Protests Rock North Africa

By Eric Sande

The wave of revolt currently rocking the foundations of the Afro-Arab world is gaining momentum by day. The metamorphosis currently witnessed in Algeria, Morocco and Libya was ignited by the Tunisian people’s revolution as well as the massive uprising that rocked Egypt.

The ‘days of anger’ is at least in part made possible by the organizers' use of Facebook and twitter to keep the protesters abreast of the latest happenings and fan the flames with videos of hurt demonstrators.

Afro-Arab youths are calling for change. Some governments have recently stepped up efforts to calm tensions while committing themselves to greater openness. But is this enough?

In Libya, long serving leader Muammar Gaddafi is on a receiving end with protesters on the streets to demand his retirement. Reports bring a death toll of over 104 protesters, killed by security officers in the country in attempts to counter protests. ‘Is it kill or be killed' for Muammar Gaddafi? He faces the worst unrest since he seized power, but no-one expects him to give up peacefully.

Libya's official name is the Jamahiriya, or "state of the masses", but 41 years after seizing power, a defiant Muammar Gaddafi still rules through secretive decision-making and as a family enterprise in which his sons play leading roles.

Now facing the worst unrest since the revolution, Gaddafi's moves are as opaque as ever. Amid feverish speculation about the future, everything he has ever done suggests he will not relinquish power voluntarily. "We will all die on Libyan soil," sources close to his family told the Saudi paper al-Sharq al-Awsat.

Still from the social networks online, in Morocco, groups have gathered Sunday to protest against their government. AFP reports indicate that several thousand of people have come out in several Moroccan cities demanding political reform and limits on the powers of the king.

Thousands took to the streets of Rabat, Casablanca, Tangier and Marrakech in peaceful protests demanding a new constitution, a change in government and an end to corruption.

The protests were a test for King Mohamed VI's regime, which boasts that it is more liberal and tolerant than other countries in the region that have seen violence and revolution.

Despite a heavy secret police presence, uniformed police stayed in the background as demonstrators carefully avoided overt criticism of the king or Islamist chanting. "Where has the money gone?", "The people of Morocco want change" and "We need a new constitution" were among the cries of 5,000 marchers in the capital, Rabat.

"The king has too much power and he needs to distribute more money to the people." Much of the rage was directed against prime minister Abbas El Fassi and his many family members in government posts, said Said Benjibli, the creator of Facebook protest group and one of the few prepared to complain about the monarch.

Algeria has many of the ingredients for a popular revolt. Demonstrations have at all times been thwarted by the police forcing pro-democracy supporters, breaking up the crowd into isolated groups keeping them from marching. The government has increased its efforts in recent weeks to prevent a spillover effect from its neighbours. Reflecting the concern of the regime, President Bouteflika, who has been in power since 1999, announced the lifting of a long running state of emergency.

According to observers, it was a strategic move that was meant to cut off one of the main arguments of the opposition, National Coordination for Change and Democracy, which called for a protest march in Algiers on February 12 to ask for the lifting of the state of emergency which has been in force since February 1992. But despite the promise to lift the 19-year-old imposed laws, the authorities continue to place a strict ban on all demonstrations.

Algeria is riddled with corruption and has never successfully grappled with its soaring jobless rate among its youth, estimated by some to be up to 42 per cent despite its oil and gas wealth.