Clinton presses for reform across the Arab world

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says that the Arab world’s revolutions could be remembered as “just a mirage in the desert” if leaders fail to make good on demands for greater democracy and economic opportunity.

Clinton spoke Tuesday night in Washington at the annual U.S.-Islamic World Forum. Her warning comes amid increased signs of a backslide in the so-called Arab Spring, as Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi persists with a bloody war against Libyan rebels and leaders from Yemen to Syria to Bahrain violently resist calls for a democratic transformation.

Clinton says upheaval in the Arab world presents the first real chance in decades for fundamental change in the region.

In January, she warned Arab governments that they risked “sinking into the sand” if they did not meet their people’s needs. mercury news