Rome (AsiaNews) – “The uprisings and movements that led to the fall of the governments of Tunisia and Egypt are interesting and positive facts. They come from the grassroots and people did not demonstrate under the flag of Islam and with anti-Western sentiments,” Francesco Zannini, Islam expert at the Pontifical Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies (PISAI) in Rome, told AsiaNews.
For the scholar, the important changes that are affecting Arab nations are still hard to interpret. Results and hopes generated by the uprisings remain uncertain. For Zannini, “the movements are still without leaders and the process towards democracy is still very long.”
“In Egypt, there are many parties, but have remained forever on the sidelines of political life,” he explained. “They are hard-pressed to assert and organised themselves. In Tunisia, following Ben Ali’s flight there is a power vacuum. In other countries like Bahrain and Yemen, there is a danger that the authorities might be removed with no one knowing who will take over after them. Even if elections were held, it would take years before these countries could reach real stability.”
On the wave of the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, the peoples of Yemen, Bahrain and Libya have taken to the streets to demand democratic reform and an end to the existing regimes. Today, tens of thousands demonstrated in Sana’a (Yemen), marching on the presidential palace shouting slogans against President Saleh, who is seen as a dictator and an oppressor of the people. In Bahrain, thousands of people took part in the funerals for the four demonstrators killed yesterday by security forces during clashes in the capital Manama. In Libya, human rights activists have claimed that at least 24 people have been killed during protests in the past few days in various cities of the country.
In the meantime, people in Egypt continue their pressure on the military to implement the democratic reforms promised after Mubarak’s resignation. Today in Cairo, two million people gathered in Tahrir Square to celebrate victory day and pray together.
The spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, took part in the event. In his Friday sermon, he said that the uprisings that began on 25 January are the “revolution of all Egyptians, Muslims and Copts”. He also urged the military to appoint a new government in lieu of the current one, which he described as corrupt and criminal.