Tunisia

After 23 years of one-man rule, it took only 23 days to topple Tunisia's Zine El Abedine Ben Ali. A dictator who ruled with an iron fist and a surplus of crony-based corruption that even his fellow autocrats in the region found excessive, on January 14, 2010, Ben Ali fled his country like a thief in the night. To appreciate what has happened in Tunisia, consider one elemental fact: in 60 years, there has never been one case of a successful, popular revolt toppling an Arab regime.

Leading his children through the crowd, a Libyan man walks past armored vehicles and tanks perched in front of Benghazi's courthouse. He proudly presses on, wanting to show his children a new day. A moment later, soldiers fire a spray of bullets and tear gas, choking out the startled crowd. Terror paints his children's faces. "We thought it was going to be peaceful, but then it turned ugly," remembered the Benghazi man, who asked not to be identified. "Thankfully, nothing happened.

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced In a nationally televised address Friday that a commission that will include experts in constitutional law will revise the country's constitution. "It (the commission) will make proposals in compliance with the fundamental values of our society, before submitting them for approval by the parliament or to your vote by referendum," he said, according to state media. Bouteflika said "necessary changes" must be made to the constitution in order to strengthen democracy.

What is happening in Tunisia? Following a month of largely leaderless popular protests against the government, Tunisia's President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled the country on Friday. Fouad Mebazaa, the speaker of parliament, was sworn in the following day as interim president, and new elections are due within 60 days. What were the protests about? They were sparked by the suicide of an unemployed college graduate in December. The man set himself on fire in front of a government building in the town of Sidi Bouzid after police confiscated his fruit cart, saying he was selling without a permit, according to Amnesty International.

"Yemen is not Tunisia. " These were the words that President Ali Abdullah Saleh spoke to his people on television last Sunday. As street protests erupt in Yemen's capital, it is not surprising that an Arab leader who has held power since a bloodless coup in 1978 would dismiss calls for his ouster. But he was correct. Although his regime has been accused of corruption, Saleh is no Zine El Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia, nor even Hosni Mubarak of Egypt. Instead of using an iron fist, he has maintained power by cleverly playing off rivalries among tribal, religious and political divisions.

Tunisians, spurred by the suicide of an unemployed college graduate after police confiscated his fruit cart, have been protesting for weeks over what they consider poor living conditions, high unemployment, government corruption and repression. Last Friday, Tunisia's president fled the country. In the days that followed, crowds of people continued to take to the streets in the nationwide grassroots uprising. MORE: What provoked the crisis in Tunisia? Why Tunisia matters to Americans Q&A;: What's going on in Tunisia How a fruit seller caused a revolution iReporter's view of Tunisia unrest | Share your photos and video More on Tunisia

Thousands of people who filled the streets of Cairo Tuesday hope their demonstrations against corruption and failing economic policies will cause upheaval in the government, like the similar protests in Tunisia that inspired them. But analysts caution that in Egypt, the protesters are up against a different set of challenges. Juan Cole, a Middle East historian at the University of Michigan and blogger, describes Tunisia as "a little bit unique. " "There have been lots of civil wars.

A 26-year-old unemployed man who was beaten by police and then lit himself on fire, helping spark violent demonstrations in Tunisia, has died, the Federation of Human Rights Leagues said Wednesday. Mohamed Bouazizi died Tuesday in a hospital in Ben Arous, said Arthur Manet, spokesman for the Paris-based group known by its French acronym, FIDH. Bouazizi was an unemployed college graduate. To earn a living, he started a fruit and vegetable stand. But he did not have a permit, and local police came after him last month, said Khadija Cherif with FIDH.

The ouster of Tunisia's longtime ruler has cast a shadow over the surrounding region, but few analysts were willing to predict Tuesday that the revolt would spread to other countries. Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was Tunisia's president for 23 years before Friday, when weeks of protests forced him into exile in Saudi Arabia. Tunisians complained that the president's family and supporters had grown rich while their living conditions stagnated and their voices were stifled. But while the governments of nearby nations like Algeria, Libya and Egypt face similar criticism, the level of repression and the concentration of power and corruption were far more extreme in Tunisia, said Nathan Brown, a professor of Middle Eastern politics at George Washington University in Washington.

In what has come to be universally known as the "Arab Spring," in less than a year three major countries in North Africa have effectively ended nearly 100 combined years of dictatorial rule under despots named Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, Hosni Mubarak and Moammar Gadhafi. Seeing the revolutions from Tunisia to Egypt to Libya, it is amazing to recall that these grass-roots pro-democracy movements began with the "Jasmine Revolution" in Tunisia, when a 26-year-old unemployed fruit stand owner named Mohammed Bouazizi set himself on fire after a policewoman confiscated his unlicensed produce stand.

Europe and the U.S. should bolster their roles in Tunisia with the aim of building goodwill in the country that ignited uprisings across the region, the Abu Dhabi Gallup Center recommended. The recommendation by the center is part of a report released Monday that analyzed Tunisian public perception before the uprising that ousted President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, a long-time Western ally. The survey, titled "Tunisia: Analyzing the Dawn of the Arab Spring," used data collected prior to the uprisings to examine conditions that led to mass demonstrations across the country.

Tunisia, the country where the Arab Spring uprisings began this year, has joined the International Criminal Court, becoming the first North African country to do so. Tunisia deposited instruments of accession to the Rome Statute of the ICC to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday, which means it agrees to abide by the rules of the court. Tunisia becomes the 116th signatory to the Rome Statute, the governing treaty of the court, which investigates and prosecutes cases of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Former Tunisian President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali will be tried in absentia next week, the country's interim prime minister said Tuesday. Ben Ali's trial will start on Monday, interim Prime Minister Beji Caid Essebsi told Al Jazeera television. "He will be tried in a military and in a civilian court," Essebsi told the television network. Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia earlier this year after a revolt led to his ouster and triggered a wave of protests against longtime rulers across North Africa and the Middle East.

Leaders at the Group of Eight summit in France expressed their support for democracy activists in the Middle East and North Africa on Friday but stopped short of pledging money to support them. The G8 leaders raised the possibility that multilateral development banks could provide more than $20 billion to support reforms in Egypt and Tunisia, where popular uprisings dislodged authoritarian rulers. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the amount of aid could reach $40 billion.

President Barack Obama recently spoke of the December day a young Tunisian street vendor named Mohammed Bouazizi set himself on fire, in an act of hopelessness -- and purpose. His act sparked the Arab revolutions. "We have embraced the chance to show that America values the dignity of the street vendor in Tunisia more than the raw power of the dictator," Obama said in his recent speech on the Mideast. Now that President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali is gone, Tunisia is on the brink of becoming the first Arab democracy forged by a grass-roots revolution.

Three journalists who were released by Libyan officials crossed into Tunisia Thursday. The journalists were among four who were captured by the Libyan military and imprisoned for weeks. They were originally sentenced to jail for a year, but a Libyan government spokesman announced their release Wednesday. The location of the fourth journalist was not immediately clear. Libyan government spokesman Musa Ibrahim said a judge released the four journalists after ordering them to pay a fine for entering the country illegally.

President Barack Obama on Thursday placed the United States squarely on the side of democratic reform in the Middle East and North Africa, declaring in a major policy speech that the wave of change sweeping the region "cannot be denied. " Addressing a global audience, Obama condemned the use of force against Arab Spring protesters by longtime allies and adversaries alike. He also said the eruption of demands for greater opportunity in Arab nations could be used to kick-start stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

In his speech on Thursday, President Obama will reportedly "reset" his Middle East policy and clarify the Administration's position on the Arab Spring. The speech comes at a critical time, especially for Egypt and Tunisia, countries with the greatest chance of achieving democratic consolidation. The success of impending elections in these countries will be contingent on the ability of their transitional governments to demonstrate that life post-Mubarak or Ben Ali will be better.

Four journalists are free weeks after they were captured by the Libyan military and then sentenced to jail for a year, a Libyan government spokesman said Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Tunisian government condemned Libya's alleged continuous firing of rockets at the border town of Dhiba, a Tunisian foreign ministry source told the Tunisian News Agency. Also, fighting resumed Wednesday between rebels and forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi at the Dhehiba/Wazen border crossing with Tunisia, according to the Tunisian state-run news agency.