What looked to be a promising peaceful transition to democracy in North Africa has again been bogged down and has degenerated into bloodshed and an increase in fanaticism.

Let us separate the two, and go for the second issue first. Tunisia seemed to be the perfect model of how the Arab Spring was supposed to unfold. But even there, despite there being an established sense of secularism and tolerance, and despite the country’s best attempts to reestablish economic growth after a massive slump, Islamists and fanatic groups are hijacking the agenda.

The same happened in Egypt, but for different reasons. Egypt’s people rose up against Hosni Mubarak and he was ousted. Now they have an Islamist President who has no power at all – it was snatched by the military in its manipulation of the country’s constitution just before the general election a few weeks back.

Libya continues to be a cause of concern. At the time of going to print, the elections being held there, seemed to be going smoothly. But there are still tribal and militia problems which continue to result in death and violence.

And that brings us to the bloodshed. Syria, of course, is just a bloodbath. It is no longer an uprising, it is civil war. Both the government troops of Bashar al Assad and the opposition are firing indiscriminately and people are dropping like flies. The conflict has already spilled over into Lebanon and Turkey has become increasingly aggressive, especially since one of its aircraft was shot down by the Syrian Army. The less said about Bahrain the better. Bahrain is a key ally to the United States and therefore Saudi Arabia. Its people have tried and tried again to draw the world’s attention to its plight. Saudi sent its army in to support the government while the US is looking the other way.

It is clear that the spring has turned into a long hot summer and it might even drag on into a cold dark winter. The world united when Libya’s people rose up against Muammar Gaddafi, yet we are all silent in the face of what is increasingly more evident – a war in which both sides are killing civilians in Syria.

When all this began to unfold, there were so many possibilities. Some regimes are still going strong, Algeria, for example. Two other curious situations are those in Jordan and Morocco – both monarchies. In both countries, the monarchy is respected, but there were times were tempers flared and the people demanded that more power be ceded to their parliaments – and by default, the citizen. But even in these two countries, relaxation of laws has not led to more freedom to citizens, but more freedom to fanatics to force their views onto others, even through violent acts. It is going to be a very long and hard road ahead, for all these people who are trying to break free from the past and forge their own future.