Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"In 2011, public anger at the corrupt and repressive regimes that had dominated North Africa for decades erupted in one country after another. . . . A street trader named Mohamed Bouazizi set fire to himself outside a government building in Sidi Bouzid [Tunisia] in protest against municipal officials who had confiscated his merchandise after accusing him of trading without a license. Within hours of this solitary act, crowds gathered demonstrating against Ben Ali’s regime. . . . After twenty-nine days of protests, on 14 January Ben Ali fled into exile. Inspired by Tunisia’s ‘jasmine revolution’, crowds in Egypt took to the streets calling for the overthrow of Mubarak. . . . After eighteen days of protests, on 11 February Mubarak was forced to stand down. . . . Gaddafi tried to crush the demonstrations with brute force. . . . As his tanks advanced on Benghazi, the UN Security Council, fearing an imminent massacre there, intervened, authorising a ‘no-fly zone’ and ‘all necessary measures’ to be taken to protect civilians. Within hours, Western military jets went into action in Libya, attacking Gaddafi’s tanks and artillery and enabling poorly equipped rebel forces to survive." [The Fate of Africa, p. 699-701]