Curfews, tear gas, and military troops were not enough to suppress the sounds of freedom as they flowed down the Nile River. Those that rallied met unrest not just in the capital, Cairo, but throughout the nation including Alexandria and Suez. Through all the revolting and chaos military action was not taken. Even amongst the tension and the terror the military still shook hands with citizens not holding back restraints to greet them. But with the army holding back, as well as protesters, the illegal Muslim Brotherhood has been under wraps as well. In an effort to heave rocks at the police, other affiliates of the Brotherhood pacified the crazed ones. Only four days into this whole “mess” and every side is holding back. The big question that is haunting everyone is which side will break and how far will the ripple go. Something has got to give and either freedom will reign or chaos will unleash for some time and an entire nation’s future will change exponentially.
Nigeria‘s “Big Three ” head to Miami next month to take on Guatemala in a friendly.
The Nigerian Super Eagles game is expected to hold on February 9 at the Sun Life Stadium, home to the Miami Dolphins. The team will then move to Dallas, Texas to take part in the Green Soccer Bowl tournament. Nigerian head coach, Samson Siasia will have to prove himself as this will be his first game as head coach.
After 23 years in power, Tunisia’s President, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was forced out of office by the Tunisian people. For several weeks, the people had protested in the streets on issues ranging from unemployment to the rise in food prices, to the Presidents unequal distribution of wealth, as well as government corruption and a “mafia-style” ruling of the country.
The protests worsened last Wednesday though after the suicide of a 26 year old University graduate, who was not allowed by the Tunisian police to sell fruit in order to make a living. This action is said to have sparked copycat suicides as well as massive violent protests throughout the country. Although the protests have not yet ended, Ben Ali has fled the country and is said to be hiding out in Saudi Arabia. Since then, the Prime minister of Tunisia, Mohamed Ghannouchi, has taken over, and appointed an interim national unity government, which includes politicians from both parties. The job of Ghannouchi now is to bring Tunisia to peace by use of government reform and to examine the violence and corruption of the former regime.
When you hear Somalia now in popular news media, one quickly jumps to the thought of Somali Pirates. Well, when it comes to this news story out of the African coastal nation, you wouldn’t be far off. Founder of the former company Blackwater Worldwide, once famous for working with United States security forces in the Middle East, is now working on training Somali recruits to defend against the threat of piracy. Real life piracy, the dangerous kind. Not that kind you hear about in the first blip on your DVDs and Blu-Rays.
The program, financed by many Arab nations, is involved with Blackwater Founder Eric Prince. He will help train defenses in a country that has been approaching anarchy for twenty years, and even go after an Islamist insurgent warlord. Somalia is weak, and the country’s government is a weakly held together skeleton with the U.N. as its arthritic backbone.
The deal is a little cloudy and detail are on the shady side.
For more information check out the full AP article here.
