The Tunisian uprising was said to have set the precedence for the pandemonium in the Arab world. This uprising obviously paved the way for subsequent uprisings in the North African region affecting both Egypt and Libya. For the case of Egypt, the country’s leadership position was occupied by the junta since 1952 when the country became the first to have experienced military coup in continental Africa after General Gamal Abdel Nasser ousted King Faroukh and became the countries first military president.
But this was not the end as Nasser was also ousted through a coup led by General Sadat who was in turn assassinated at a military parade giving way to Hosni Mubarak to come in as another military man. Muhammad Morsi became the first democratically elected president of the North African state in 2012 after ferocious demonstrations were held in Cairo demanding Mubarak to relinquish power for his dictatorial style of rule. But this was not the end as Morsi himself had to go when wide protests were staged against him for attempting to tamper with the constitution.
Libya under the late Muammar Gaddafi also experienced similar uprising when many Libyans felt threatened by Gaddafi’s wide powers that had manacled the country for 39 years of his iron fisted rule. He was hounded and killed by angry young men.
More horrendously in Syria, another middle eastern country led by the Assad family who came to power in 1970 after a bloodless military coup put the government in the hands of Hafiz al-Assad, the father of current Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. The current crisis in Syria began in March 2011 when Mr Assad was asked to step down by fuming protesters demanding for change. Since then, a United Nations report estimates that more than 100,000 people have died in the fighting between Assad’s government and rebel forces who want him out.
More than two million have fled to neighboring countries of Turkey and Lebanon half of whom are children. The Syrian civil war has received momentous international concentration, and both the Syrian government and the opposition have received both military and diplomatic support from foreign countries. The government receives its support from Iran and the Hezbollah movement as well as Russia whiles the opposition coalition receives its own from mighty and controversial US, Britain and France. The Arab world is in disarray.
The trouble in the Eastern European country of Ukraine has also gained ample international attention after conflict of interests ensued between ousted president Victor Yanukovych’s government and pro EU supporters over the signing of an EU trade deal. The political ejection of President Yanukovych signals no sign of order in the country.
The crisis in two African states of the Central African Republic and South Sudan, the world’s newest nation which gained independence from mainland Sudan in 2011, is also worth mentioning as the former is experiencing sectarian violence while the latter suffers from internecine ethnic conflict. With these and other conflicts around the globe, the world is in a clear and present danger.
]]>
