Islamist forces coming to power in ‘Arab Spring’ countries could provoke a fresh wave of protests and lead to civil wars, experts said at a meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club in Marrakesh on Wednesday. The Arab Spring not only has not ended, but will remain the key factor in the development of the region
Islamist forces coming to power in ‘Arab Spring’ countries could provoke a fresh wave of protests and lead to civil wars, Arab experts said at a meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club on Wednesday.
“An Islamic regime is obviously at odds with the aspirations of a multiethnic Syria,” said Basma Qodmani, a member of the opposition Syria National Council in 2011-12.
If Islamists come to power that will divide the country, she said.
“If that happens its neighbors will also be affected.”
Extremist groups fighting on Syrian territory are connected to Syrian society neither politically nor socially but local Islamists, represented mainly in the Muslim Brother movement, “could have a role in the country’s future political life provided they become more moderate,” she said.
Ahmed Ezz El-Arab, deputy head of Egypt's Wafd Party, slammed the Islamists who have taken dominant positions in the state.
Muslim Brothers members who won the presidential election in Egypt “are using religion as a political tool, being the patriots of their movement, not of Egypt,” he said.
“Never has there been such an incompetent government in our country’s history. They hijacked the revolution and now they want to bring in members of their movement in all positions of authority,” he said.
“That will lead the country to a new revolution and a civil war.”
The transformation in the Middle East and North Africa, known internationally as the Arab Spring, not only has not ended, but will remain the key factor in the development of the region, a member of the Russian Council on Foreign and Defense Policy Pavel Andreev said at the Valdai Club Middle East Dialogue in Morocco.
“The transformation in the Middle East and North Africa is not only proceeding,” Pavel Andreev said, “but after passing the phase that was most active and most visible to outside observers, the Arab Spring is now at a crossroads, where they are deciding on the long-term development trend of the region, its government institutions and civic construction. This process will be key for the countries of the region, as well as for the region's place in the global system and its economic relations.”
RIA Novosti.
