Foreign Policy Blogs

People Power in Tunisia: Let Mugabe and All Dictators be Warned!

Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali is reported to have fled the country, a country he ruled for 23 years, amid anti-govt riots over soaring unemployment and corruption. His whereabouts is still unknown, but (as usual) I am suspecting that he may be headed for Europe.

Ordinarily I am not a fan of this kind of power transition, but history teaches that dictators “don’t retire but are forced out of power.”

And oh, apparently WikiLeaks has a hand in Ben Ali’s dramatic fall from power after its leaked cables disclosed widespread corruption and economic mismanagement at the hand of his regime.

 

Author

Ndumba J. Kamwanyah

Ndumba Jonnah Kamwanyah, a native of Namibia in Southern Africa, is an independent consultant providing trusted advice and capacity building through training, research, and social impact analysis to customers around the world. Mos recently Ndumba returned from a consulting assignment in Liberia in support of the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL).
In his recent previous life Ndumba taught (as an Adjunct Professor) traditional justice and indigenous African political institutions in sub-Saharan Africa at the Rhode Island College-Anthropology Department.

He is very passionate about democracy development and peace-building, and considers himself as a street researcher interested in the politics of everyday life.
Twitter: NdumbaKamwanyah