I sometimes wonder why African presidents find it so hard to leave office. Do they think it is their God given right to rule till death? Yet some of them were very intelligent people before they "tasted" power.

museveni? algeria? gaddafi? mugabe?

Of course, south of the Sahara, the tribal factor is huge. Look at Uganda where ankoles - lot of whom are in the army - support museveni while Baganda are anti-museveni.

Need I even explain Kenya's tribal dynamics? Look at the KKK.

Zimbabwe has the shona vs the rest as well.

there was an underhand of the west in this, guys dont look at the superficial base of the case.

Nonsense!!!.I know you by your soberness and i really don't want to believe that the joy of a million sober Egyptian was an influence of the west.....I would also take you through the Egypt of yester decade and have you compare it with the Egypt of today.If you are a good student,the difference is so distinct and i am not surprised by this uprising.

This is mere speculation, unless u can back up ur argument. Of course Uncle Sam came out (through rhetoric rather than action) in favour of support of Mubarak's ouster. For instance when Obama on Sunday called for an "orderly transition" to democracy in Egypt. We also know of the politically correct diplomacy of American presidents throughout the generations. But this alone does not show that they were in anyway involved. After all why would they? Mubarak has been them what I would call ' a staunch strategic ally of three decades ... an almost lone voice of sanity in a Middle East'. There u have it Sober, we need ur proof.

In my opinion this way 'a voice of the people inpired by Ben Ali's similar ouster and 3 decades of a dectatorial regime'