Man sets himself on fire outside Egyptian parliament

A man set himself alight outside the Egyptian parliament, in Cairo, in a copycat move mirroring the self-immolation of a 26-year-old Tunisian graduate Mohammed Bouazizi. Witnesses said that the man in question poured fuel over himself before setting himself on fire.

An unnamed government official told AFP that the man "stood outside the People's Assembly, poured fuel on himself and set himself on fire". He added that: "A policeman who was close by managed to extinguish the fire and the man was quickly taken away by ambulance."

The Egyptian man has sustained burns to his face and hands, but further details about his condition are unknown. It is believed that he did so as a stand against poor living conditions affecting most of the country's population. Bouazizi, who died in early January, set himself alight after Tunisian police took away his livelihood by prevented him from selling vegetables without a permit.

There have been no large scale protests in Egypt, but the people have voiced the same grievances in Cairo as they have done in Tunisia. The ongoing and increasingly violent protests across Tunisia, over unemployment, corruption and high food prices, have resulted in the resignation of Tunisia's President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.

Sources: AFP, BBC News, Guardian, Reuters

For more news and expert analysis about Egypt, please see Egypt Politics & Security.

Libya to invest in Tunisia's Skhira refinery

Libya has said that it will help its neighbour Tunisia build a new oil refinery at the Skhira oil terminal, on the Tunisian coastline. The co-operation agreement was at the centre of discussions during Libya's Secretary of General People's Committee Mahmoud Al-Baghdadi visit with Tunisia's President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.

Al-Mahmoudi said that both parties had agree that Libya invest in the project and help build the refinery at Skhira, a Mediterranean port about 350km south-east of Tunis. No details about the co-operation agreement have yet been disclosed and it is unclear what role Libya would play in the project, or the size of its investment.

The Skhira refinery project was announced three years ago but it is yet to commence. The refinery is expected to have capacity of around 120,000 b/d. Tunisia has only one oil refinery, in the northern city of Bizerte, with a capacity of 30,000barrels b/d.

Source: Africa News

For more news and expert analysis about Libya, please see Libya Focus and Libya Politics & Security.