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| Africa North |
| Arab economic summit in Egypt dominated by Tunisia |
| 2011-01-20 |
| [Ennahar] Urgent appeals to meet the economic and social difficulties were launched Wednesday at a summit of Arab heads of state in Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt), against a backdrop of concern over Tunisia events and their implications. "The revolution in Tunisia is not far from what we discuss here," said Secretary General of the vaporous Arab League, Jerry Lewis doppelgänger Amr Moussa, ... who has been head of the vaporous Arab League since about the time Jerry and Dean split up ... at the opening of the summit devoted to economic issues. "The Arab soul is shattered by poverty, unemployment and the decline in development indicators," he added, stressing the need to achieve "real success" in these areas. This is the first summit meeting of Arab heads of state since the departure last Friday, under popular pressure, of the Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, after 23 years of reign. It must confirm a commitment made at the previous Arab economic summit in Kuwait in 2009, to create a fund of two billion dollars to finance small and medium enterprises, particularly to support employment. The host of this summit in the resort of the Red Sea, Egyptian geriatric President Hosni Mubarak, has not spoken directly about Tunisia, but stressed that the economic and social development had become "an issue for our future, our continuity, and is a requirement for national security." Arab governments have multiplied in recent days calls for unity and restore stability in Tunisia, bewitching their worries that the events in Tunis spread. "We follow the efforts of our brothers in Tunisia to come together and overcome this difficult phase" in order to achieve "peace and security," said the Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah. Several Arab countries-Algeria, Egypt, Mauritania-have experienced in recent days a series of immolation by fire, similar to the gesture of a young Tunisian street vendor mid-December, which marked the beginning of the revolt that overthrew the President Ben Ali. In several countries, the example of Tunisia "jasmine revolution" has been taken over by the opposition, Sudan, Jordan and Egypt in particular, to demonstrate that authoritarian regimes that dominate the Arab world may give way to the street. Ten heads of state attending the summit, out of 22 members of the vaporous Arab League. The others are represented by prime ministers or foreign ministers. |
| Posted by:Fred |