The sacrifice, the ultimate act of desperation left-nots

Two men attempted to set themselves on fire, Monday, January 17, Mauritania and Egypt, bringing to eight the number of people who wanted to kill himself publicly in African countries since Wednesday. In Mauritania, an entrepreneur of 43 years stopped driving before the Senate, in Nouakchott, the capital, then tried to set fire to his car while he was still inside.

According to a reporter that he had contacted before committing this act, he was "dissatisfied with the country's political situation and anger against the regime." Members of security forces and bystanders were able to extract the vehicle and was taken to hospital. Cairo, Egypt, is a restaurateur who tried to end his days in the same way.

This 50 year old man also chose to commit this act before an official building, the People's Assembly. He protested against the fact "that did not receive coupons to buy bread for his restaurant." According to the governor of Ismailiya, where the man was from - near the Suez Canal - he was suffering from mental disorders.

Impossible, however, does not link these acts in desperate gesture Mohamed Bouazizi, this Tunisian 26 years died of his wounds on January 4 and became the symbol of the uprising in Tunisia (the point of being elevated to the rank of "saint" by Tunisian writer Hele Beji). It is also impossible not to be struck by the repetition of sacrifices in recent days in Algeria, where five attempts were counted.

In most cases the social despair, is involved in the image of the unemployed 34 year old who tried to kill himself Sunday in front of the building safety of Algiers while he was carrying several job applications and that letters addressed to various government all to no avail. According to information from the newspaper El Watan, this man had been a soldier for four years near Oran.

Since leaving the army in 2000, the young man had returned to live with nine family members in a three-bedroom apartments and lived through his father's small pension and salary from his brother. The same feeling of being abandoned by the state seems to prevail in a young man of 27, who was slain Saturday near the Tunisian border to protest against the mayor's refusal to receive him and a group of twenty young people who were demanding jobs and housing.

According to his cousin, the man would have passed the act after the mayor mocked him, saying "no work, will do as Bouazizi, immolate yourself." As dead as a first step, the man eventually died from his injuries. Each time, the difficulties of everyday life come to explain the gesture of the slain, the image of the father of six children who had used the same act of desperation after being excluded from the list of beneficiaries of the hundred of their local housing .

According to a neighbor, a man of 41 years had been relocated several times after floods in 2001 and after the earthquake of 2003, which killed more than 1000 dead and 7000 injured. After the earthquake, it had been relocated with his family in a one-room apartment. This was supposed to be temporary, but nearly ten years later, the man still lived there.

None of his dozen attempts to get a new roof has been successful, the man had finally decided to end his days. Could we talk about these desperate cases Bouazizi if Mohamed had not committed suicide? El Watan, this is no doubt: "The revolt of Tunisians is the first of its kind in the Arab world.

The contagion effect is feared, especially since the ingredients found in Tunisia are also present in Algeria. [...] It only takes a spark to light a fire ... "

• Report: Algerian man dies from self-immolation (16/01/2011)
• Report: Algerian man dies from self-immolation (16/01/2011)
• Report: Algerian man dies from self-immolation (16/01/2011)
• Algerian dies in self-immolation, echoing Tunisia (16/01/2011)
• Algerian dies from self-immolation - Africa - Al Jazeera English (16/01/2011)