Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has expressed concerns regarding the transition to democracy in countries affected by the Arab Spring. Speaking in an interview with
CTV News, due to air on Monday evening, Harper said the Arab Spring had thrown a curveball in the international arena.
Harper told CTV that he "is conflicted about whether the Arab Spring revolutions will led to peace in the region." He backed the decision to involve Canadian troops in the NATO action against Libya by saying "In the case of Libya, the, part of the reason we got so aggressively involved as it was actually hard to imagine that even Libya could possibly get worse."
Regarding Egypt, Harper said "There are obviously forces who want democracy and progressive change, but there are clearly some forces that would want something that's probably worse than what we had before.”
The threat of Islamic extremists filling the power vacuum left by Colonel Gaddafi in Libya are real. Protests have been held to demonstrate against anyone connected to the Gaddafi regime holding a position in the new Libyan government. In Egypt activists are urging that the election process be speeded up in the light of military action civilian protesters in Cairo.
Egypt Independent reported that there are demands for the military council to transfer power to civilians and end bloodshed in the streets.
The Canadian PM says that he has been in talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the security situation in Egypt. Whilst Harper considered that changes in Egypt had been a "pretty positive thing" he expressed concern over the persecution of Coptic's and others" according to
Alarabiya.
