The Peace on The Horizon - 75 Years after The World War 2 in the Middle East (169)

 

(Japanese Version)

(Arabic Version)

 

(contents)

 

Chapter 7: The "Arab Spring" - A fleeting dream (2)

 

169 Enough already! The masses are tired of long-term dictatorship (2/4)

Colonel Gaddafi of Libya was the first secular dictator in the MENA region. As mentioned in Chapter 4, he deposed the King Idris I by means of the coup and became the supreme leader in 1969 when he was only 27 years old. He held that position for 42 years then ended the life of 69 during the civil war in 2011.

 

Following Colonel Gaddafi the second secular dictator in the MENA region was Hafiz al-Assad of Syria. He was born from a minority tribe of the Alawi group in northern Syria, of which religious faction was Shiite. He revealed himself within the Baath party after serving as the Air Force officer. Hafiz was elected to the president in 1971 and established a strong regime. He appointed his second son, Bashar al-Assad as the successor. Bashar al-Assad is the present President of Syria after surviving the long civil war. Reign of father and son of al-Assad has been continuing nearly half a century.

 

In addition to the above, there were several dictators in MENA. Former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh was general commander of the army. He was appointed president of North Yemen in 1978 when he was 36 years old. He kept the presidential post after the reunification of the South and the North Yemen. He was defeated in the Arab Spring in 2011. The term of his presidency was 33 years. After dismissal in 2011, he formed a coalition forces with Houthi group and occupied the capital Sana'a. Saleh himself was assassinated in 2017.

 

Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was an executive officer of Baath Party and became president of Iraq in 1979. He survived in Iran-Iraq War from 1980 to 1988 and the Gulf War in 1991. But in 2003 Hussein regime fell down by Iraq War. Hussein was arrested and executed by a trial. The period of his presidency was 24 years.

 

(To be continued ----)

 

 

Areha Kazuya

(From an ordinary citizen in the cloud)