The price of staple items such as bread and vegetables are increasing at a rapid rate across the world including Tunisia. The President has had to flee the country and take refuge in Saudi Arabia and what remains of the fragile country. The international community is urging all of their non essential citizens to leave the country. This is sign of some terrible things to come as we have seen scores of people have rioted in prisons and dozens of people have died.
This picture does not bode well for other countries as the prices of essential food stuff have increased disproportionately over the last year combined with lack of job opportunities in the face of the general economic downturn.
The question is which country is next? This kind of unrest and uprisings is difficult to stop as we have seen within Tunisia with the President who tries to promise reform and elections that fell on deaf ears. The Tunisian people had become disenchanted with the Government of Zine Ben Ali who presided over the country for over 23 years. People had expressed their anger at the level of corruption and Government crack-down on ordinary people have been unpresented.
The recent revelations in the WikiLeaks may have contributed to the anger felt by people in Tunisia. Then, the revelations were not confined to Tunisia and there are wider questions as to where all this is going to lead?
Semra Eren-Nijhar 