Why Egypt matters

by Roger Hardy

Egypt matters, in a way that tiny Tunisia - key catalyst that it has been in the current wave of protest - does not.

Egypt, the most populous Arab state, can help determine the thrust of Arab policies - whether towards Israel or Iran or in the perennial quest for Arab consensus on issues that matter.

And - the wild card that troubles Western policy-makers most - could the Muslim Brotherhood, the country's Islamist opposition movement, somehow exploit the protests to come to power?

Read more...

Arab Riots: Tunisia's Jasmine Revolution

Tunisia's Jasmine Revolution

By Mona Eltahawy

Not once in my 43 years have I thought that I'd see an Arab leader toppled by his people. It is nothing short of poetic justice that it was neither Islamists nor invasion-in-the-name-of-democracy that sent the waters rushing onto Ben Ali's ship but, rather, the youth of his country.

Read more at the Washington Post


Tunisia gets a change of Zine

by Globe and Mail Editorial

The first successful overthrow of an Arab leader by his own people since the colonial era ended is a warning sign to many of the region’s autocrats that their grip on power is no longer assured.

Read more



Tunisia Seethes

by New York Times Editorial

With as many as 30 people dead and the country in an uproar, criticism has been pouring in from Washington, the European Union and the United Nations. France, Mr. Ben Ali’s most influential ally, has so far remained shamefully silent.

Read more


Ouster of Tunisia president: An opportunity for Arab autocrats to respond to the people

by Christian Science Monitor Editorial Board

The demonstrations were sparked in December when an educated but typically jobless young man killed himself after authorities confiscated fruits and vegetables he was selling without a permit. As one witness told Reuters, however, “It is not just about unemployment any more. It’s about freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, all the freedoms.”

Read more


Is Tunisia Next?

by Elliott Abrams

What’s next? The regime has no real alternatives except members of Ben Ali’s family, a solution unlikely to satisfy Tunisian society. While his wife is said to view herself as a successor, and this might have worked ten years ago, the time for an Argentine-like hand-off to the ruler’s wife is over.

Read more at the Council on Foreign Relations


Tunisia: Dependence on Europe Fuels Unemployment Crisis and Protests

by Lahcen Achy

Even as the level of education among job seekers in Tunisia has improved, the government has failed to make policies guaranteeing enough job creation to absorb new entrants to the labor market, especially among those with university degrees.

Read more at the CATO Institute



Tunisia: Lessons of Authoritarian Collapse

by Thomas Carother

With democracy’s spread having slowed over the last decade we've gotten out of the habit of receiving such news and have forgotten some of the basic lessons of authoritarian collapse. The fall of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia usefully reminds us of them.

Reade more at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace


Obama's 'Arab Spring'?

by Marc Lynch

Yesterday I noted the spread of seemingly unrelated protests and clashes through a diverse array of Arab states -- Tunisia, Jordan, Kuwait, Egypt. Last night, protests spread to Algeria, partly in response to rising prices on basic food items but more deeply by the same combination of economic desperation, fury over perceived corruption, and a blocked political order.

Read more at the Foreign Policy

Gbagbo is inciting Ivorian people to violence

The United Nations on Friday announced that it has concrete intelligence that former Côte d'Ivoire president Laurent Gbagbo is inciting violence against its peacekeepers and his own countrymen.

Gbagbo, the former president who lost the elections, has been urged to cede power peacefully but refuses to step down. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that other measures need to be analyzed instead.

"We have credible accounts of grave human rights violations," Mr. Ban told the news conference. "We have concrete intelligence that the former president and those around him are inciting their followers to violence, both against the UN and their own countrymen."

The lion kings?

The Economist: Africa is now one of the world’s fastest-growing regions

MUCH has been written about the rise of the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and the shift in economic power eastward as Asia outruns the rest of the world. But the surprising success story of the past decade lies elsewhere. An analysis by The Economist finds that over the ten years to 2010, no fewer than six of the world’s ten fastest-growing economies were in sub-Saharan Africa (see table).

Read more

The Birth of a New Nation in Africa: The Sudan Referendum

In Sudan, an Election and a Beginning

by Barack Obama, President of the USA

NOT every generation is given the chance to turn the page on the past and write a new chapter in history. Yet today — after 50 years of civil wars that have killed two million people and turned millions more into refugees — this is the opportunity before the people of southern Sudan.

Read more at NY Times



Jimmy Carter: Where Sudan is headed

by Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the USA

Key challenges include demarcating final borders, resolving citizenship issues, building a framework for economic cooperation and managing the division of revenue from oil, most of which is currently extracted from fields in the South, but refined and pumped through pipelines crossing the North for export via Port Sudan on the Red Sea. An especially critical problem concerns the disputed oil-rich border area of Abyei, which remains unresolved and a source of much tension.

Read more at CNN International


Africa unhinged?

by Benny Avni

Yet the first significant breakup of an African country since the end of the colonial era raises the specter of splits in other ethnically divided nations in the continent -- and those divorces are less likely to be amicable. Is a wave of secessions ahead?

Read more at the NY Post


Sudan's vote: Independence could work for both North and South

by Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Editorial

Virtually all nations, including China and the United States as well as Sudan's neighbors, are watching the referendum in Southern Sudan on whether it should become an independent nation or continue to be yoked to the North as part of a single nation.

Read more

A vote to celebrate for south Sudan

by Solomon Attari

I am very proud that in my time as chief there has not been a single fight or any violence. In a village this size, with all of us who know each other so well, there are often disagreements. But one thing that we can all agree on is the value of peace. We will settle our differences through discussion and compromise, and never resort to force.

Read more at the Guardian


Answering Your Sudan Questions, Take 1

by Nicholas Kristof

The intense and prolonged suffering of the Sudanese people has naturally aroused humanitarian concern of the international community. In addition, a resumption of civil war would inevitably affect the nine bordering nations. The entire continent of Africa could be affected, as well as the worldwide religious community. It is important to recognize the enormous size of Sudan – equal to the United States east of the Mississippi River.

Read more at the NY Times


Americans: Support Today's Referendum - and Democracy - in South Sudan

by Heather Robinson

Omar al Bashir, president of Sudan, has spoken nicely in recent days about respecting the outcome of the vote. But his history of reportedly unleashing janjaweed militias on ethnic African villages and his indictment by the International Criminal Court for war crimes against fellow Muslims in Darfur, combined with his recent statement threatening imposition of Sharia Law in the North if the South breaks away, are troubling.

Read more at the Huffington Post

Dividing rights and obligations

by Boston Globe Editorial



There are now about 1.5 million southerners in northern Sudan, mostly of Christian or traditional animist faith. “If south Sudan secedes,’’ Bashir said last month, “we will change the constitution and at that time there will be no time to speak of diversity of culture and ethnicity. Sharia and Islam will be the main source for the constitution, Islam the official religion, and Arabic the official language".

Read more







Sudan’s Referendum—The Birth of a New Nation?

by Marina Ottaway

Southern Sudanese are widely expected to vote for independence—splitting the largest country in Africa and the Arab world in two—in a referendum on January 9. The referendum was designed to be the culmination of a peace process ending decades of conflict between the north and the south, but there are lingering fears that tensions could erupt into violence.

Read more at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Sudan, Oil, and Security

by Chris Scanzoni

Though the conflict in Darfur has publicly captivated Americans, U.S. officials are vigorously striving to prevent a war in Sudan that promises even greater human costs. A January referendum for southern secession and the potential derailment of a delicate 2005 peace deal ending a 22-year civil war between the northern Arabs and southern Christians could revive the bloody conflict in the nation.

Read more at the Roosevelt Institute

Sudan, after the breakup: Can violence be prevented?

By Ibrahim Sharqieh

Though a creation of an independent South Sudan may solve one source of the conflict, renewed violence is still a possibility since the referendum does not address many of the root causes of this conflict. Most important, the referendum fails to address the issue in the oil rich border city of Abyei, whose inhabitants face the choice of staying with the North or joining the South.

Read more at the Christian Science Monitor

Israeli PM Netanyahu meets with Egyptian President Mubarak

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday met Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and discussed ways to advance the diplomatic process.

The meeting took place in the Egyptian city of Sharm e-Sheikh. The two leaders had a a lengthy discussion on the bilateral efforts. The two Middle East leaders also discussed the situation with Palestine.

UN Mission in Darfur ends preparations for South Sudan referendum

DARFUR, SUDAN -- The African Union – United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) on Tuesday announced that it has finalized preparations for the south Sudan referendum, which is to be held on Sunday.

UNAMID, in cooperation with the South Sudan Referendum Commission, has concluded a series of training seminars for staff at the 20 polling centers which will be deployed within the three Darfur states. The training consisted of staff members reviewing the details of all stages of the election process as well as coping with potential obstacles. UNAMID peacekeepers also offered advice on issues related to security in the polls and the movement of ballots.

UNAMID said an estimated 23,000 people have registered to vote in the referendum held in the Darfur states. During the voting, UNAMID will work to ensure the swift transportation of polling materials and the peaceful conclusion of the process.

UNAMID also addressed the security situation in all areas affected by the December clashes between the government and rebel forces, resulting in thousands of people being displaced.

Many of the refugees sought shelter outside nearby UNAMID team sites as the UN mission continues to deliver aid. The area is now reportedly calm and some public transportation has resumed.

UNAMID peacekeepers continue to maintain a robust presence on the region, in order to ensure the safety of displaced persons. UNAMID military conducted 105 patrols including routine, short-range, long-range, night and humanitarian escort patrols for 64 villages and camps.

This effort was intended to ensure that every last voter in South Sudan in the more than four-million-strong electorate will have chance to vote, no matter how remote and inaccessible the location.

Approximately 300,000 people have been killed and another 2.7 million forced to flee their homes since violence erupted in Sudan in 2003. The armed conflict confronted rebels against Government forces and their allied Janjaweed militiamen.

On January 9, the people of Southern Sudan will vote on whether to secede from the rest of the country, as part of the final phase in the implementation of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement which ended two decades of war between the northern-based Government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army in the south.

A separate referendum is scheduled to take place on the same day in which the residents of the central and oil-rich area of Abyei will vote on whether to be part of the north or the south.

Former Kenyan Minister Kogsey denies corruption charges against him

NAIROBI, KENYA -- Former Kenyan Industrialization Minister Henry Kogsey on Tuesday denied the corruption charges and was released on bail, local media reported.

Kogsey appeared before the anti-corruption court in Nairobi as he was charged with twelve counts of abuse of office charges. Kogsey is also the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party chairman.

The former minister is accused of using his position to exempt 123 imported vehicles for certain individuals and organizations in Kenya from the application of the nation's Standards code of practice for road vehicles without the advice of the National Standards Council.

Kogsey's attorneys asked the court to release him on a free bond as they cited that the former minister has served the country for over 30 years. However, the request was denied and Kogsey was freed after paying a $25,850 bail.

According to the charges, the former minister used his position at the Ministry of Industrialization headquarters, in the Teleposta Towers in Nairobi to favor Hussein Mohamed of Lagdera Technologies.

On November 19, 2009, Kogsey exempted four vehicles imported by the company from the application of Kenya Standards code of practice for road vehicles under the legal notice.

Previously, the ODM chairman also exempted two vehicles imported by Simon Maina Kamau and one vehicle imported by Lawrence Karanja Waweru in February 2009. One month later, he exempted 20 motor vehicles for Yuasa International Limited, a motor vehicle importer with 22 additional units on June 3.

The former minister is also suspected of several other similar cases involving car importer companies for a total of 123 exempted vehicles. If found guilty, Kogsey may spend the next ten years behind bars.

Kenya prohibited importing of vehicles manufactured eight or more years before the date of importation. The Standards Act allows the Industrialization Minister to allow vehicles older that eight years to be brought into the country but on the advice of the board of Kenya Bureau of Standards.

UN Secretary-General condemns church bomb attack in Egypt

UNITED NATIONS -- The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday condemned the deadly church attack that killed 21 people in Alexandria, Egypt.

According to Martin Nesirky, spokesman for the Secretary-General, the UN chief was appalled by the terrorist attack that also injured over 70 individuals at the al-Qiddissin Coptic Church in Alexandria during New Year's Eve festivities.

Ban also called for the Egyptian authorities to act swiftly and bring to justice those responsible for the terror bombing. In addition, he conveyed his sincere condolences to the families of the victims.

The international community also condemned the explosion that killed 21 and wound 97 people. The blast took place outside the church as worshipers were leaving the New Year's mass in the early hours of Saturday (January 1), according to the Daily News Egypt.

Initial reports indicated it was a car bomb but the Ministry of Interior later informed that the terror attack was perpetrated by a suicide bomber. President Hosni Mubarak said that the attackers were not Egyptian and they will be found and prosecuted.

"All of Egypt was targeted by the attack," said Mubarak. "Blind terrorism does not differentiate between Muslims and Christians."

Authorities informed that the situation in Alexandria is tense but everything is under control. The Egyptian government alleged that the attack was made by foreigners attempting to divide citizens.

The Muslim Brotherhood also strongly condemned the crime. The officially banned opposition group stated that this crime is not accepted by any religion, and that Islam calls for protecting the rights of non-Muslims and Muslims alike.