SHARM-EL-SHEIK, Egypt, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- Worries about growing frustration in the Arab community are signs that area governments need to respond to citizen complaints, a scholar said.
At least 12 people across North Africa have set themselves on fire in an apparent show of solidarity with the 26-year-old man whose self-immolation in Tunisia in December sparked the Jasmine Revolution.
Amr Moussa, the secretary-general of the Arab League, said during a meeting in Egypt that the revolution could spill over to the rest of the region.
"The Arab soul is broken by poverty, unemployment and general recession," he was quoted by London's Independent newspaper as saying. "This is on the mind of all of us."
Apart for protest suicides, demonstrators in Algeria, Oman and Libya have staged protests to complain of high unemployment and soaring prices.
Members of the Arab League pledged to back a $2 billion fund to help create jobs in parts of the Arab world struggling with their economies.
Clair Spencer, a Middle East and North African specialist at London think tank Chatham House, told the Independent that the Arab community should heed Moussa's warnings.
"It's a warning to say that some of the pressure on the population has to be lifted," she said.
