Tunisia's government harshly condemned a suggestion by Rome that Italian security forces could be sent to the North African country to stem the flow of undocumented migrants. An estimated 5,000 Tunisians have landed on the Italian island of Lampedusa in recent days, fleeing unrest and repression. Rome has requested emergency aid from the European Union to deal with influx. (RTE News, Feb. 15; AFP, Feb. 14)

A 26-year-old man died in central Morocco Feb. 13 after setting himself on fire in despair at his economic situation since being dismissed from the army. "He poured five litres of petrol over himself and set himself alight in the weekly market at Benguerir," said Mohammed Hanofi of the Moroccan Human Rights Association. It was the first reported death in the country from self-immolation, which has also occurred in neighboring Algeria and sparked the revolution in Tunisia. (Middle East Online, Feb. 13)

Up to 2,000 marched in Algiers despite a ban on demonstrations in the city Feb. 12, and briefly pushed back against police who tried to bar the march with a cordon. Police flooded the streets with troops and armored vehicles to block the march, called by the recently formed National Coordination for Change and Democracy (CNCD). "We want a second independence," leading government critics demanded in an online video. "We are the generation of rupture."

In recent days, Facebook groups numbering several hundred members have been calling for "day of rage" protests in Libya on Feb. 17. An initiator of the call, Jamal al-Hajji, who has joint Libyan and Danish citizenship and has spent time in prison in the past for his criticism of the Moamar Qadaffi regime, was detained on Feb. 1 for an alleged hit-and-run accident, which he denies. International human rights observers say he has been targeted for his activism.

At least two people were killed and 17 others were wounded in the northern Tunisian city of El Kif on Feb. 5 when police opened fire on protesters who reportedly threw fire bombs and stones at a police station. Some 1,000 people gathered in a protest to demand the dismissal of the city' police chief. (Reuters, Feb. 5)

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika said Feb. 3 that the country's 19-year state of emergency would be lifted "in the very near future." The state of emergency was installed solely in response "to the fight against terrorism" Bouteflika said, denying it had "interfered" with the country's political process. The president's announcement came amid mounting calls by civil society leaders and opposition parties to lift the state of emergency. The pro-democracy Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights (LADDH) plans a march in Algiers on February 12.

Reuters, AFP and other wire services reported Feb. 1 that a synagogue was set aflame by arsonists in the Tunisian city of Ghabes overnight, in a wave of nocturnal violence that also affected the capital. "I condemn this action and I believe those who did it want to create divisions between Jews and Muslims in Tunisia who have lived for decades in peace," said local Jewish community leader Peres Trabelsi. "What especially shocked me was the fact that there was a police force not far from the synagogue when it was attacked," he added. However, later the same day, AFP retracted the story, saying without elaboration that their sources had withdrawn the accusation.

Tunisia's interim regime followed through on its pledge to replace the cabinet of ousted president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali Jan. 28, sacking the ministers of defense, interior and exterior. The changes were announced by Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi—himself a target of resignation demands by protesters who continue to take to the streets.