BICOM

Foreign Secretary William Hague has said that the Middle East faces ‘a lot of problems and even convulsions’ in the years to come, in an interview published in the Times today. Hague expressed particular concern about the situation in Egypt, warning that the power struggle in Cairo must not see the region’s pivotal country fall back into popular uprisings, like those which overthrew president Hosni Mubarak five months ago. ‘The next few months could be quite turbulent and difficult in Egypt,’ he said. ‘It is perhaps the single most important piece of the jigsaw in the whole Arab Spring.’
  

On Syria, Hague did not call on President Assad to step down, but he said that the regime should not count on being in power in six months. ‘Events have shown that no one can assume they are able to carry on in power.’
 


Talking to the Times on the Arab spring as a whole, Hague said that the developments in the region could now take a generation to work through. ‘We mustn’t expect each country to be neatly done in six months. It’s not a computer game that comes to an end when you get bored. It’s not a TV programme that finishes at 10pm. We are going to be working at this for the rest of our lives,’ he said. Despite the problems, however, Hague said that he remained ‘on the optimistic side’, arguing the Arab peoples would not tolerate a return to authoritarian rule once they had experienced alternatives.