You are in the the 159th diary of the liveblog bearing witness to the 2011 populist uprisings. We stand with our international friends and their courageous struggle for dignity, self-determination and human rights. (see more about the work of our group below)
PLS REC this diary to maximize how many people bear witness. PLS UNREC the previous liveblog diary.
Libya-new
Obviously, there have been major developments in Libya. I will add the updates to this section of the liveblog, and any updates to other countries will be down below as usual.
The full text of UN Resolution 1973 on Libya
Al Jazeera Libyan live blog found here. (h/t jnhobbs)
UK Telegraph Libyan live blog found here. (h/t bee tzu)
BBC Libyan live blog found here. (h/t greenbird)
Operation Odyssey Dawn has begun.
Strikes on Libya set to slow, stalemate feared
Attacks on Libya are likely to slow in the coming days, a U.S. general said on Monday, as Western powers consolidate a no-fly zone that some say is unlikely to bring an early end to the country's civil war.
Rebels who began a revolt against Muammar Gaddafi a month ago have so far done little to capitalize on a two-day bombardment that halted an advance by government forces on their Benghazi stronghold and targeted Libya's air defenses.
But Washington, wary of being sucked into another war after long campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, has ruled out specific action to overthrow Gaddafi, though France said on Monday it hoped the Libyan government would collapse from within.
"My sense is that -- that unless something unusual or unexpected happens, we may see a decline in the frequency of attacks," General Carter Ham, who is leading U.S. forces in the Libyan operation, told reporters in Washington.
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Libya forces retreat after air raids
Libyan government forces have fallen back from the rebel-held city of Benghazi, following air raids by Western-led forces.
Rebel fighters on Monday tried to follow up the retreat by forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, advancing on government forces in Ajdabiya, b ut they retreated in disarray when they came under heavy fire.
Tony Birtley, Al Jazeera's correspondent, reporting from an area close to Ajdabiya said there was fierce fighting outside the city.
Gaddafi 'not targeted' by allied strikes
President Barack Obama has said the US will transfer its leading role on Libya "within days" to ensure the burden of enforcing a UN resolution against Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is shared.
He said Nato would play a co-ordinating role but differences remain within the organisation, with France and Turkey opposed to Nato taking the lead.
The UN resolution was passed to protect civilians from Col Gaddafi's forces.
Fighting continues, with anti-aircraft fire heard in Tripoli late on Monday.
(h/t Claudius Bombarnac) -
Timeline of the 2011 Libyan uprising
The 2011 Libyan uprising began on 15 February 2011 as a civil protest and has since become a widespread uprising. On 25 February 2011, most of Libya was reported to be under the control of the Libyan opposition and not the government of Muammar al-Gaddafi Gaddafi remained in control of Tripoli, Sirt and Sabha.
More regional tidbits after the fold....bold section names indicate fresh content...
The liveblog is primarily for witnessing, for other activities see the group stream.
We are in the process of collecting suggested readings for background reference materials in support of the Eyes on Egypt and the Region group. These readings may be either non-fiction or fiction, general to the region or specific to a country or issue. If there are resources which you believe aid our understanding of the events and processes we are witnessing, please either a) post a comment in the Liveblog with the title "Suggested reading:" and a brief description of the reading in the body of the comment, or b) send your suggestions via the dKos internal mailer to angry marmot.
Libyan Doctors for Hospitals in Libya an impressive new aide organization launched by one of our own: StepLeftStepForward.
Please place links and info for intervention ideas (humanitarian and beyond) in comments titled "Intervention". We encourage you to provide information without imploring, disrespecting those who might not pursue the intervention, or engaging long debates about the merits. With uniform content labeling, those interested can readily find them and those who want to produce intervention diaries can gather the data efficiently. Please post the link if you do produce an intervention resource diary. We'll include it in the next updated liveblog. Thank you.
The group is producing a series of diaries that provide background and analysis on the region in general and on individual countries. We hope to provide a context for interpreting current events in the news. The published diaries in the series are:
Eyes on Egypt and the Region Background Resources
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NOTE: We have renamed the liveblog "Witnessing Revolution". What started in Egypt has spread rapidly. It's not clear that it will be limited by geography or ethnicity. So, we wanted a name which states what is happening yet allows us to grow with the movement, wherever that will be. The number sequence will be continuous. The group name will remain the same. Only this particular diary series within the group will have a name change.
GENERAL ANALYSIS-new
(h/t suejazz) Arab spring’s violent phase ratchets up risk
The Arab spring’s violent phase is ratcheting up investor risk. Hopes that further dominoes would fall with minimal violence, in the same way that regimes in Tunisia and Egypt were toppled, have been dashed. Others — notably Libya, but also Bahrain, Syria, Yemen and even Saudi Arabia — are still tottering. But none will fall easily. The prospect of bloody conflicts will push up already-heightened risk premia, including the resurgent oil price.
Conflicts are bubbling up throughout the region — most obviously in Libya, where it is unclear whether the Western-led imposition of a no-fly zone will lead to the swift ousting of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi or a long drawn out civil war. Yemen could be next but it probably won’t fall in a happy manner: the al-Qaeda-infested country could split and turn into even more of a failed state.
Elsewhere, sectarian conflict between Sunnis and Shi’ites is rising. It’s already rampant in Bahrain. But it could spread to Syria and Saudi. Riyadh is increasingly worried. Not only has it just sent troops into Bahrain to help suppress the Shi’ite majority there; it has also promised domestic handouts worth an astonishing $93 billion in an attempt to keep its own population quiet. The cash won’t just be used to pay for homes and social programs, it will be used to boost the morality police and security services.
ALGERIA
(h/t suejazz ) - Algeria's president promises political reform
Algeria is on the path to political reforms and last month's lifting of a state of emergency is the first step, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was quoted as saying by state media on Saturday.
The lifting of the state of emergency "will be a new page opened on the path to comprehensive reforms ... which cannot be fruitful in the absence of political reforms," the APS news agency quoted Bouteflika as saying.
Bahrain-new
(h/t suejazz ) - Bahrain says it has foiled "foreign plot"
Bahrain's king said a foreign plot against his Sunni-led island state had been foiled, and the head of the Gulf Cooperation Council warned that interference by Shi'ite Iran in the Gulf Arab states would not be tolerated.
Confrontation between Sunnis and Shi'ites has stirred international tension in the oil-exporting region, gripped by its worst unrest in years.
"An external plot has been fomented for 20 to 30 years until the ground was ripe for subversive designs... I here announce the failure of the plot," King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa was quoted as telling troops in a report by state news agency BNA.
Had the plot succeeded, he said, it could have spilled into neighbouring states.
The king thanked troops brought in from fellow Sunni-ruled neighbours to help quell weeks of protests by mainly Shi'ite Bahrainis calling for political reform.
(h/t suejazz ) - Crackdown Was Only Option, Bahrain Sunnis Say
When Bahrain’s pro-democracy movement began its demonstrations in Pearl Square last month, Atif Abdulmalik was supportive. An American-educated investment banker and a member of the Sunni Muslim elite, he favored a constitutional monarchy and increasing opportunities and support for the poorer Shiite majority.
Security forces guarded Pearl Square on Saturday while the monument there that had served as a rallying point was demolished. RelAtif Abdulmalik, an investment banker, was initially supportive of the protests, but then feared they would harm the economy.
But in the past week or two, the nature of the protest shifted — and so did any hope that demands for change would cross sectarian lines and unite Bahrainis in a cohesive democracy movement. The mainly Shiite demonstrators moved beyond Pearl Square, taking over areas leading to the financial and diplomatic districts of the capital. They closed off streets with makeshift roadblocks and shouted slogans calling for the death of the royal family.
“Twenty-five percent of Bahrain’s G.D.P. comes from banks,” Mr. Abdulmalik said as he sat in the soft Persian Gulf sunshine. “I sympathize with many of the demands of the demonstrators. But no country would allow the takeover of its financial district. The economic future of the country was at stake. What happened this week, as sad as it is, is good.”
To many around the world, the events of the past week — the arrival of 2,000 troops from Saudi Arabia and other neighbors, the declaration of martial law, the forceful clearing out of Pearl Square, the military takeover of the main hospital and then the spiteful tearing down of the Pearl monument itself — seem like the brutal work of a desperate autocracy.
But for Sunnis, who make up about a third of the country’s citizenry but hold the main levers of power, it was the only choice of a country facing a rising tide of chaos that imperiled its livelihood and future.
COTE D'IVOIRE-new
(h/t suejazz) - Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo bolsters army to take on rebels
Thousands of young men could be seen enlisting on Monday to fight for the incumbent president of Ivory Coast, stoking fears of an imminent civil war.
Chanting slogans such as "We will kill them now" and "The rebels will die", prospective recruits gathered at a stadium at the army headquarters in the commercial capital, Abidjan.
The show of strength underlines the growing influence of Young Patriot leader Charles Blé Goudé, who called on about 10,000 supporters at a rally on Saturday to sign up and "liberate" the country.
It could also be aimed at deterring supporters of Alassane Ouattara, the rival to president Laurent Gbagbo, who have argued that Gbagbo's support base is shrinking and cannot prop him up much longer.
Ouattara is the internationally recognised winner of last November's presidential election. Gbagbo's refusal to step down has sparked a humanitarian emergency and possible renewal of the 2002-03 civil war.
His security forces fired six mortars on a crowded marketplace in the volatile Abobo surburb of Abidjan last week, killing at least 25 people and injuring dozens more.
The attack, for which the military denied responsibility, has fuelled calls for Gbagbo to be charged with war crimes. The United Nations mission in Ivory Coast said: "Such an act, perpetrated against civilians, could constitute a crime against humanity."
(h/t suejazz ) - Ouattara's men waiting to march on Abidjan, Ivory Coast
Bouake is a mixture of dynamism and frustration.
There is dynamism because this agricultural centre is surrounded by plantations of bountiful mango and cashew trees, cotton fields and rice paddies.
The central market has stalls piled high with vegetables, fish and consumer goods. Daily life goes on.
But there is also frustration and anger about the situation in the country's main city, Abidjan, where northerners and other suspected supporters of Alassane Ouattara are being oppressed or killed.
'Waiting for the order'
Laurent Gbagbo has encouraged strident nationalism in the south.
This has been interpreted by some of his followers as a licence to attack and rob northern Ivorians.
The several million migrant workers in Ivory Coast, from neighbouring countries to the north such as Burkina Faso and Mali, are tarred with the same brush and are often the victims of xenophobia.
There is impatience here with the fact that Mr Gbagbo's refusal to leave office has led to the re-emergence of the front line that splits the country between north and south.
Soldiers loyal to Mr Ouattara here say they are ready to march on Abidjan.
"We're waiting for the order from Mr Ouattara to oust Laurent Gbagbo," said Major Daouda Doumbia who goes by the nom de guerre "Big".
decembersue has an excellent diary here. Good reading for those interested in this story.
Djibouti
(h/t suejazz) - Election observers quit Djibouti
An international election observation team funded by the US is pulling out of Djibouti after being declared “illegal” less than a month before the country goes to polls boycotted by the opposition.
Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, foreign minister, told the Financial Times the group had failed to maintain neutrality and that the country was seeking to avert scenes of “chaos and upheaval” similar to those across the Middle East and north Africa.
The tiny port state, ruled by the same party since independence in 1977, has faced a series of opposition rallies in past weeks as many have sought to imitate a wave of democratic fervour that has swept north Africa. At least one person was killed during protests in which police lobbed teargas at rock-throwing demonstrators on February 18.
Mr Ali Youssouf said the US group had several times exhibited “very very concerning behaviour”, offering food and water to demonstrators, carrying participants in their cars. On March 2, Djiboutian authorities declared the US group, Democracy International, “illegal”.
EGYPT
(h/t JustJennifer ) -
Egypt approves constitutional changes
Egyptians have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a package of constitutional amendments, according to official results released on Sunday evening.
Slightly more than 77 per cent of voters endorsed the amendments, the country's supreme judicial committee has announced.
Roughly 18 million Egyptians went to the polls on Saturday, a 41 per cent turnout. It's a better result than many past elections: The country's fraud-plagued parliamentary ballot last year had less than 25 per cent turnout, and possibly as low as 10 per cent, according to some sources.
IRAN
(h/t JustJennifer ) -
Iran 'frees 80-year-old opposition head'
Ebrahim Yazdi, the 80-year-old head of a banned liberal party who was arrested last October 1, was released from prison on Sunday, state news agency IRNA reported.
Yazdi, a former foreign minister, was arrested in the city of Isfahan along with several other members of the Freedom Movement of Iran.
He was also detained in June 2009 during a wave of unrest which followed the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that the opposition in the Islamic republic said was the result of massive fraud.
IRAQ
(h/t JustJennifer ) -
Thousands Rally In Iraq Against Bahrain Crackdown
Reports say thousands of people rallied today across Iraq to denounce a crackdown on Shi'ite-led demonstrators in Bahrain.
Protests were reported in Baghdad's Shi'ite neighborhood of Sadr City and in cities and towns in the predominantly Sunni Diyala province.
JORDAN-new
(h/t suejazz ) - Jordan Islamists urge Morocco-style reform
Jordan's Islamists urged King Abdullah II on Monday to carry out reforms similar to measures taken this month by his Moroccan counterpart, saying there was no need for a dialogue commission.
"King Abdullah knows the meaning of real reform, which does not need a committee to initiate dialogue," Zaki Bani Rsheid, head of political office of the Islamic Action Front (IAF), told AFP.
"The king of Morocco (Mohammed VI) is an example to follow. He has announced reforms unilaterally and they are satisfactory."
Mohammed VI announced comprehensive reforms on March 9 including greater independence for the judiciary, enhanced powers for the prime minister, and the separation of powers, in an apparent move towards a constitutional monarchy.
Jordan's government on March 14 formed a national dialogue committee and invited 52 people including three top Muslim Brotherhood leaders as well as former ministers, politicians, trade unionists and writers to join in.
But five of those, including the Islamists and a political activist, refused to take part in the panel, which held its first meeting on Saturday.
"We are ready to join the dialogue commission if it is ready to discuss constitutional reforms, which are essential to empower the people, particularly through a parliamentary government," Bani Rsheid said.
Senate president Taher Masri, who heads the committee, declined to comment on the Islamists' demands, but told AFP the panel plans "within two weeks to go to different governorates for consultations on amendments of the electoral and political parties laws."
KUWAIT-new (note: this update relates to Kuwait's involvement in Bahrain)
(h/t suejazz ) - Kuwait troops arrive in Bahrain after violent clashes
A Kuwaiti navy vessel arrived Monday to Bahrain with a number of ground forces onboard, following violent clashes escalated this month between protesters and security forces.
The Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Watan reported the vessel had docked in Bahrain, while broadcaster Al Arabiya aired images of Kuwait's military officers meeting with officials in Bahrain.
Kuwait's ambassador to Bahrain was quoted Monday in the state-run Kuwait News Agency saying that his country is help calm the situation in Bahrain. His comments were made during a meeting with Bahrain's Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa.
Earlier this month a military source from the Gulf region confirmed to the German Press Agency dpa that Kuwait would be involved in sending troops after Bahrain's rulers requested assistance from member-states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
The six-member regional bloc of the GCC consists of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Oman.
Meanwhile, the opposition in Bahrain has condemned the presence of foreign troops, calling it an 'occupation.'
There are growing fears in Bahrain that anti-government protests for constitutional reforms and greater rights have shifted into a sectarian conflict, with the country's Shiite majority clashing with the ruling Sunni minority.
The are also concerns among neighbouring countries, such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, which both have small, but significant Shiite populations, that Shiite-led Iran is meddling in the affairs of gulf countries.
LEBANON
(h/t suejazz ) - Thousands rally in Lebanon against confessionalism
Thousands of Lebanese held a protest in Beirut on Sunday, the third in less than a month, to demand an end to the country's confessional system.
Men and women of all ages set off with children in tow on a march from the residential neighbourhood of Ashrafiyeh to the interior ministry demanding "the fall of the confessional regime."
Between 6,000 and 7,000 people took part in the protest, the third since February 27. Another rally was held on March 6.
"I am here for the sake of a better future for my children. We are fed up. We want a better Lebanon," said Farah Ismail, a mother of two small children who joined her for the march.
Inspired by the success of uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, several groups demanding an end to Lebanon's confessional system have sprouted on the social networking site Facebook.
Lebanon's system of government is rooted in a 1943 power-sharing agreement along confessional lines adopted after the country won its independence from France.
Aimed at maintaining a balance between Lebanon's 18 religious sects, the agreement calls for the president to be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister to be a Sunni Muslim and parliament speaker a Shiite Muslim.
Other government jobs are also allocated according to religious affiliation.
The power-sharing arrangement has been blamed for most of Lebanon's problems over the decades, including corruption, cronyism and especially the devastating 1975-1990 civil war.
MAURITANIA:
(h/t mali muso) - Mauritania protesters want better salaries, lower food prices
Hundreds of people took to the streets after Friday afternoon prayers, demanding more jobs and decent food prices. What was initially meant as a peaceful protest, ended with protesters throwing stones at security forces and setting fire to car tires.
...
Protesters distributed bottles of fresh water to security forces surrounding them, while the authorities continued to deny any access to Blokat square. Demonstrators prevented Mauritania TV from covering the protests, fearing the station would use the footage for political propaganda. Protesters earlier complained about police women pretending to be journalists. The videos were reportedly used by intelligent forces to identify youth leaders and facilitate future arrests.
MOROCCO
(h/t ninkasi23)
Thousands Rally in Call for Morocco Reforms
RABAT (AFP) - Thousands of Moroccans demonstrated Sunday in Casablanca, Rabat and other cities calling for more democracy and social justice despite recent promises of deep political reform.
Morocco's King avoids calls for regime change
“Morocco is similar to the other countries in the region in that it does not have a democratic regime but differs, as it has been markedly less authoritarian than Tunisia, Libya and Egypt,” says Lise Storm, senior lecturer in Middle East politics at Exeter University in the United Kingdom.
“This reality has a lot to do with the fact that Morocco is a monarchy. Mohammed VI is not dependent on contesting elections and manipulating their results in order to maintain his power.”[. . .]
Some say the king went forward with promised reform to respond to the demands of an increasingly impatient population asking for more accountability. “The reason he made the speech now is to stay in control,” Ms. Storm says.
Others credit the move to a tendency in the Moroccan monarchy. “The monarchy has shown throughout the decades its capacity to adapt to the times,” says Mohamed Darif, a political science professor at Hassan II University in Casablanca.
OMAN
(h/t suejazz ) - Workers at Oman oil refineries stage demonstrations
About 200 workers at two refineries staged demonstrations on Sunday, demanding higher wages, as a series of concessions by Oman's veteran ruler Sultan Qaboos bin Said have failed to quell discontent and unrest.
The protesters, along with those working in an oil field who went on strike last week, have complained that they are among the least-paid oil workers in the Gulf.
"We want higher pay, better pension, training, regular promotions and more Omanis in the management team," Mohamed Al Harthi, one of the protesters at the Muscat refinery, said.
The normally tranquil oil-producing nation at the mouth of the Gulf was stunned by protests last month that left at least one person dead in the industrial city of Sohar. [ID:nLDE71R041
Oman produces about 800,000 barrels per day of oil, which accounts for more than 70 percent of the sultanate's income.
The two affected refineries are the Muscat refinery, with an output of 85,000 barrels per day, and the Sohar refinery, producing 120,000 barrels per day.
The government has already declared it would double monthly welfare payments and increase pension benefits for citizens.
PALESTINE
QATAR:
(h/t UnaSpenser ) - Al Jazeera journalist killed in Libyan ambush
Al Jaber is the first journalist to be killed during the Libyan uprising generated a wave of spontaneous revulsion and anger. Outside the courthouse, the epicentre of the anti-Qadhafi revolt. Thousands gathered to mourn the loss of an intrepid journalist, and to reinforce their resolve to unseat the regime of the Libyan leader, Muammar Qadhafi.
“Here and now, Libyan and Qatari blood is mixed for the sake of freedom. Our condolences go to the Qatari people and the Al Jazeera channel” read a prominent banner held aloft by several young protesters. As the sun dipped over the Mediterranean and the lights outside the courthouse came alive, the Qatari national flag was raised from the top of the building.
Wadah Khanfar, Director-General of the Qatar based Al Jazeera channel said the network would not be silenced. The killing of Al Jaber, he said, came after Mr. Qadhafi launched an “unprecedented campaign” against the channel.
(h/t UnaSpenser) -
Monday calender the week ahead
WEDNESDAY
MARCH 16
- An anti-government protest organized on Facebook is scheduled in Doha, Qatar.
SAUDI ARABIA
(h/t JustJennifer ) -
Saudi Arabia police break up small protest
Saudi Arabian security forces arrested several people demonstrating outside the Interior Ministry in Riyadh Sunday, witnesses said.
Around 100 protesters had gathered to demand authorities release their jailed relatives, democracy activist Mohammed Al-Qahtani told CNN
.
"They arrested a lot of people," he said. "They started putting them in police cars and even buses to take them away." Police dispersed the rest of the crowd, he added.
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SYRIA-new
(h/t suejaz) - Syria Protest spread, authorities pull back
Unrest spread in southern Syria on Monday with hundreds of people demonstrating against the government in the town of Jassem, activists said, but authorities did not use force to quell the latest protest.
Security forces killed four civilians in demonstrations that erupted last week in the town of Deraa, in the most serious challenge to President Bashar al-Assad's rule since the 45-year-old succeeded his father 11 years ago.
"This is peaceful, peaceful. God, Syria, freedom," chanted the protesters in Jassem, an agricultural town 30 km (20 miles) west of Deraa.
The authorities appeared to adopt less heavy-handed tactics, choosing not to intervene against protests demanding freedom and an end to corruption and repression, but not the overthrow of Assad. The ruling Baath Party has banned opposition and enforced emergency laws since 1963.
In Deraa, hundreds of black-uniformed security forces wielding AK-47 assault rifles lined the streets but did not confront thousands of mourners who marched at the funeral of 23-year-old Raed al-Kerad, a protester killed in Deraa.
Please see unspeakable's diary
Uprisings in Syria
TUNISIA
(h/t suejazz) - Tunisia won't join military intervention in Libya
Tunisia will not take part in any international military intervention in its neighbour Libya, a government spokesman said on Friday.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said during a visit to Tunis on Thursday that talks were underway about Arab countries playing a direct role in a military operation against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to protect civilians.
"It is out of the question," government spokesman Taieb Bakouch told Reuters when asked if Tunisia would be involved.
"We will not take part in any military intervention against Libya, we will not take part in any way," he said.
(h/t suejazz ) - Clinton encounters frustration with U.S. stance on Arab unrest
At the height of the popular uprising in Tunisia, the Obama administration confronted a difficult choice: embrace a little-understood democracy movement, or side with a staunch ally who stood for three decades as a bulwark against Islamic extremism and al-Qaeda.
Three months later, U.S. officials are looking back on Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution with something akin to nostalgia. In the weeks since dictatorships were toppled in Tunis and Cairo, the changes sweeping the Middle East have brought only worsening violence and, for the White House, an array of bad options.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton traveled to Tunisia and Egypt this week in a visit that was intended to show support for two countries where pro-democracy movements prevailed. But at each stop, Clinton was dogged by questions about looming crises in other countries where democratic aspirations have been met with brute force.
On Thursday, as she shuttled between meetings with interim government officials in Tunisia’s sun-drenched capital, Clinton conferred with European and Middle Eastern allies on how to stave off violence against anti-government forces in Libya, deal with a refugee crisis and respond to a deadly crackdown on protesters in Bahrain. In the case of Libya, the administration faced the prospect of either participating in military intervention in a third Muslim country or standing back and failing to prevent the possible annihilation of Libya’s fragile pro-democracy movement.
“There is no good choice here,” Clinton acknowledged during a town-hall meeting with Tunisian students and business leaders. “If you don’t try to take [Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi] out — if you don’t support the opposition and he stays in power — there is no telling what he will do.”
In a series of meetings with journalists, government officials and civil-society leaders, Clinton touted U.S. economic aid and business partnerships intended to foster private business development and job growth. Both countries have struggled with high unemployment, especially among youth, as well as a legacy of official corruption.
“We know there is a lot of work to be done but we are very confident about the potential for democracy and economic opportunity,” she said.
At the town-hall meeting, she praised the Tunisian uprising as a contagion that is inspiring people around the world. But she cautioned that building democracy requires sustained commitment.
“It is about building institutions and convincing people to work together even when it’s hard,” she said. “. . . The euphoria in the streets gives way to a grinding system that is needed to produce good results.”
Western Sahara
(h/t suejazz ) - Western Sahara: ‘We only want our country’
Western Sahara is the last country in Africa awaiting decolonisation.
Invaded by Spain in the late 19th century, mass mobilisations in the early 1970s heralded the birth of the modern independence movement.
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YEMEN-new
(h/t JustJennifer ) -
Defections plague Yemeni leader
Military leaders, ambassadors and tribal chiefs in Yemen have made clear their support for pro-democracy protesters, ramping up pressure on Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen's president, to step down.
Following a wave of defections, Mohammad Nasser Ali, Yemen's defence minister, appeared on state television on Monday maintaining that the army still backed Saleh.
"The armed forces will stay faithful to the oath they gave before God, the nation and political leadership under the brother president Ali Abdullah Saleh," Ali said.
"We will not allow under any circumstances an attempt at a coup against democracy and constitutional legitimacy, or violation of the security of the nation and citizens."
(h/t Angry Marmot ) -
Yemen protesters see army as potential protectors
Yemeni soldiers, some carrying batons and others wielding assault rifles, casually and calmly pat down protesters entering the main scene of anti-government rallies in Sanaa who see them as potential protectors.
The soldiers speak softly with protesters, if at all, and make no comment about their strident demands that President Ali Abdullah Saleh step down now -- in sharp contrast to police who were withdrawn from the area days ago.
"The police and the army are our people. Our uncles and cousins," said Khaled Hussein, a government employee and protester. "The tension is less now because of the army. We feel they will protect us."
A powerful Yemeni army general, whose camp lies adjacent to the protest area, expressed support in a televised message on Monday for pro-democracy protesters, and two other generals including another regional commander followed suit.
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Our Egyptian brethren articulated what people around the region are fighting for, though variations to the theme may exist from country to country. banner held by protesters and translated to English:
1 The departure of Mubarak
2 An end to the current Parliament
3 An end of the state of emergency
4 The creation of a national united government
5 A parliament elected by the people to modify the constitution and run the presidential elections
6 Put those responsible for the killings on trial
7 Put those responsible for stealing the country's money and other acts of corruption on trial
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WorldWideTahrir{NEW} : Worldwide protests being organized to coincide with the upcoming ones in Egypt.
bicycle Hussein paladin - Why Iran 1979 Went to the Islamists and This One Won't
People to follow on twitter: - please suggest people for specific countries. Thank you!
@ArabRevolution - Region
@Dima_Khatib - Region
@JNovak_Yemen - Yemen
@WomanfromYemen - Yemen
@Gheblawi - Libya
@ShababLibya - Libya
@feb17voices - Libya
@DrsForLibya - Libya
@libyanexpat - Libya
@lissnp - Iran
@prsianbanoo - Iran
@sandmonkey - Egypt
@JRamyRaoof - Egypt
@Elazul - Egypt
@Ssirgany - Egypt
@sharifkouddous
@monasosh
@ioerror
@ElBaradei
@SultanAlQassemi
@evanchill
@glcarlstrom
@nolanjazeera
@3arabawy
@shadihamid
@bencnn
@arabist
@speaktotweet: Egyptian Voice Tweets on Twitter
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Egypt and the Region Liveblog Archive by unaspenser
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