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PM names unity government to quell Tunisia unrest

17 January 2011 20:09 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Tunisia’s prime minister appointed opposition figures to a new unity government on Monday in the hope of restoring stability after violent street protests brought down the president last Friday, APA reports quoting â€œReutersâ€.
Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi also said the government was committed to releasing all political prisoners and would investigate anyone with great wealth or suspected of corruption.
Before his announcement, 1,000 people demonstrated in the capital Tunis, some saying they would not accept members of the ousted president’s ruling party in the new coalition because they would block needed reforms.
Ghannouchi is himself a member of the RCD, previously led by ousted President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, and the party retains a significant presence in the new government.
Security forces used water cannon and tear gas and fired shots in the air to disperse the protest.
The prime minister said opposition leaders would have cabinet posts, but the ministers of defense, interior, finance and foreign affairs would keep their jobs in the new government.
He named Najib Chebbi, founder of the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) which opposed Ben Ali, as minister of regional development. Ettajdid party leader Ahmed Ibrahim will be higher education minister and Mustafa Ben Jaafar, head of the Union of Freedom and Labour, health minister.
"We are committed to intensifying our efforts to re-establish calm and peace in the hearts of all Tunisians. Our priority is security, as well as political and economic reform," Ghannouchi told a news conference.
In the capital, ordinary Tunisians were skeptical.
"We do not trust this government because there are the same faces, like Ghannouchi, Morjane and particularly Friaa," said passerby Mohamed Mishrgi. "It’s as if Ben Ali’s system is still there. It’s for that reason that the demonstrations are continuing in Tunis. We want a new state with new people." Another passerby, Hosni Saidani, added: "It is difficult to trust these people because they participated in Ben Ali’s system but they did not have the courage to say to him ’stop.’ So how can they make a change toward democracy?" "These people participated in the system of Ben Ali. It’s true, the people do not want them in the new government but we cannot have a complete change, we need to go toward democracy step by step," said city resident Mohamed Bouzayin.
A British minister also called for more thorough political reforms and greater political freedom in Tunisia.
The profound change in Tunisia in the past few days "is not yet the political reform that many people in that country hope for," Foreign Office minister David Lidington told parliament.
Britain wanted "an orderly move toward free and fair elections and an expansion of political freedom in Tunisia," he said during a debate.
GOVERNMENT OF NATIONAL UNITY
Tunisia’s speaker of parliament Fouad Mebazza, sworn in as interim president, had asked Ghannouchi to form a government of national unity, and constitutional authorities said a presidential election should be held within 60 days.
Moncef Marzouki, a professor of medicine who leads the CPR Tunisian opposition party in exile in France, told Reuters separately he would be a candidate in a presidential election.
Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia on Friday after weeks of violent street unrest, his sudden departure sending shockwaves through the Arab world, where autocratic leaders preside over similarly repressive governments.
At least 100 people died in the revolt against unemployment, corruption, poverty and repression that led to his overthrow.
A senior central bank official, Habib Maalej, denied reports that the ex-president’s family had taken 1.5 tonnes of gold worth $66 million out of the country.
"I was very surprised to read this information and I affirm and confirm that the gold reserves in Tunisia are very well preserved and not one ounce was brought out," Maalej said in a telephone interview with the African Manager website.
Tanks and soldiers were stationed on the streets of Tunis on Monday after clashes overnight between special forces and Ben Ali’s security men, and the U.S. embassy said it would evacuate family members of its staff to Rabat on Tuesday.
The event that set off Tunisia’s unrest -- a man set himself on fire after police seized his vegetable cart -- seemed to have prompting copycat burnings. Four men were reported to have set fire to themselves in Algeria, one each in Egypt and Mauritania.
The crisis also raised fears for the economies of neighboring countries. Egyptian stocks and the pound fell on investor fears Tunisia’s turmoil could spread.