US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told an audience packed with Arab diplomats and civil society leaders that those who cling to the status quo of power cannot cling on forever, DPA reported.
"Those who stick to the status quo may be able to hold back the full impact of their countries' problems for a little while, but not forever," she said in remarks at an annual democracy and human rights forum.
She warned that "the region's foundations are sinking into the sand" and that a new Middle East "needs firmer ground if it is to take root and grow everywhere."
The US diplomat was speaking at the annual Forum for the Future, an initiative of the Group of Eight industrialized states to promote human rights and democracy in the region.
"While some countries have made great strides in governance, in many others, people have grown tired of corrupt institutions and a stagnant political order," said Clinton.
Upon Clinton's arrival to Qatar for the forum, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies criticized the annual event as "more of a debate club" that is "less concerned with its primary mission: pressing for political reform and strengthening democracy and human rights in the Arab world."
Expected at the forum were Turkey's prime minister and the foreign ministers of France, Canada, Egypt and Afghanistan, along with Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa.
Clinton urged Arab leaders to offer a positive vision that gives young people meaningful ways to contribute to society so that extremist groups do not fill the vacuum.
Ahead of her visit to Qatar, Clinton told reporters in Oman that the region is seeing a "generation larger than anything we have ever seen coming of age."
Her tour of four oil-rich Middle Eastern states - the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Oman and Qatar - is publicly aimed at encouraging greater female and youth participation in society throughout the Arab world.
The tour comes just as the North African nations of Tunisia and Algeria grow rife with dissent, in Tunisia primarily by youths bristling against the current government, and in Algeria over rising food prices.