Egypt: When elephants fight, the grass suffers

Once upon a time, a small fire was lit in a small town called Sidi Bouazid. In this town a fruit seller was slapped by a police woman, his fruits and scales confiscated. Unbeknownst to the police woman and her colleagues, the fruit seller had reached the edge as far as harassment from the authorities was concerned. He set himself on fire in front of the council offices, the rest of the country rioted. The president fled and the rest as they say is history. That was the story (or the fire) in Tunisia. Like a wild fire blown by strong winds. The flames soon reached Yemen, Jordan, Syria and even Sudan. In Egypt most of the fire was to be found in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez. The protests in these places are all calling for regime change and democratic reforms. Although the cabinet in Jordan has been fired and the Yemen leader has vowed not to stand again or promote his son to the throne, the focus has remained on Egypt. In Egypt, the protestors who have shown previously unknown resilience and perseverance are calling on their ageing leader to step down. The former air force commander has stood his ground saying he will die on Egyptian soil. After all he is no coward like Tunisia’s Ben Ali. He has survived several assassination attempts and he hopes to survive till September. For two weeks now, we have watched the country famed for its civilization and pyramids going up in flames of anger. Although the year has just begun, it is not a long shot to say that this may go down as the biggest story of the year. This is because Egypt is not your average banana republic with stories of war, poverty and disease. It is a key player in the Middle East politics. It signed a peace treaty with Israel. It has arguably the strongest army in Africa and the Middle East after Israel. It receives more than $1.3 billion every year in military aid from the United States of America its key ally in stabilizing the fragile Middle East. Because of what Egypt is to the world, we have all been compelled to stop and watch as events unfold in this great country. There is no news organisation worth its salt that has not made time and space for the events in Egypt. Several world leaders have interrupted their programmes to pronounce themselves on the situation in Cairo. The drama in Egypt is a classic case of the proverbial elephants fighting and the grass suffering. And there are more than two elephants in this epic battle. On one side we have Hosni Mubarak and on the other, you have youthful protestors, so determined they could actually move the pyramids if that is what it takes for Mubarak to step down. Other elephants are US, Israel and other western powers that are worried about what will happen if Mubarak leaves power. They fear that a radical regime may come up and trash the peace treaty with Israel, pen the Gaza crossing and welcome other radical anti-US elements. Some political organisations like the banned Muslim Brotherhood and a popular diplomat loved by the West are all trying to seize the moment. In such a heavy battle the grass has had to suffer untold misery. The government has switched off the internet and phone service on more than one occasion. The banks and fuel stations have been closed. The train service was shut down and major roads are blocked. Vodafone was even forced to send pro-Mubarak messages to subscribers while Hilton hotel was forced to check its occupants and confiscate their gadgets. The media has suffered a lot in this war. The media loves such events since this is the time when many get their battle credits and scars. But a recent crackdown on the media had the government branding all foreign journalists as Israeli spies. Al Jazeera was told to pack and go while CNN’s Anderson Cooper and several others were beaten and their equipment confiscated. The suffering has also extended to other news topics. With Egypt eating all the media space, we can hardly know what is happening outside the now famous Meydan Tahrir (Liberation square). Some news channels like Al Jazeera have been giving almost 24 hours of coverage to Egypt. If all crises were to be covered this way then maybe the world would be a better place. I do not think that for instance the Genocide against the Tutsi in 1994 would have happened for 100 days if CNN had been giving the world 24-hour coverage. ssenyonga@gmail.com