On May 1st I took the battered little old train into town to see what was going on. It starts off in one of Tunis’s posher blue and white seaside suburbs, stops at 17 stations – six of them called

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I spent last weekend in Tunis to attend the Mo Ibrahim Prize ceremony and the attendant conference on agriculture. The $5 million prize is for an African leader who is elected, rules well and steps down when his term ends.

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The following editorial was first published as Solidarity Peace Trust: Zimbabwe Update No.1.  March 2011. The effects of the events in North Africa on Zimbabwean Politics. Given the economic and political convulsions that have marked Zimbabwean politics for the last

Read the rest of The effects of North Africa events on Zimbabwean Politics, by Brian Raftopoulos »

By Hein Willemse In the weeks following the uprisings that brought about regime change in Tunisia and Egypt several local social commentators predicted that in the not too distant future the South African government might face similar expressions of popular

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Tunisia and the ousting of Ben Ali came first – beginning in December 2010 and reaching a high-point when the President stepped down in January 2011. Continue reading →

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The collapse of one of North Africa’s longest-serving rulers – Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia – sent shockwaves through the Arab world and triggered an uprising of equivalent proportions in Egypt, the most populous Arab country. The revolts, which have been on an unprecedented scale, have surprised many and prompted widespread speculation over a possible ‘domino effect’, as a result of which successive authoritarian regimes fall as the impact of developments in Egypt and Tunisia begin to be felt. In this spirit, a guessing game of ‘who’s next?’ has begun. Continue reading →

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A Tunisian who works for the moderate Islamist channel Al Wihar met me yesterday and said: “Sudan is next, but not in the same manner.” Several Sudanese opposition writers and politicians have also predicted a Tunisian or Egyptian style uprising

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