MIDDLE EASTERN AND

AFRICAN UNREST:
An insight on the occurrences in African and Middle Eastern States
By Luc Tustain
The times of Arab nationalism and unity are gone forever.
Muammar al-Gaddafi
TUNISIA: WHERE IT ALL STARTED
 The following diplomatic cable from the Tunisian Embassy was written by Robert F. Godec, U.S.
Ambassador to Tunisia, on June 23, 2008 and classified as secret (to be declassified in 2018). It was
leaked by Wikileaks. in 2011.)

 “According to Transparency International's annual survey and Embassy contacts' observations,

corruption in Tunisia is getting worse. Whether it's cash, services, land, property, or yes, even
your yacht, President Ben Ali's family is rumoured to covet it and reportedly gets what it wants.
Beyond the stories of the First Family's shady dealings, Tunisians report encountering low-level
corruption as well in interactions with the police, customs, and a variety of government ministries.
The economic impact is clear, with Tunisian investors -- fearing the long-arm of "the Family" --
forgoing new investments, keeping domestic investment rates low and unemployment high. These
persistent rumours of corruption, coupled with rising inflation and continued unemployment,
have helped to fuel frustration with the people and have contributed to recent protests in South
Western Tunisia. With those at the top believed to be the worst offenders, and likely to remain in
power, there are no checks in the system.”

 Zine al-Abedine Ben Ali, the Tunisian President, took power in 1987, through a bloodless coup.
However, his departure was not to be without bloodshed. After weeks of protests and demonstrations,
the President finally decided to step down, after 23 years in power. Having stepped down, Ben Ali
was forced to leave the country. Whistleblower organisation Wikileaks played a great part in
motivating the Tunisians to the streets by releasing the information about “The Family’s” corruption.
THE IDEA SPREADS TO EGYPT:
 With Tunisia undergoing severe economic and social repression, the rest of the world seemed pretty stable,
until remonstrations broke out in Egypt, not far east from Tunisia. The fact that Ben Ali had been overthrown
made the Egyptian people believe they could achieve the same thing. President Hosni Mubarak assumed
presidency in 1981, and, after 30 years in charge, the Egyptians had had enough. Major protests broke out in
the streets, and two rival gangs developed. Pro-Mubarak supporters and anti-Mubarak. Tahrir Square, in
Downtown Cairo, became the centre of attention as both gangs fought for control of the cities most public
area. Stones were thrown, barricades were made, and after 17 days of protests, President Hosni Mubarak
resigned. These pictures show the complete destruction and devastation these protests brought to Egypt:

 A protestors children hold up his guns for the BBC

A fight between protestors and police results in destruction

 The van shown in the clip on the next slide is an Egyptian Government Embassy vehicle sent to disband the
protesting crowd. As you can see, it ruthlessly ploughed through many Egyptians, showing just how far the
Mubarak campaigners were willing to go:
LIBYA REBELS:
GENERAL MUAMMAR AL-GADDAFI
 With Tunisia and Egypt having successfully overthrown their governments’ tyrannical regimes, the idea of
“people-power” was set to spread around the area. General Muammar al-Gaddafi, who took control of Libya in
1979, was (and still is) under severe pressure from the Libyan people to resign from office, having been in power
for 32 years. Ongoing protests in Libya have led to over 1000 deaths in the streets. But still the public continue
to protest. The would rather fight and risk death than live under the rule of a dictator. The clip on the right is of
Gaddafi’s speech at a conference, where he describes further on in the long discourse the Libyan people as rats,
and blames al-Qaeda for the recent uprising. In this monologue, he proclaims his goals to die a martyr is he
has to, instead of leaving the country and please the “disgusting” people. To this day, Libya is still under the
Gaddafi regime, and the future does not look bright for the rebels, as the determined dictator seems to have snuffed
out most protests and is threatening to “burn those in his way”.

 This clip is of Gaddafi’s defiant speech to the Libyans:

ARABIC STATES IN TURMOIL +
INTERVIEW:
 As well as the three African nations I have talked about in this presentation, the idea also spread to areas such as
Yemen and Bahrain. Although these countries do on have the sheep man-power of the African countries, the
determination of the people can still achieve memorable things.

 Here is an interview to show what people back in the United Kingdom think about these uprisings:
SOURCES:
 www.wikipedia.com
 www.youtube.com
 www.english.aljazeera.net
 www.bbc.news.co.uk/news/world-africa
 www.google.co.uk/images
 www.guardian.co.uk/world/lybia
 www.blogger.com
 www.afrol.com
 www.thedailybeast.com
 www.independent.co.uk
 www.telegraph.co.uk
 www.redcross.org.uk/LybiaCrisis
 www.allvoices.com
 www.dailymail.co.uk
 www.theguardian.co.uk
 www.twitter.com/wikileaks
 www.wikio.com
 www.wikileaks.net
 www.news/yahoo.com
 www.msnbc.msn.com
 Thanks For Listening!