ABU DHABI // Gen Colin Powell, the former US secretary of state, has called for Col Muammar Qaddafi to step down, and said it is time for political reforms in the region.
“Qadaffi will soon come to realisation that murdering his own people is not a solution, and that it is time for him to step aside,” Gen Powell said during a conference in the capital yesterday.
He said that protests in Libya were the most concerning and the most violent in the Arab world, adding that Col Qaddafi is using the "desperate attempts of a desperate [man] to keep a stranglehold of a rule of his own people".
Gen Powell was the senior military assistant to the former US secretary of defence Caspar Weinberger during the US air strikes on Libya in 1986.
He later served in many roles – including as chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff – that involved assessing Col Qaddafi’s regime before becoming the secretary of state.
He said some countries in the region “will be wise enough to reform themselves” to address people’s demands, and that was the only way to “make this tsunami just a wave”.
“The tsunami of reform that had reshaped Europe, reshaped Asia, reshaped Latin America, it’s trying to reshape Africa, and now that tsunami of reform has hit this region,” he said. “There is a new transparency throughout the world, especially now in this region, that is refreshing as people work hard to find the truth and to examine what they are being told. People now are demanding access to power that they believe is right to be theirs.
“No government in the region should stand still,” he said. “The tsunami wave that is passing through will eventually touch every shore.”
Political unrest across the Middle East and North Africa has included protests in two countries in the Gulf, Bahrain and Oman.
While fully supporting democratic movements, Gen Powell said that Tunisia and Egypt were “in a position to serve as models” , depending on the next steps they take.
He also said the media revolution had helped increase transparency in the region and fuelled the protests, adding that governments should not try to keep people from accessing media, including socially popular web sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
“Media revolution has broken all old barriers of seeking the truth, connected people in ways that no government can block or suppress, nor should they try,” he said. “Let openness flourish.”
During the Egyptian protests, there was a government-mandated internet blackout that left citizens disconnected from Facebook and Twitter, which had helped spur on the protests.
Gen Powell also said that “there is increasingly a desire throughout the world, in every part of the world [in people] that they should have more of a say in how they will be governed, how their nation’s wealth should be used, what rights they have to speak out, what rights they have to practice their religious beliefs one way or the other.”
He cited unemployment as a major concern for citizens, mentioning that one of the reasons his own parents were motivated to move from Jamaica to America 90 years ago was to pursue financial opportunity.
“People are not worried about politics as much as they are worried about a better life,” he said.
He also said people were more concerned about food, shelter, education, and health, so governments needed to focus on economic development and the creation of wealth, which will lift people out of poverty.
“It is not just political, it is economic, it is educational recognition of the new 21st-century, information-driven world,” he said. “Inspired visionary leadership can make this tsunami just a wave, a wave that can lift all those and take them all to a safe harbour.”
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kshaheen@thenational.ae
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
The Bio
Hometown: Bogota, Colombia
Favourite place to relax in UAE: the desert around Al Mleiha in Sharjah or the eastern mangroves in Abu Dhabi
The one book everyone should read: 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It will make your mind fly
Favourite documentary: Chasing Coral by Jeff Orlowski. It's a good reality check about one of the most valued ecosystems for humanity
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Small Victories: The True Story of Faith No More by Adrian Harte
Jawbone Press
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Prop idols
Girls full-contact rugby may be in its infancy in the Middle East, but there are already a number of role models for players to look up to.
Sophie Shams (Dubai Exiles mini, England sevens international)
An Emirati student who is blazing a trail in rugby. She first learnt the game at Dubai Exiles and captained her JESS Primary school team. After going to study geophysics at university in the UK, she scored a sensational try in a cup final at Twickenham. She has played for England sevens, and is now contracted to top Premiership club Saracens.
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Seren Gough-Walters (Sharjah Wanderers mini, Wales rugby league international)
Few players anywhere will have taken a more circuitous route to playing rugby on Sky Sports. Gough-Walters was born in Al Wasl Hospital in Dubai, raised in Sharjah, did not take up rugby seriously till she was 15, has a master’s in global governance and ethics, and once worked as an immigration officer at the British Embassy in Abu Dhabi. In the summer of 2021 she played for Wales against England in rugby league, in a match that was broadcast live on TV.
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Erin King (Dubai Hurricanes mini, Ireland sevens international)
Aged five, Australia-born King went to Dubai Hurricanes training at The Sevens with her brothers. She immediately struck up a deep affection for rugby. She returned to the city at the end of last year to play at the Dubai Rugby Sevens in the colours of Ireland in the Women’s World Series tournament on Pitch 1.
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The specs
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Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
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Tips for used car buyers
- Choose cars with GCC specifications
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- Check for oil leaks
- Do a Google search on the standard problems for your car model
- Do your due diligence. Get a transfer of ownership done at an official RTA centre
- Check the vehicle’s condition. You don’t want to buy a car that’s a good deal but ends up costing you Dh10,000 in repairs every month
- Validate warranty and service contracts with the relevant agency and and make sure they are valid when ownership is transferred
- If you are planning to sell the car soon, buy one with a good resale value. The two most popular cars in the UAE are black or white in colour and other colours are harder to sell
Tarek Kabrit, chief executive of Seez, and Imad Hammad, chief executive and co-founder of CarSwitch.com
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
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THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
The BIO:
He became the first Emirati to climb Mount Everest in 2011, from the south section in Nepal
He ascended Mount Everest the next year from the more treacherous north Tibetan side
By 2015, he had completed the Explorers Grand Slam
Last year, he conquered K2, the world’s second-highest mountain located on the Pakistan-Chinese border
He carries dried camel meat, dried dates and a wheat mixture for the final summit push
His new goal is to climb 14 peaks that are more than 8,000 metres above sea level
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Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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