Protecting Human Rights the Euro-Med Monitor Way

Protecting Human Rights the Euro-Med Monitor Way

Protecting Human Rights in the Euro-Med Monitor Way as proposed by Richard Falk, should not come as a surprise.  The Mediterranean Sea today is a vital corridor for the world.  It has been so for time immemorial.

The above image is of Encyclopedia Britannica

 

Protecting Human Rights the Euro-Med Monitor Way

 

Photograph Source: Lorenzo Tlacaelel – CC BY 2.0

Not as widely known as it deserves to be given its accomplishments and creative approach, is a small human rights civil society organization called Euro-Med Human Monitor (EMM). It was inspired 11 years ago by the oppressive conditions existing in Gaza, and founded by a group of activists led by Ramy Abdu, then a resident of Gaza while still a doctoral student at the University of Manchester.

From the beginning EMM’s dedication to the promotion of human rights spread beyond the borders of Occupied Palestine, and EMM now has offices or representatives in 17 countries in the Middle East and North Africa, known as the MENA region and Europe, it is becoming a truly international organization with headquarters in Geneva, supported by volunteers and representatives spread throughout the world. In its short lifetime EMM has developed a strong reputation for political independence, staff dedication, effectiveness and efficiency, and most of all for its distinctive way of operating.

To begin withl, EMM is youth-oriented and much of its work is done by volunteers who learn by doing and working as teams with more experienced defenders of human rights. By adopting this mode of work, EMM has avoided diversions of its energies by major fundraising efforts, preferring to move forward with a small budget offset by big ideas, an impressive record of performance, continually motivated by outrage resulting from the widespread wrongdoing of governments throughout MENA. The initial idea of Euro-Med Monitor was inspired by popular rebellions against tyranny and oppression. This spirit of resistance swept through the Arab region in 2011 and continues to make its influence felt everywhere. Euro-Med Monitor strives to support these movements by planting seeds for international mobilization and stimulating international organizations and decision-makers to focus on violations of the people’s right to expression, freedom, and self-determination.

Perhaps, one the most innovative features of EMM is its stress on empowering victims of abuse to tell their stories to the world in their own voices. A recent example was the testimony at the Human Rights Council in Geneva of Suhaila al-Masri, the grandmother of Fatima al-Masri, who told the heart-rending story of how her 20 month old granddaughter died of suffocation because her exit permit from Gaza to receive emergency treatment was delayed without reason. EMM prides itself by working with victims to recover their sense of worth in a variety of struggles against the abuses they endured in the hope of avoiding similar suffering by others. In this innovative sense the empowerment of victims is complemented by establishing sites for training young human rights defenders to go on to have a variety of societal roles as they older.

Another example of this empowerment ethos practiced by EMM involves a 22-yearr old Palestinian woman, Zainab al-Quolaq, who lost 22 members of her family in an air attack that destroyed her home in Gaza a few year ago.  Zainab herself miraculously survived despite being buried in rubble from the attack for 20 hours. EMM encouraged Zainab to write her story, but writing did not come easily to her, but it was discovered that she was a natural artist. Not only could she draw but she could depict a range of emotions, especially of torment and loss, that derived from her tragic encounter with the mass death of her family members. In what was a dramatic success story, Zainab al-Quolaq, began serious study of painting, going on to become an acclaimed artist, even holding gallery exhibitions of her work in her native Gaza, but also in Geneva, even in the United States, evoking media enthusiasm. Zainab also spoke before the Human rights Council on behalf of Euro-Med Monitor in March. EMM and UN Women helped her release her first booklet containing 9 of her paintings describing her feelings during and in the aftermath of the attack. After she was isolating herself for months following the traumatizing attack, Zainab is now more open and has begun a Master’s degree in business administration.

At this time, EMM feels its special identity is solidified by having 70% of its active staff either drawn from youth or from the ranks of those victimized by human rights abuses. The organization reaches out beyond victims of war and torture to more subtle forms of encroachment on human dignity such as prolonged refugee status or mistreatment of women. An instructive example is the encouragement of the formation of a Gaza initiative with the assertive name, We Are Not Numbers, suggesting human rights is about self-preservation of human identity under circumstances of pervasive oppression of which Gaza is the most vivid instance, but by no means the only site of such struggles within the MENA region.

It would be a mistake to suppose that EMM, despite its origins, was only concerned with the Palestinian agenda. A look at its Website or Twitter account would quickly dispel such an idea as would a glance at the titles of recent EMM reports or appearances before the Human Rights Council. Among the topic covered in recent reports are the targeting of journalists in Sudan, disguised and punitive racism toward MENA asylum seekers and immigrants from MENA, human displacement in Yemen, interferences with the freedom and safety of journalists in various countries within their scope of concern. EMM uses a network of 300 writers to tell the stories of those who have been abused when the victims themselves are not available. The overall EMM undertaking seeks to convey the issues of concern in different countries by employing what Ramy Abdu calls ‘the real discourse of the people.’

With its headquarters in Geneva, EMM is particularly active in the formal proceedings and side events associated with the Human Rights Council. It has mounted actions and testimony on such matters as opposition to EU surveillance of asylum seekers in Europe, arms exports to Yemen, and the rescue of persons who have been coercively disappeared in Yemen and Syria.

In my judgment, EMM is creating a new and exciting model for how to combine civil society activism with effective efforts to improve the overall protection of human rights. It is a young organization, but one with incredible promise, having already compiled a record to admire and emulate.

For contact Geneva@Euromedmonitor.org ; for website www.euromedmonitor.org 

Richard Falk is Albert G. Milbank Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University, Chair of Global law, Queen Mary University London, and Research Associate, Orfalea Center of Global Studies, UCSB.

.

.

Unlocking Peace Ministry in the Middle East

Unlocking Peace Ministry in the Middle East

All MENA countries, derived from the XIX and early XX centuries, acquired this capability when policing their citizens, identifying any person protesting their government without due process. The same applies to interstate relations where transboundary resources and interests of any kind envenom and more often inflame situations. So, at this conjecture, is it not the opportune time to at least try unlocking a Peace Ministry in the Middle East?

 

Unlocking Peace Ministry in the Middle East: Announcing the Middle East Consultation 2022

 

 

Everything is affected whenever peace is missing. Absolutely everything! Conflict has a way of harming all areas of the human experience. We all know too well the pain and confusion undermining peace throughout our nations, our communities, and our own souls in regrettable ways. It disorients and forces us to grapple with the seemingly overwhelming gravity of sin and the depth of its consequences. For this reason, God really, really cares about peace.

Seeking peace is essential to God’s story for humanity. Scripture demonstrates the extent to which conflict infects a fallen world while also declaring the length God goes for the sake of peace. This didn’t happen without sacrifice; Jesus Christ endured the extreme weight of conflict as he hung on the cross. And it was on this journey to the cross that he shared eternal words with his disciples: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27). This is a perplexing type of comfort. Jesus is perfectly aware that our hearts will face trouble and fear in an uncertain world, but he assures us that the only kind of peace that can suffice is an otherworldly peace. Because of this, we have hope amid the storms of strife.

It can feel like the Middle East invents ever creative ways to undermine peace as people across the region deal with struggling societies, mounting insecurities, dirty politics, violent factionalism, destructive ideologies, and wave after wave of crisis. The problems fill headlines and reports throughout ceaseless cycles of bad news. Residents struggle through chronic frustration and disillusion, and growing numbers are joining a migration outflow seeking better fortunes in new locations.

Christ followers across the Middle East face their own flavors of conflict. Egypt encounters layers of challenges as churches and Christian groups serve amid rapidly changing times. In Algeria churches struggle to forge faith communities against the grain of a suppressive government. Christians of Iraq continue to navigate decades-long strife while trying to nurture one another and serve their neighbors. In Palestine, occupation and oppression hinder the most basic areas of human life and fuel hardships of many kinds. Sudan’s believers are dealing with rapidly changing political situations after years of regime change and upheaval. And in Lebanon, new layers of crisis pile upon old, unresolved conflicts to destabilize a state and its people. Unfortunately, these are only brief samples of the range of conflict raging across the region. It can all seem so overwhelming, and in the darkest moments cries go out, “Why, Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” (Psalms 10:1).

Though it doesn’t come easily, we must insist on recognizing the profound ways God’s people can and do faithfully minister peace amid challenging situations. Churches, organizations, and individuals of faith are ready vessels for extending Christ’s peace; they possess the potential by the Spirit to alter situations and write new stories for people and places. Is this not what it means to take hold of the peace that Christ leaves? This among the many questions the Middle East Consultation 2022 aims to ask on September 21-23 during Peace I Leave with You: Theories and Practices for Peace Ministry in the Middle East.

Practicing effective peace ministry requires us to imagine peace in ways that conform our thoughts and attitudes to the person of Christ in service of others. Biblically, peace ministry can be understood as the work of unlocking human potential by moving people, communities, and nations into healthier dynamics of shared life. Such outreach proceeds from deep convictions that the gospel is a holistic response to any situation where sin inflicts strife, oppression, hatred, and mistrust- everything antithetical to the restorative work of God.

Paradigms for peace ministry can help us recognize how peace involves multidimensional expressions (peacekeeping, peacemaking, and peacebuilding) working across levels of the human experience, including the personal, group, and national. The following grid, which MEC 2022 will adopt as a basic working framework, helps conceptualize this dynamic:

National Peacekeeping National Peacemaking National Peacebuilding
Group Peacekeeping Group Peacemaking Group Peacebuilding
Personal Peacekeeping Personal Peacemaking Personal Peacebuilding

Such a framework is helpful, but it certainly cannot convey the complexity of engaging conflict. There are no simple explanations or quick solutions to the problems plaguing the Middle East. Each unique context in the region carries assorted variables that require us to ask a proper set of questions. Worldly logic may say peace is an elusive dream or unattainable ideal, but authentic faith in Christ compels us to take hold of the gospel’s promises of peace as we seek to discover how God is active and alive in the world. Our eschatological hope for the future moves us to action as we relish the words of Isaiah 9:7: There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore.

God is working through conflict for redemptive purposes, and everyone has a role to play in this. This means embracing the invitation to partner with God in living out Christ-honoring works of peace and continually exploring new ways to think about the theories and practices of peace ministry.

On September 21-23, the Middle East Consultation 2022 will do just this in the three-day online event Peace I Leave with You: Theories and Practices for Peace Ministry in the Middle EastJoin us for a series of enriching discussions examining the challenges facing the Middle East region and illuminating the hopefulness of peace for the world in and through Christ.

Read Arab Baptist Theological Seminary.

Apply for MEC 2022 today!

MENA countries’ Soft Power Ranking

MENA countries’ Soft Power Ranking

What is the MENA countries’ Soft Power Ranking?  According to the latest Global Soft Power Index 2022, a nation’s ability to influence, whether through attraction or persuasion, the behaviour and preferences of different actors on the international scene, including political regimes, businesses, and communities.  That is nowadays labelled “Soft Power.”

So, here is the MENA countries’ soft power ranking

Certain countries of the MENA suffer from a loss of influence on the international stage. They are dangerously retreating in favour of several small countries that manage to acquire a much more powerful brand image.

The assessment of the strength of the national brand is based, among other things, on data from the “Soft Power Index” as compiled by Brand Finance.

Fifty-five thousand people from more than 100 countries were asked about the reputation of countries and their influence on the international scene.

According to Brand Finance, countries with high overall ratings are suitable for investment. They also have an easier time marketing their brands and products.

Founded in 1996, Brand Finance, an accounting firm touted as the world’s leading independent brand valuation and brand strategy consulting group, is present in more than 20 countries and is at the service of Marketing, Finance, Tax & Legal departments as well as Business Leaders.  It is the first brand valuation US consultancy to join the International Valuation Standards Council, an independent, not-for-profit, U.S.- incorporated, private sector standards organization headquartered in the United States with its social headquarters in London, United Kingdom.

For several years, the Global Soft Power Index (GSPI) has measured the power and influence of all countries worldwide. For this 2022 edition, Algeria has retreated on the international scene to find itself in the 75th position out of 120 countries.

The GSPI considered Algeria less influential than countries such as Rwanda, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jamaica and Malta.

According to the GSPI, Morocco is considered much more influential, ranking 46th globally. Algeria is also far from being able to compete with Egypt, which ranked first in Africa (31st), followed by South Africa (34th).

In the MENA region, Algeria ranked barely 8th among the 15 listed countries, after the United Arab Emirates (15th globally), Israel (23rd), Saudi Arabia (24th), Egypt (31st), Kuwait (36th), and Morocco (46th). Algeria (75th) is only better than Tunisia (76th).

The GSPI 2022 does, at the same time, not include Mauritania and Libya because of their chronic weaknesses that exclude them from this world ranking of the most influential countries.

The UAE is ranked as the top country in the MENA region in terms of global influence; as a small country of fewer than 10 million people located along the Arabian Gulf, it rose to tenth in this new ranking of 120 countries in the world. The UAE is one of the ten most influential and powerful countries worldwide.

Translated from Algerie-Part

 

 

Brown-to-green subsidy swaps in MENA are long overdue

Brown-to-green subsidy swaps in MENA are long overdue

When Reuters reported that Europe is facing a sharp rise in power bills driven by sky-rocketing gas prices, and all governments are looking for convoluted ways of relieving their respective populations from any pains this coming winter, Atlantic Council comes up with why brown-to-green subsidy swaps in MENA are long overdue. However, MENA states may be able to meet their green ambitions.  

 

Brown-to-green subsidy swaps in MENA are long overdue. Here’s why.

By Amin Mohseni-Cheraghlou

August 25, 2022

Despite the many improvements on many social, political, and economic fronts over the past few decades, there is significant work—in areas such as wasteful and socially unjust fossil fuel subsidies, air pollution and environmental degradation, youth unemployment, and gender inequalities—to be done in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. While there are significant inter-country or even intra-country variations regarding some of these issues, from a high-level macro perspective, one can identify strong links between these specific issues in the greater MENA.

$2.27 trillion. This is the amount of explicit fossil fuel subsidies paid by MENA governments between 2010 and 2020. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), MENA economies—led by Iran and Saudi Arabia—accounted for 50 percent of the world’s $4.57 trillion fossil fuel subsidy payments in this period (Figure 1).

 

Figure 1. Share in total global explicit fossil fuel subsidies between 2010 and 2020 (Percentage)

Brown-to-green subsidy swaps in MENA are long overdue
Source: Data from IEA, author’s calculation. MENA countries in red bars.

127,000. This is the number of annual pre-mature deaths in MENA related to ambient air pollution—around 7 percent of all deaths in the region. An important factor contributing to the region’s air pollution is the wasteful usage of fossil fuels, which is incentivized by massive fossil fuel subsidies in the region (Figure 2). Post-tax estimates of fossil fuel subsidies that take into account explicit and implicit costs—social, health, forgone taxation, and environmental costs—hover around 16 percent of the region’s GDP or about $5.4 trillion for the 2010-2020 period.

 

Figure 2. Change in energy use (kg of oil equivalent) per $1,000 GDP between 1990 and 2014

Brown-to-green subsidy swaps in MENA are long overdue
Source: Data from World Bank, author’s calculations.

62 percent. This is the share of total fossil fuel subsidies households in the top two income quintiles receive in the MENA region. Fossil fuel subsidies are ineffective in reducing poverty and inequality and can, in fact, lead to more inequality and poverty in an economy by shrinking fiscal space of governments, increasing budget deficits, and heightening inflation rates.

According to a 2015 International Monetary Fund study, MENA households in the top quintile received about 40 percent of all fossil fuel subsidies, while only 9 percent of these subsidies reached those in the bottom quintile.

Fifteen out of one hundred. This is the share of MENA’s entire female population that have formal jobs. It must be noted that, in many MENA economies, women’s labor participation and employment in informal sectors are larger than the formal sector. Gender-related inequalities in many MENA countries represent themselves in many forms and have deep roots in the region’s culture. While there are significant inter-country variations—for example, female labor force participation rates between the ages of fifteen to sixty-four range from 6 percent in Yemen, to 23 percent in Saudi Arabia and Morocco, and 58 percent in Qatar—overall, the remaining cultural biases against female participation in the labor force and the type of industries and jobs deemed “appropriate” for women to work in have translated to significantly less employment opportunities for women, especially young women, across the region.

Only 10 percent of female youths participate in the formal labor market (Figure 4). Even then, 47 percent of female youth are without a job (Figure 5). In other words, only 5.3 percent of female youths in the MENA region are working compared to 30 percent of male youths (Figures 4 and 5). This is especially worrying, as women’s very low participation rate in MENA’s formal labor force—18 percent for females fifteen and above—has meant that less than half of the region’s adults actively participate in the region’s formal labor market. This creates a significant drag on the economy, especially as the region’s population ages in the next few decades.

 

Figure 4. Labor force participation rates by gender, MENA vs. World (Percentage), 2020.

Brown-to-green subsidy swaps in MENA are long overdue
Source: World Bank.

Figure 5. Unemployment rates by gender, MENA vs. World (Percentage), 2020.

Brown-to-green subsidy swaps in MENA are long overdue
Source: World Bank.

5.7 million. This is the number of net full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs that could have been created in MENA if half of the region’s 2010-2020 explicit fossil fuel subsidies was channeled to the renewable energy sector. Studies show that redirecting $1 million from fossil fuel subsidies towards the renewable energy sector will create five net FTE jobs in an economy. Considering MENA’s immense solar and wind potential, this number is on the conservative side for the region.

Therefore, if only half of 2010-2020 explicit pre-tax fossil fuel subsidies ($1.14 trillion) were directed towards subsidizing the renewable industry in the region, it could have created 5.7 million net jobs in the region over the past decade, according to my calculations. These millions of extra jobs would have been the jobs of the future: all green and the majority in high tech. This would have helped jump-start the region’s high-tech startups, employ the educated and tech-savvy youth of the region, and reduce overreliance on public sector employment. This is critical because, with limited revenues and rapidly rising populations—two-third of the region’s population is below the age of thirty-five—and expenditures, many governments in MENA—especially those in larger countries—have failed to keep up with the growing demands for jobs, resulting in high unemployment rates, especially among the youth.

Channeling all or a portion of fossil fuel subsidies towards the renewable energy sector—also known as brown-to-green subsidy swaps—will not only create much-needed jobs in the region, but will also promote energy efficiency and reduce air pollution and the many costs associated with it, including illnesses and premature deaths. The positive social effects of such massive job creation in MENA’s green and high-tech sector will also be significant. For one, the renewable energy industry is more gender equitable. Available data suggests that, globally, women account for 22 percent of the oil and gas industry workforce, while this number jumps to 32 percent in the renewable energy industry.

This impact would be more pronounced in MENA because almost the entire oil and gas industry in the region is male-dominated. Hence, subsidizing the oil and gas industry simply translates to subsidizing industries that are overwhelmingly male-dominant and less female-friendly, exacerbating and reinforcing the cultural barriers for female employment in the MENA region. Therefore, reducing fossil fuel subsidies and increasing the growth of the renewable energy sector in MENA would translate to even more employment opportunities for young women in the region compared to world averages.

Moreover, reducing fossil fuel subsidies would have tremendous savings for the MENA region in terms of environmental, health, and other implicit costs associated with subsidizing fossil fuel usage. For example, reducing 2010-2020 explicit fossil fuel subsidies by half would have resulted in about $2 trillion in savings for MENA economies—or about 6 percent of the region’s total economic output in 2010-2020.

Poorer households would be the major beneficiary of these savings; studies show that poorer populations depend more on the environment for their livelihood and shoulder the lion’s share of the health, economic, and environmental costs of fossil fuel subsidies.

Thus, in the medium to long run, reducing fossil fuel subsidies will benefit the poor much more than it can hurt them, leading to improvements in MENA’s increasing levels of multidimensional inequality. In the short run, any reforms to fossil fuel subsidies will lead to price increases across the economy, negatively impacting the poor. In response, governments must enact targeted social protection policies that would mitigate negative short-run impacts of fossil fuel subsidy reductions or removals.

To conclude, reforms in fossil fuel subsidies can help address many challenges and could result in many benefits for the MENA region. However, such reforms have faced serious obstacles in the region and have often led to social unrest and public resentment in various countries. Social unrest and violent protests in Iran in November 2019 and Lebanon in 2021 are cases in point. On the other hand, in 2006, Indonesia successfully eliminated most gasoline and diesel subsidies and channeled the resulting savings to finance economic and social development.

Considering their many environmental, economic, and social benefits, following Indonesia’s model of brown-to-green subsidy swaps could help reduce public resistance against such reforms, while also paving the path for a more energy-secure future in MENA and other regions. Of course, this will not be an easy reform process, but leaders in the MENA region must take it seriously and start looking into the details considering the specific political-economic environments of their countries.

 

Figure 6. Potential benefits of reducing/eliminating fossil fuel subsidies

Brown-to-green subsidy swaps in MENA are long overdue

Amin Mohseni-Cheraghlou is a macroeconomist with the GeoEconomics Center and an assistant professor of Economics at the American University in Washington. Follow him on Twitter: @AMohseniC.

Further reading

Factbox: What became of the ‘Arab Spring’?

Factbox: What became of the ‘Arab Spring’?

In a would-be factbox enumeration, what became of the ‘Arab Spring’ by is explored in the aftermath of the not-so-well-mediatised people’s mass movements in specific countries of the MENA, Here is perhaps the exception give or take a few other countries such as Algeria, Sudan, Iraq, etc. 

July 25 (Reuters) – Tunisian President Kais Saied is set to secure more power under a new constitution that is expected to pass in a referendum on Monday, in what critics fear is a march to one-man rule over a country that rose up against dictatorship in 2010. read more

Saied’s opponents fear the changes will deal a major blow to democracy in Tunisia, widely seen as the only success story of the “Arab Spring” uprisings against autocratic rule that elsewhere ended in renewed repression and civil wars.

Here’s a recap of how the Arab Spring panned out for the countries affected:

TUNISIA

Fruit seller Mohammed Bouazizi set himself on fire on Dec. 17, 2010 after a local official confiscated his barrow.

Protests spread from his town, Sidi Bouzid, across the country, turning deadly. President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali fled on Jan. 14, 2011, inspiring revolts elsewhere.

Factbox: What became of the 'Arab Spring'?

Police officers control the crowd while surrounding a man suspected to be involved in opening fire on a beachside hotel in Sousse, as a woman reacts, Tunisia June 26, 2015. REUTERS/Amine Ben Aziza

Tunisia held a first democratic election that October, won by the moderate Islamist Ennahda which had been banned under Ben Ali.

A new constitution establishing a parliamentary system was agreed in 2014, and Tunisians choose their lawmakers and president in free and fair elections, most recently in 2019.

However, economic troubles caused hardship and disillusionment. Illegal emigration to Europe increased. The economy, heavily dependent on tourism, was hit particularly hard by COVID-19.

In July 2021, President Kais Saied froze parliament and sacked the government – moves his opponents called a coup but which were welcomed by those Tunisians who were fed up with political bickering and paralysis. read more

A year later, Saied called a referendum on a new constitution that strengthened the presidency, capping what his opponents called a march to one-man rule. Saied has said freedoms will be protected. read more

EGYPT

President Hosni Mubarak had been in power since 1981, but massive anti-government protests began on Jan. 25, 2011 as activists called a “day of rage”, inspired by Tunisia. As hundreds of thousands of protesters massed after Friday prayers three days later, Mubarak deployed the military.

Factbox: What became of the 'Arab Spring'?

Egyptians rally at Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo February 1, 2011. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

Protests gathered momentum, and the army pulled its forces from the protests and Mubarak stepped down – to be tried in August on charges of abusing power and killing demonstrators.

The once-banned Muslim Brotherhood won the 2012 election but a year later the military, encouraged by anti-Brotherhood protests, toppled the new president, Mohamed Mursi, who was put in prison and died in 2019.

Army chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi replaced him as president. Rights groups documented abuses in a crackdown on dissent and the military faced a long-running insurgency from Islamist militants in Sinai.

Mubarak died a free man in 2020 aged 91, the case against him having been dropped in 2014.

YEMEN

Crowds took to the streets against President Ali Abdullah Saleh from Jan. 29, 2011, aggravating splits in the army and between political blocs. Saleh was hurt in an assassination attempt in June 2011, forcing him to seek treatment in Saudi Arabia.

Gulf states brokered a transition deal including a “national dialogue” aimed at resolving Yemen’s problems, with Saleh’s old deputy Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to be president until elections.

With an al Qaeda insurgency raging in the east, Sanaa faced new problems in the north from the Iran-allied Houthi group and from a revived southern secessionist movement.

In 2015, after the Houthis seized Sanaa, Saudi Arabia and its allies began a military campaign to keep Hadi in power – a war that soon reached bloody stalemate, aggravating food shortages and cholera outbreaks.

Ex-president Saleh was killed in a roadside attack in 2017 after switching sides, abandoning the Iran-aligned Houthis for the Saudi-led coalition.

A U.N.-backed ceasefire took effect in April, 2022 and Hadi, who had spent years in exile in Saudi Arabia, was replaced by a presidential council.

LIBYA

In first Benghazi and then Misrata, protests broke out in February, 2011, soon turning to armed revolt against Muammar Gaddafi’s 42-year rule.

In March, the United Nations Security Council declared a no-fly zone to protect civilians from Gaddafi’s forces and NATO started air strikes to halt their advance on Benghazi.

By August, rebels had seized Tripoli and in October Gaddafi was captured hiding in a drainpipe outside his hometown of Sirte and killed.

Local militias seized hold of territory and, as chaos took hold, the country split in 2014 between western and eastern factions. The U.N. helped broker a political agreement in 2015, but in practice the country stayed divided and Islamic State seized control of Sirte for more than a year.

In 2019 eastern commander Khalifa Haftar launched a new war, assaulting Tripoli for 14 months before his forces turned back. By now the conflict was international, with Russia, the UAE and Egypt backing Haftar and Turkey the Tripoli government.

A U.N.-backed election – part of a peace process aimed at knitting Libya back together – was cancelled in December, 2021 for reasons including disputes over the rules.

In March 2022, the Sirte-based parliament appointed a new prime minister but the government based in Tripoli refused to step down, leaving Libya split between rival administrations.

BAHRAIN

On Feb. 14, 2011, the biggest protests in years erupted in Bahrain as demonstrators echoed the Egyptian crowd’s call for a “day of rage” to demand the ruling monarchy grant democracy.

As protesters and police clashed over the coming weeks, sectarian tensions rose in a country where many majority Shi’ite Muslims had long chafed against the Sunni ruling dynasty.

On March 14, neighbouring Sunni kingdom Saudi Arabia sent tanks across the causeway linking it to Bahrain to guard major installations. The authorities declared martial law and cleared protesters from the camp that had become their symbol.

Protests continued for months, leading to at least 35 deaths, but the monarchy suppressed the uprising and restored control.

SYRIA

When the first protests began to spread through Syria in March, 2011, President Bashar al-Assad sent in security forces and there was a wave of arrests and shootings.

Factbox: What became of the 'Arab Spring'?

A youth with his back painted with the colours of Syria’s opposition flag marches during a demonstration demanding that relatives of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh be dismissed from senior army and police posts in Sanaa May 14, 2012. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

By July, protesters were taking up arms and army units were joining the gathering revolt, later backed by Gulf monarchies and Turkey, as Assad hit back with air strikes. Full-blown war erupted.

As chaos engulfed the country, the Islamic State group in 2014 seized a swathe of territory, drawing a U.S.-led coalition to back Kurdish fighters in the northeast.

Support from Russia, Iran and Lebanon’s Shi’ite Hezbollah movement helped Assad claw back control over much of the country, defeating the rebels in areas including Aleppo and Eastern Ghouta from 2015-18.

By the end of the decade, hundreds of thousands were dead and more than half the country’s pre-war population was displaced with the country partitioned between Assad, Turkey-backed rebels and Kurdish-led groups.

Writing by Angus McDowall and Tom Perry; Editing by William Maclean

.

.

%d bloggers like this: