New Tunisian president calls for unity government

Sat, 15 Jan 2011

Tunis/Paris - Tunisia's new interim president Foued Mbazaa on Saturday ordered his prime minister to propose a unity government to run the country in the wake of the departure of Zine el-Abidine ben Ali.

Mbazaa, the former speaker of parliament, was sworn in as president Saturday a day after autocratic Ben Ali, president of 23 years, was ousted by a popular uprising.

Shortly after his inauguration he instructed Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi to come up with a government composed of ruling party and opposition members to govern until the next elections, which must be held within 60 days, according to the constitution.

The opposition, which was neutered under Ben Ali's rule, has been demanding to play a part in running the country, saying the current administration is corrupt and tainted by the police's killing of dozens of demonstrators.

Tunis was under curfew Saturday night and army tanks were patrolling the streets after a day in which the widespread relief at Ben Ali's departure was tempered with concern over what lay ahead.

Hundreds of European holidaymakers have fled the country. German tour operators canceled all flights to Tunisia. However, many other European tourists remain stranded in the country.

Looters and prisoners in several towns took advantage of the power vacuum to run amok.

A prison, in the central town of Kasserine, was in flames and prisoners were on the run after taking advantage of the power vacuum to stage a breakout, eyewitnesses said Saturday afternoon.

There was no information yet on injuries or fatalities.

That breakout followed a strike for freedom earlier at a prison in the coastal city of Monastir. That attempt ended in tragedy, with upwards of 50 people reported killed when the prison caught fire, medical sources and eyewitnesses said.

The blaze apparently started when prison inmates began setting their mattresses on fire. Then, according to eyewitness accounts, several prisoners seeking to escape were shot dead by prison guards.

Tunisia has been under a state of emergency since Friday.

In a show of force aimed at restoring order, troops marched through the center of Tunis and helicopters circling through columns of smoke wafting up from the rubble of four weeks of rioting.

An army commander on Saturday blamed Ben Ali's presidential guard for the looting and disorder and said the army and police had arrested hundreds of presidential guard members.

Several supermarkets and residential buildings in Tunis were set ablaze or looted and one hospital was attacked. Several of the targeted buildings were owned by relatives of Ben Ali.

Mbazaa was named interim president by the constitutional council, which declared that Ben Ali had left a "definitive vacancy."

Prime Minister Ghannouchi had initially declared he would fill that vacancy in the interim, with support from the army.

But the constitution says the speaker of parliament, not the prime minister, takes over if the presidency is vacated.

Ben Ali fled after a month-long popular revolt that began when an unemployed school graduate trying to eke out a living selling vegetables fatally set himself alight in front of a government building on December 17.

His action sparked protests over unemployment which spread to all corners of the country and became aimed at Ben Ali.

After failing to appease the situation with promises to step down in 2014 and to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs, Ben Ali left for Saudi Arabia.

Saudi officials welcomed Ben Ali and his family, while also wishing "security and stability" to the people of Tunisia, the SPA news agency reported.

According to French media, Ben Ali first tried to land in France but was turned away.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/362509,president-calls-unity-government.html.