Arab Spring 10 years on
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A decade after the popular uprisings that spread across the Middle East in 2011, civil war still rages in Libya, Yemen and Syria, autocracy has been restored in Egypt and Bahrain, leaving only Tunisia with a semblance of democracy
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1. TUNISIA
Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali (1987-2011) Sentenced in absentia in 2012 to life in prison for killing protestors, Ben Ali died in exile in Saudi Arabia in 2019. Only democracy to emerge from Arab Spring, Tunisia has suffered from Islamist terror attacks and economic problems, notably unemployment
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2. LIBYA
Muammar Gaddafi (1969–2011) Captured and killed by NATO- backed rebels in 2011.
Libya has been in chaos since 2011 and divided, since 2014, between rival factions in east and west. Many Libyans remain sceptical that recent peace deal will end bloodshed
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3. EGYPT
Hosni Mubarak (1981-2011)
Sentenced to life in prison for conspiring to murder protesters, but freed in 2017 after conviction overturned. Died in 2020. Military coup, led by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, deposed replacement president Mohammed Morsi in 2013. El-Sisi accused by rights groups
of running ultra-repressive regime
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4. SYRIA
Bashar al-Assad (2000-present) Repression of peaceful protests in 2011 drew rebels, jihadists and world powers into war that has killed more than 380,000 people and left country in ruins.
With military backing from Russia, Assad today controls around
70% of country
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5. BAHRAIN
King Hamad al-Khalifa (1999-present) Sunni Muslim-ruled state has continued to clamp down on dissent since security forces crushed uprising in early 2011. Protests were led by Shia
majority community, which still complains of discrimination
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6. YEMEN
Ali Abdullah Saleh (1978-2012) Killed by Houthi rebels in 2017. Country in humanitarian
crisis amid civil war since Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015 to restore Yemeni government, ousted by Iran-aligned Houthi forces the previous year
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SECOND ARAB SPRING
New wave of protests in 2018-20 in countries including Morocco, Jordan, Sudan, Algeria, Iraq and Lebanon, calls for end to economic insecurity, corruption and unresponsive government
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7. ALGERIA
Abdelaziz Bouteflika (1999-2019) Resigned in face of popular movement against bid for fifth term in office. Despite process of constitutional reform by new government, protesters’ demands – replacing ruling elite, military’s withdrawal from politics and end to corruption – have only been partly met
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8. SUDAN
Omar al-Bashir (1989-2019)
Ousted by army coup following months of mass protests. Now on trial for leading coup that brought him to power in 1989. Civilian transition government took over from Bashir under three-year, power-sharing deal with military, but economy is still in crisis
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© GRAPHIC NEWS
Sources: The Economic Times, Reuters, AFP, BBC Pictures: Getty Images, Associated Press