Around 10,000 protesters marched for democratic change in the Kabylie city of Bejaia on Saturday in Algeria's latest rally inspired by the popular uprising in neighbouring Tunisia.
Demonstrators marched peacefully, shouting slogans such as "For a radical change of the regime" and demanding that President Abdelaziz Bouteflika lift the state of emergency imposed on February 9 1992 amid a violent conflict between his government and Islamist hardliners.
Police were out in force around the city but protesters were disciplined and dispersed calmly.
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/100466
Mounting grievances over spiralling costs and unemployment triggered the riots earlier this month, encouraged by public protests in Tunisia that forced its president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to flee.
Algiers responded swiftly by reducing the prices of oil, sugar and other basic necessities which had risen sharply, and assuring that subsidies on essential goods like flour would continue.
http://tinyurl.com/49hraqj
Algerian minister confirms Algiers march ban
http://www.expatica.com/fr/news/french-news/algerian-minister-confirms-algiers-march-ban_126684.html
Algeria: No March will be allowed in Algiers
http://www.ennaharonline.com/en/news/5670.html
Instability In Algeria Could Have Serious Energy Implications For Europe
http://blogs.forbes.com/energysource/2011/01/30/instability-in-algeria-could-have-serious-energy-implications-for-europe/
Morocco will not be spared from unrest, royal family member says
The unrest rolling across in the Middle East will likely not spare Morocco, said a relative of King Mohammed VI in an interview published Monday
While the small kingdom on the westernmost edge of the Arab world has remained relatively calm since turmoil erupted in Egypt, Moulay Hicham, a cousin of the king told the Spanish daily El Pais
“Morocco has not yet been reached, but make no mistake: nearly all the authoritarian systems will be affected by the protest wave.”
Based in Paris, Hicham has been called “The Red Prince” because of his leftist political positions.
“Morocco will probably not be an exception,” he said. ‘It remains to be seen whether the protests will only be social [or whether they will be taken up by political parties].”
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/107129/20110131/morocco-tunisia-egypt.htm
Morocco watches nervously as Egypt erupts
http://tinyurl.com/45g4lf7
View Rate : 2669 # News Code : TTime- 235100 Print Date : Tuesday, February 1, 2011 |
Israeli, U.S. generals taking control in Egypt
Tehran Times Political Desk
TEHRAN – Two senior Israeli officers and three U.S. generals have arrived in Cairo to take control of the military command in Egypt, an anonymous source has told the Tehran Times.
The command council is headed by a general named Sisson, the source said. One of the options that the generals are weighing is staging a military coup in Egypt.
The decision shows that the United States and Israel are seriously worried about the fate of Hosni Mubarak’s regime as unprecedented protests have gripped Egypt.
Israel has officially announced that it is “anxiously monitoring” developments in Egypt.
The Mubarak regime has been an important ally of Israel and the U.S. in the region and its collapse would be a great strategic loss for the two countries.
Mubarak’s government angered the Islamic world when it refused to open the Rafah border crossing for relief workers seeking to provide medical assistance to the Palestinians during Israel’s 22-day war on the Gaza Strip from December 2008 to January 2009.
Political analysts believe it is unlikely that the Mubarak government will survive protests as opposition groups have joined their hands to bring the government down.
Now political analysts say the point is whether the U.S. will align with the opposition groups or will try to take the helm in Egypt.
“We are anxiously monitoring what is happening in Egypt and in our region,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the opening of his weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday. “Peace between Israel and Egypt has endured for over three decades, and our goal is to ensure these relations continue.”
According to the Los Angeles Times, Netanyahu discussed developments on Saturday with U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Over the years, Egypt has served as a trustworthy and subservient partner of Israel and the U.S. in the so-called Middle East peace negotiations.
Israel provides weapons for Egypt
According to new reports, Israeli airplanes have landed at Cairo airports to deliver weapons to the Egyptian government.
The reports followed phone conversations between the Egyptian, U.S., and Israeli defense ministers as the anti-government protests entered their seventh day on Monday.
On Thursday, an Israeli cabinet minister, who spoke on condition of anonymity to the Israeli media, stated that the Egyptian president, backed by a strong military, will eventually quell the uprising.
“His regime is well-rooted in the military and security apparatus,” said the Israeli prime minister, adding, “They will have to exercise force, power in the street and do it. But they are strong enough according to my assessment to overcome it.”
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