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Le magazine "The Economist" offre un special sur l´aprés Moubarak, voici une analyse qui concerne le Maghrheb:
Don't count your dominoes
Will other north African countries explode too?
The restive Maghreb
Feb 17th 2011 | from PRINT EDITION
NOT to be left out, protesters in three more countries on the southern shore of the Mediterranean have been on the streets, clamouring for change. The Algerians held a march in Algiers on February 12th. Libyans, who started agitating earlier, called for a “day of rage” on February 17th to mark the anniversary of demonstrations that were savagely put down in 2006. And the Moroccans say they will start on February 20th.
Algeria’s protests are the least surprising—and may yet be contained. Violence has erupted periodically in the slums of Algiers and other cities for at least two years. The country is also no stranger to uprisings, and Algerians are understandably fearful of any fresh bout of strife.
The doughty protesters who turned out in Algiers were led by a coalition of political parties and civil-society groups. They called themselves the National Co-ordination for Change and Democracy. The police turned out in their thousands to block the way and arrested some of the organisers, but the protesters say they will hold rallies every Saturday until further notice.
The unrest may be stoking simmering rows within the ruling circle of Algeria’s 73-year-old president, Abdel Aziz Bouteflika, who has been at odds with General Muhammad Tewfik Mediene, long the regime’s main military man. Mr Bouteflika’s announcement on February 3rd that he may soon lift a long-standing emergency law, as well as rumours of a cabinet shuffle, may be meant to dampen the protests as well as to outsmart the general.
Though spared its own civil war, Libya is the Maghreb’s most repressive regime. During 41 years in power, Colonel Muammar Qaddafi has been as brutal as he is eccentric. But he shows no sign of losing his nerve or his chutzpah, declaring that he will himself take part in counter-protests on February 17th, with his “revolutionary committees” in control of the streets.
But in the more Islamist east of the country, where unemployment is high, trouble has already begun to boil over. On February 15th thousands of people held a rally in Benghazi, Libya’s second city, to protest against the arrest of a well-known human-rights campaigner. The offices of a local revolutionary committee were trashed. At least one protester was killed. An unprecedented spurt of dissent is badly rattling the regime.
In Morocco there is more space for peaceful protest. Even so, as protesters gather, the government is getting twitchy. On February 15th it said it would nearly double its spending on subsidies, to offset the global rise in commodity prices. Few of Morocco’s protesters, who include secular leftists and Islamists, want to oust King Muhammad VI, who is generally liked. But they want constitutional reform, more freedom of expression, and an end to the economy’s control by the royal court. The king would be wise to heed them.
from PRINT EDITION | Middle East & Africa
The Economist.
Will other north African countries explode too?
The restive Maghreb
Feb 17th 2011 | from PRINT EDITION
NOT to be left out, protesters in three more countries on the southern shore of the Mediterranean have been on the streets, clamouring for change. The Algerians held a march in Algiers on February 12th. Libyans, who started agitating earlier, called for a “day of rage” on February 17th to mark the anniversary of demonstrations that were savagely put down in 2006. And the Moroccans say they will start on February 20th.
Algeria’s protests are the least surprising—and may yet be contained. Violence has erupted periodically in the slums of Algiers and other cities for at least two years. The country is also no stranger to uprisings, and Algerians are understandably fearful of any fresh bout of strife.
The doughty protesters who turned out in Algiers were led by a coalition of political parties and civil-society groups. They called themselves the National Co-ordination for Change and Democracy. The police turned out in their thousands to block the way and arrested some of the organisers, but the protesters say they will hold rallies every Saturday until further notice.
The unrest may be stoking simmering rows within the ruling circle of Algeria’s 73-year-old president, Abdel Aziz Bouteflika, who has been at odds with General Muhammad Tewfik Mediene, long the regime’s main military man. Mr Bouteflika’s announcement on February 3rd that he may soon lift a long-standing emergency law, as well as rumours of a cabinet shuffle, may be meant to dampen the protests as well as to outsmart the general.
Though spared its own civil war, Libya is the Maghreb’s most repressive regime. During 41 years in power, Colonel Muammar Qaddafi has been as brutal as he is eccentric. But he shows no sign of losing his nerve or his chutzpah, declaring that he will himself take part in counter-protests on February 17th, with his “revolutionary committees” in control of the streets.
But in the more Islamist east of the country, where unemployment is high, trouble has already begun to boil over. On February 15th thousands of people held a rally in Benghazi, Libya’s second city, to protest against the arrest of a well-known human-rights campaigner. The offices of a local revolutionary committee were trashed. At least one protester was killed. An unprecedented spurt of dissent is badly rattling the regime.
In Morocco there is more space for peaceful protest. Even so, as protesters gather, the government is getting twitchy. On February 15th it said it would nearly double its spending on subsidies, to offset the global rise in commodity prices. Few of Morocco’s protesters, who include secular leftists and Islamists, want to oust King Muhammad VI, who is generally liked. But they want constitutional reform, more freedom of expression, and an end to the economy’s control by the royal court. The king would be wise to heed them.
from PRINT EDITION | Middle East & Africa
The Economist.
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