Africa

In January and February, millions of Egyptians staged uprisings against Mubarak's 30-year rule, protesting on-going violations of human rights, economic stagnation, and the 2010 renewal of the state of emergency law.2 On February 11, Mubarak stepped down as president, and the military took over power on an interim basis.5 In March, an overwhelming majority of the Egyptian electorate voted in a referendum to amend the Egyptian Constitution to eliminate restrictions on Egyptians' political rights and to institute changes to parliamentary and presidential election procedures.4 In November, Egyptians protested against the ruling Egyptian military regime and its draft for the new Egyptian constitution.5 Objections to the draft included the degree of power it will confer upon the military, even following parliamentary and presidential elections.6 B. LIBYA In February 2011, an anti-government demonstration in Benghazi began the chain of events that led to the Libyan Revolution or Civil War.7 On February 26, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution freezing the assets of the Libyan leader, Colonel Gaddafi.8 On June 27, 2011, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against Ghaddafi, his son, Saif al -Islam, and a top military intelligence chief for crimes against humanity in connection with violence against the anti-government protestors.9 The Court ruled that there were reasonable grounds to believe that the suspects had committed the crimes alleged and that their arrest appeared necessary to prevent die continuation of crimes against the Libyan population.10 On November 22, the case against Colonel Gaddafi was terminated following his capture and death on October 20.11 The National Transitional Council (NTC), an interim governing body created by the opposition, was officially recognized by the United Nations as the legal representative of Libya in September.12 The NTC issued a Constitutional declaration in which it set up a roadmap for the country's transition to a constitutional democracy with an elected government.15 C. ALGEEIA In light of the regional political landscape, the Algerian government took a number of steps aimed at constitutional and legal reforms.