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UN: Arab Spring cost Middle East $614 billion

November 11, 2016 at 4:05 pm

The Arab Spring revolutions that began in December 2010 and directly triggered several civil wars in the region have cost Middle Eastern economies an estimated $614 billion, according to a report by the United Nations.

According to Al Jazeera, the figure, published yesterday by the UN’s Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), equates to six per cent of regional GDP up to the end of last year and is based on growth projections made before the revolutions began.

The study included an analysis of oil prices that fell to 13-year lows earlier this year, and highlighted the lack of international support for the Arab world in contrast to other regions.

Mohamed el Moctar Mohamed El Hacene, the ESCWA’s economic development director, said: “We have seen in Latin America, Eastern Europe and the Balkans the support they got in order to recover after conflict. We have not seen so far such support occurring for the Arab region.”

The UN study is the first of its kind that examines the economic impact of the Arab Spring since it erupted in Tunisia. The Arab Spring led to the ousting of the dictators of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen.

However, resistance to change by an entrenched old guard and governance failures by fledgling democracies has meant that democracy has only managed to somewhat succeed in Tunisia, the cradle of the Arab Spring.

Egypt’s short dalliance with democracy was brutally suppressed by the army under now-President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi. In Yemen, former strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh gave up power only to side with Iran-backed Houthi rebels in an attempt to regain power. Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi was toppled after NATO intervened in support of anti-regime fighters.

Syria has seen the deadliest violence of all, with President Bashar Al-Assad clinging to power in Damascus as the country is torn apart by fighting from dozens of factions, broadly categorised as pro-regime forces including Russia and Iran, anti-regime opposition groups and extremist organisations such as Daesh.

Not only has the Syrian conflict claimed more than 400,000 lives, but another UN body has said that the country has suffered economic and financial losses of $259 billion since 2011.