20111220
Reuters
(Reuters) - Here are the latest details of the revolts in the Middle East and North Africa and their aftermath:

EGYPT: Egyptian security forces fought opponents of army rule in Cairo on Monday. At least 13 people have been killed in four days of violent protests.

- In a pattern that has recurred during nine months of army rule since President Hosni Mubarak's overthrow in February, the confrontation swiftly grew as more people took to the streets.

- The violence has overshadowed the election that is set to give Islamists the biggest bloc in parliament. Actual voting in the election, which is staggered over six weeks, has been mostly peaceful since it began on November 28.

- Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood won a majority of run-off contests in the first round of parliamentary elections, consolidating its position as the clear front-runner. A second round took place on December 14/15.

- In the meantime, some presidential powers were handed to new Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri, whose cabinet was sworn in on December 7 by the country's ruling generals.

- Former President Mubarak is still on trial, accused of conspiring to kill protesters; 850 people were killed in the uprising that ended with Mubarak stepping down. Hearings are scheduled to resume on December 28.

SYRIA: Syria agreed on Monday to let Arab League observers into the country to monitor the implementation of a deal to pull troops from protest-hit towns, free political prisoners and start talking to dissidents. Nabil Elaraby, the Arab League secretary-general, said an advance party would head to Syria this week to prepare for the arrival of monitors.

- The United Nations has said more than 5,000 people have been killed in the nine-month crackdown, but President Bashar al-Assad told the U.S. television channel ABC that only a "crazy" leader kills his own people and that most of those who had died were supporters of the government.

- Syria said on December 5 it had conditionally approved the Arab League peace plan. But in a letter to the League, Syria rejected foreign interference and demanded the annulment of sanctions plus reinstatement in the regional bloc, from which it was suspended last month.

- Turkey announced on November 30 a list of economic sanctions on Syria, adding to the growing number of countries and bodies targeting the Assad government.

YEMEN: General Ali Mohsen said on December 18 that he backed a peace accord, lending support to efforts to pull Yemen from the brink of civil war. The announcement came a day after both his forces, and troops loyal to outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh, began withdrawing from the capital, Sanaa, as part of the Gulf-brokered peace deal.

- U.N. envoy Jamal Benomar, who helped broker the deal to ease Saleh from power, urged the new government to bring stability after months of unrest.

- Vice-President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi issued a decree on December 7, paving the way for a unity government to be sworn in to prepare for the presidential election set for February 21, 2012.

- Last month Saleh bowed to international pressure and signed a deal easing him out of power after 33 years.

BAHRAIN: Police fired tear gas and clashed with Shi'ite Muslim protesters on December 16 after a man was run over and killed as he fled security forces chasing protesters near Manama, the opposition and a rights group said.

- Protesters took to the streets of Bahrain in February demanding a bigger role for elected representatives and less power for the ruling al-Khalifa family, who are Sunni Muslims.

- In November, a government appointed fact-finding commission of international lawyers reported that 3,000 people were detained, over 4,000 lost their jobs, and hundreds were maltreated in detention at the time of the protests. Bahrain later admitted that its forces had used excessive force and mistreated detainees during pro-democracy protests.

- Troops from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states went into Bahrain in March to help quell the violence resulting in the deaths of 35 people, including five security personnel.

- There has been no progress on talks between the government and opposition groups on political reform, and sectarian tensions continue to dog the Gulf Arab island state.

LIBYA: U.S. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta told Libya's leaders on December 17 they faced a long, hard road in moving on from 42 years of one-man rule by Muammar Gadaffi and uniting rival militias that still hold the streets.

- The new interim government under Prime Minister Abdurrahim El-Keib won a welcome boost a day earlier, when the U.N. Security Council lifted sanctions on Libya's central bank, clearing the way for the release of billions of dollars held overseas to ease an acute cash crisis.

- However the authority of the government is still being challenged by militias who took Tripoli in August, six months after the start of a bloody rebellion against Gaddafi that drew NATO into an air war.

TUNISIA: Thousands of people packed the town of Sidi Bouzid to celebrate the first anniversary on December 17, of Tunisia's democratic revolution in the place where it began, unleashing a tide of popular revolt that transformed the Arab world.

- Voters in an October poll handed victory to the moderate Islamist Ennahda party. The new leaders will hold power for a year while a new constitution is drawn up and fresh elections are prepared.