Tunisia overshadows meeting of Arab leaders

A meeting of Arab leaders in Egypt today to discuss trade and development has been overshadowed by the Tunisian uprising, which has emboldened the region’s marginalised dissidents.

The summit will be the first gathering of Arab heads of state since veteran Tunisian leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was forced to flee last week after days of mass protests.

“The Arab world is witnessing today unprecedented political developments and real challenges in the sphere of Arab national security,” Kuwait’s Foreign Minister Mohammad al-Sabah said on Tuesday.

He told a foreign ministers’ meeting in the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh to prepare for the summit: “Countries disintegrate, people conduct uprisings...and the Arab citizen asks: Can the current Arab regime meet these challenges dynamically?”

He questioned: “Can the regime address the humanitarian suffering of the Arab citizen?”

The uprising in Tunisia was sparked by the self immolation of Mohamed Bouaziz, a 26-year-old who was complaining of unemployment, one of the regional problems that the last Arab economic summit in 2009 was meant to alleviate.

Even as the foreign ministers were meeting on Tuesday, a man set himself ablaze outside Egypt’s government headquarters in Cairo, an Egyptian security official said.

The removal of Ben Ali, who rigidly presided over his country for 23 years, encouraged dissidents in the region, where most leaders are either unelected or defeat their harried opponents in disputed polls.

Arab governments have downplayed any comparison with the North African country and its despised ex-president.

But many Arabs complain of restrictions on freedoms and poverty similar to the grievances of Tunisian protesters.

Reactions

China said yesterday it hoped to “consolidate” its relations with Tunisia, following a popular uprising in the north African country that forced president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali from power.

“China respects the choice of the Tunisian people. It is our hope that Tunisia can restore social stability and law and order at an early date,” foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters.

“Tunisia is a friendly country to China. We are willing and ready to consolidate our friendly relations with Tunisia.”

Sudanese security officers arrested Islamist opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi from his Khartoum home early yesterday just hours after he warned of a Tunisia-style uprising.

Turabi’s detention shortly before 1a.m. was part of a wave of arrests against members of his Popular Congress Party, his son Siddig al-Turabi said, as Sudan stands at a crossroads following a landmark southern independence vote expected to lead to the partition of Africa’s largest nation.

In the interview before his arrest, Mr Turabi had said that a Tunisia-style revolt was likely in the north as Sudan faces the prospect of partition.

“This country has known popular uprisings before,” said Mr Turabi, referring to popular revolts which toppled military regimes in 1964 and 1985.

“What happened in Tunisia is a reminder. This is likely to happen in Sudan,” he said.

“If it doesn’t, then there will be a lot of bloodshed.”

Britain’s foreign secretary William Hague yesterday urged the new government in Tunisia to respect human rights and to work “quickly and decisively” as it takes control.

Mr Hague, who is in Australia for high-level security talks, said he was in regular contact with the British embassy in Tunis and that the situation in the country was “still fluid”.

“It is important the interim government there gets on with matters, quickly and decisively, and that they do so in accord-ance with their constitution and respecting human rights,” he told a press conference in Sydney.

The British foreign secretary refused to be drawn on whether the upheaval in Tunisia would trigger similar events elsewhere in the Arab world.

“I think it is possible to say that the situation in Tunisia would have been helped, the situation of the people of Tunisia would have been helped by more effective economic development and by a more open, flexible political system,” Hague said.

“So other countries must draw their conclusions from that but it is still a developing situation and we must not rush to predict events elsewhere from what has happened in that particular country.”

Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said he had discussed Tunisia with Hague and the implications of the unrest on the broader Arab world during their talks in Sydney.

While it was too early to make “substantive comments” on the situation, he said “the democracy deficit in a number of countries in that region” had been a reality for a long time.

“And it is a reality which needs to be addressed as well,” said Mr Rudd.