The ongoing unrest and regime change in Tunisia, which is now named Jasmine Revolution because it is the national flower, has occurred as a result of conditions that are similar to current realities in Ethiopia. Two decades of misrule by the ruling parties of Ethiopia and Tunisia is the primary cause of the terrible economic and political conditions that exist in both countries.
The following are top 10 similarities between the leaders of Tunisia’s ruling party, RCD, and Ethiopia’s ruling party, TPLF:
1. The president, Zin el-Abidine Ben Ali, had been in power for 23 years. Meles has been in power for 20 years.
2. Like Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, Ben Ali was known to conduct fake elections. In a recent poll, he won by 83 percent. Meles won by 96 percent.
3. Ben Ali arrested opposition politicians, and attacked opposition parties, denying them space in the country’s politics. Meles is doing the same thing in a larger scale.
4. Ben Ali’s party, RCD, was involved in nepotism and massive corruption, like Meles Zenawi’s TPLF.
5. Tunisia’s ruling RCD favors one ethnic group, the Trabelsi clan, over other Tunisian clans. TPLF favors the Tigray region over other regions of Ethiopia.
6. Ben Ali had curtailed freedom of speech and press. Similarly in Ethiopia, opposition media, including web sites, are banned. “Although officially denying any intention to meddle with the Internet, the government exercises censorship in practice. The OpenNet Initiative, a collaboration between several universities, found that 10 percent of the 2,000 Web sites it tested in the country were blocked.” – CPJ
7. Like Meles, Ben Ali has forced many of his opponents out of the country.
8. RCD bosses have amassed enormous personal wealth while the country remained poor. TPLF bosses, including the wife of the prime minister, have become among the richest people in Africa over the past 20 years.
9. Like Meles Zenawi’s wife Azeb Mesfin, the wife of Ben Ali, Laila, diverted tens of millions of dollars to the couple’s bank accounts in Western countries. The hijacking of Tunisian state funds by Laila and Ben Ali led to inflation, and a constant rise in the price of basic necessities, followed by an increase in unemployment. “People are now convinced that the [Tunisia] First Family is an insatiable economic animal bent on gratuitous enrichment and unchecked influence-wielding.” – a U.S. diplomatic cable recently posted on Wilileaks.org
10. Ben Ali used to be a “dependable” an ally of the U.S. and Western government. “Not many people in the West noticed that it was only a very small minority that enjoyed the benefits of the economic reforms and revenues brought in by tourists. Corruption was rampant and the Ben Ali family, and that of his second wife Laila, were the principal beneficiaries.” – Jerusalem Post
The following is an analysis by Deutsche Presse-Agentur’s Clare Byrne
Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution: a work in progress
By Clare Byrne
Paris (dpa) – Tunisia’s ‘Jasmine Revolution’ achieved what many thought unthinkable in the Arab world: an autocratic leader, backed by the world’s major powers, shown the door by his country’s youth, without them firing a shot.
Tunisians themselves seemed taken aback at how quickly things unravelled in the end as Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, president of 23 years, crumpled in the face of demands by protestors countrywide for him to ‘degage’ (meaning ‘get lost’ in French) and scurried off to Saudi Arabia.
‘A revolution! We didn’t believe it could happen,’ Samir Khiari, a Tunisian political scientist, who celebrated the news at a rally in Paris Saturday, told France’s Mediapart news site in tears.
‘We are the first Arab people to stage a revolution and topple a dictator,’ a demonstrator in Tunis told Mediapart news site proudly.
‘We will long remember the images of the Tunisian people seeking to make their voices heard,’ US President Barack Obama praised, saluting the courage of tens of thousands of protestors who continued to stare down the regime, even after dozens were shot dead by police.
And yet in Tunisia itself, there were no scenes of wild rejoicing, as army tanks rumbled through the streets to contain an orgy of looting and a game of musical chairs played out at the top.
From elation, the mood quickly turned to consternation as the reins of power passed from the prime minister, Mohamed Ghannouchi, to the speaker of parliament, Foued Mebazaa, within 24 hours.
Ghannouchi had initially declared he would take over after Ben Ali fled – in violation of the constitution, which states the speaker of parliament takes over if the presidency is vacated.
By Saturday, the constitutional council had weighed in and Mebazaa was instated as the rightful interim president, promising to create a inclusive government embracing all Tunisians ‘without exception.’
It was hardly an auspicious start to the new dawn hoped for by ‘Ben Ali generation’ of educated young Tunisians, who grew up chafing under his censorship and a lack of opportunities for those who weren’t politically connected.
As negotiations between the ruling RCD and the opposition on the make-up of a unity government got underway, the list of reforms required for an truly democratic, pluralistic Tunisia ran long.
General amnesty for political prisoners, the dismantling of laws curtailing freedom, the organization of free elections are among just some of the opposition’s demands.
‘We want to see the whole Ben Ali system called into question,’ Samir Khiari insisted.
The opposition itself also needs time to regroup, after years of harassment under Ben Ali, during which several key figures fled into exile.
Even if the country’s electoral laws are changed, the opposition faces an uphill battle against decades of RCD nepotism and patronage.
Most of country’s resources are in the hands of RCD faithful – particularly the Trabelsi clan of ex-president Ben Ali’s wife, Leila.
As Tunisia takes it first wobbly steps to democracy, the international community is also keeping a close watch for attempts by Islamic extremists to try fill the power vacuum.
For years the country of 10 million has been seen as a bulwark of stability and secularism in a region – North Africa and the Middle East – where autocratic governments have driven people into the arms of Islamists.
The Tunisian revolt was devoid of any Islamist symbols but Western governments fear that a prolonged period of uncertainty could play into the hands of extremists.