicide of Mohamed Bouazizi. Bouazizi, a stall vender, was harassed by police who then confiscated his stall driving him to burn himself to death in front of a government building. After mass demonstrations and street fighting during which over two hundred people were killed, Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia, a former refuge of another deposed dictator Idi Amin. Ben Ali’s much reviled wife, Leila Trabelsi, supposedly took 1.5 tonnes of gold with her.
In the wake of the President’s departure a new unity government was formed which at first was headed by Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi who was then forced out by further popular protests who viewed him as too close to the former leader. He was then replaced by Fouad Mebazaa. Further progress has been made in dismantling the mechanisms of a one party state through the admission of the leaders of the three mainstream opposition parties into the government as well as representatives from the Trade Unions and even a prominent blogger called Slim Amamou. However the Renaissance Party, which is the ironic name of the Islamist party and the Communist Tunisian Worker’s Party have not been admitted into the government. However, the ban on them has lifted and a vote is due in the Tunisian Parliament over an amnesty for all political prisoners.
These historic events mark the end of the Presidency of Ben Ali, who came to power in 1987 after a bloodless palace coup in which he deposed President Habib Bourguiba and subsequently won four successive, obviously rigged elections claiming massive majorities. While Tunisia was to be relatively stable and prosperous compared to its North African neighbours it was a consistent violator of human rights with an intensely corrupt government as shown by the fact that over half of the country’s economic elite was related to Ben Ali.
Reactions from the Western governments have been cautious but supportive with Foreign Secretary William Hague urging restraint by both sides and movement towards free and fair elections. Barack Obama went slightly further and praised “the courage and dignity of the Tunisian people”. The relative lack of interest by the western political class to the developments in Tunisia compared to the protests in Iran last year, shown by Hilary Clinton’s comment that the US was not “taking sides” in Tunisia, betrays the friendly relationship between the two that has existed during Ben Ali’s rule. His government won the support of western powers by its embrace of neo-liberal economics and its fierce and successful anti-Islamist stance which even went as far as a campaign against the wearing of the headdress in 2006.
If Western support for the Tunisian protests has been slightly lukewarm then the reactions of the authoritarian governments of the Arab world have been ones of cold terror. There have been riots in Algeria and protests in Jordan, Egypt and Yemen, mainly over the same recession-related issues: unemployment, living conditions and food prices. Egypt and Algeria has even seen copycat cases of self-immolation. Libya’s bizarre dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi took to making a televised address condemning the uprising which merely underlined the fear that has been instilled in the corrupt and repressive regimes of the region.
The future for Tunisia, though never easily predictable, looks bright with impressive advances towards a secular and democratic state, a good example much needed by the Arab world and perhaps it will be the first of many silver linings to come in the form of political reform and cover the black cloud of global recession.
You must log in to submit a comment.
