The times they are a-changin'

Towards the end of 2010, the news items which mentioned protests in Tunisia seemed to be like mere passing comments which are found in all daily news, at least to me anyway. But by 14th January 2011, when the Tunisian president fled from his country after 23 years in power, these events were no longer insignificant, even in my neutral eyes. Within less than 2 weeks, protests sparked off in Egypt on 25th January and by 11th February, their own president gave up his throne after 30 years heading the country. It was very clear what was to happen next: protests started off in Libya calling for the resignation of their own premier who has been in power for almost 42 years. This particular event had far more serious consequences than the similar ones in the neighbouring countries...

The whole affair kicked off on 15th February and the fighting is still on-going to date. Luckily and thankfully, dad was away from Libya since he was on his field break and this made matters far more serious as far as our family is concerned. However, the fighting between protesters and Gaddafi loyalists is extensive, very often fatal, and the number of casualties and deaths is constantly increasing. One major stronghold remains, Tripoli, the city which was my "home" for 6 weeks in 2008. Whenever I switch on CNN, BBC and Al Jazeera (often in succession), I often recognise the places where the conflict is on-going and it is a real shame that people of the same nation end up fighting and killing each other, probably due to financial interests rather than true political loyalty.

Malta is featuring prominently in the whole saga, for many countries have based their evacuation camps on the island, being the safest nearest country and a stepping stone to the rest of the world. I believe some 8000 people have so far been taken to Malta from Libya via plane or sea and I guess many more are to follow.

I trust that the conflict does not last for much longer and that the sweep of change going on through North Africa and other Middle East countries will bring happier days to the region.