Ripples from the fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Tunsian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali have spread to other countries in the region, including Jordan and Algeria.
Mubarak, who was in power for 30 years, finally gave in after weeks of protests and stepped down from the presidency, handing power to an interim military government on Friday.
The revolution has not only affected him politically. On Friday, Swiss authorities announced they were freezing assets belonging to Mubarak and his family, pressuring the UK to do the same. Mubarak is thought to have a personal fortune of US$70 billion stashed across various bank accounts and property holdings all over the world.
That the people of one of the Middle East’s largest, oldest and most populated countries could not only overthrow but seek justice against a 30 year autocracy has sparked a wave of political dissent in the region.
Prior to Mubarak’s departure, several thousand demonstrators clashed with police in Algiers after President Abdelaziz Bouteflika ordered a ban on protests. 400 were arrested, and then later released, while five people have been reported killed in the protests since they started in January.
Yesterday, the Algerian government shut down the internet and deployed 30,000 riot police – paralleling Mubarak’s early reaction to the protests in Egypt.
Syrian president Bashar al-Assad did the opposite, unblocking access to the social media websites Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and Youtube in an effort to mellow rising discontent, as well as offering US$400 million in fuel subsidies to the poor. Libyian President Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi has earnestly launched a house-building scheme.
In Iraq, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as announced he will not stand for a third term and is reportedly to be desperately trying to combat the city’s electricity outages with the installation of three giant generators.
King Abdullah of Jordan sacked the country’s government late last month in a bid to head off a repeat of the Egyptian uprising, announcing a deal with the political opposition sanctioning political and economic reform.
The UK’s Guardian newspaper reported one senior western official as saying “there has been an awakening of political awareness among the young who have been waiting for solutions that have never come and are not really in the menu now. They are saying: ‘Why should we carry on like this?’”
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I hope the ripple does not reach our shores. Today ACC has ordered Reeko to stop the Thilafushi project as they believe Anni has illegally awarded this project to him.
Democracy will prevail. Autocracy and forced subjugation of beliefs will fail.
We are paying for the "orderly" transition from the dictatorial regime of Gayyoom. We allowed Gayyoom to dig his roots into the "independent" institutions such the ACC.
It's no coincidence that the ACC has asked work to be stopped on the Thilafushi project, the day after India's "The Week" exposed the story of Gayyoom and Yameen's illegal oil dealings via Singapore.
Gayyoom should have been ousted in the manner of Mubarak. We gave him too much time.
We need to come out to the streets to clean up the mess.
At last, the so-called 'stable countries' are beginning to buckle under the wrath of the people.
There's nothing 'stable' about a nation that oppresses it's people to put forth a pretty face to the international community.
I hope the ripple engulfs the enslaved world in war - for only through war can liberty be won.
If you take all of these presidents/dictators,,add all of their salaries together for the last 30yrs,and I will bet that the total is no where near Mubaraks estimated $70 billion,,yes billions,and that is only one of the "leaders"..You can only guess where the money came from..We in this country [UK] have just sent to prison 2 members of parliament for false claiming a few thousand pounds..What do you deserve for embezelling billions..People need to stand-up and demand to know just what is going on[behind the scenes]in their country
Gayyoom denies all knowledge of anything that happened during his 30 years of absolute rule. Very convenient.
We now have details of shady oil deals that were going on during those years. Of course Gayyoom can't remember a thing; poor old man. What can't be erased are the shipping records that the Singapore authorities have, since oil tankers headed to the Maldives mysteriously got diverted to Burma!
I feel so sorry for Gayyoom; if only his failing memories can be aided; we might even be able to find out who was really behind these shady deals.
I think these presidents/dictators start out full of good intentions,,then they realise just how much money can be "earned" and from helping others they start helping themselves..One of Gayyooms great partners President Mugabe is a prime example of how to ruin a country for personal gain.