TUNISIA : In Tunis thousands took to the streets, against the former ruling party (RCD)
Tunis, Tunisia- Protesters angered by living conditions and government corruption staged a noisy but peaceful rally in Tunisia's capital Wednesday, and an Arab League official said the unrest illustrates "the great social shakes that are inflicting Arab societies."
In Tunis, crowds of people tramped down Avenue Habib Bourguiba, singing the country's national anthem and chanting against the former ruling party and the former president, who fled the country last week amid the countrywide grass-roots uprising.
The people strode to a police line and met the officers eyeball to eyeball, but there was no conflict. Witnesses said the police demeanor appeared more relaxed than in previous days, with the officers holding their ground but not acting aggressively.
When the protests were at their height, thousands took to the streets, but the throng has dwindled. Trams that moved through the protests were spray-painted with slogans denouncing the former ruling party, the Constitutional Democratic Rally, and tram riders and drivers held protest signs, too.
This is in contrast to other days in Tunis, when police lobbed tear gas and dispersed peaceful marchers with batons.
As protesters chanted, an army helicopter flew over the city, drawing a cheer from the crowd, which views the army as a calming factor in the street conflict and sees the police as aligned with former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his party.
Tunisian officials are attempting to keep afloat the country's unity government, formed earlier this week with members of the opposition and the Ben Ali party.
But there have been difficulties in getting that administration going because protesters upset about living conditions are demanding that more be done to sweep the old guard out of power.
Tunisia's interim president, Fouad Mebazaa, and prime minister, Mohammed Ghannouchi, resigned from the ousted leader's ruling party, state TV said Tuesday, a move seen as a gesture to placate angry street demonstrators and keep the unity government afloat.
But at least four ministers from opposition parties have pulled back from the new government, leaving some observers concerned that the coalition may collapse before it can set up new elections.
Asked whether the unity government will collapse if demonstrations continue, Minister of Social Affairs Moncer Rouissi said that everyone has the right to demonstrate, but that will not stop the government from fulfilling its duties.
Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia last week after ruling the country for 23 years, following weeks of protests over what Tunisians said were poor living conditions, high unemployment, government corruption and repression.
The unrest over the past several weeks was triggered in December when Mohamed Bouazizi, an unemployed college graduate, set himself ablaze after police confiscated the fruit cart that was his source of income. He died early this month.
More than 100 deaths have occurred so far during the unrest in Tunisia, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said Wednesday, and she announced that she plans to send an assessment team to Tunisia in the coming days.
In a keynote statement delivered at a news briefing in Geneva, Pillay noted that "human rights abuses were at the heart of Tunisia's problems, and therefore human rights must be right at the forefront of the solutions to those problems."
Pillay said that she expects her team, in addition to gathering information about the current and past human rights situation, to come back with a set of concrete proposals for action on issues related to past abuses as well as future reforms.
Saying that "human rights lie right at the heart" of the developments that led to Ben Ali's departure, Pillay said her agency and others hope for "the beginning of a new Tunisia."
"We have all been watching anxiously as the historic events triggered by the courageous people of Tunisia have been unfolding, with astonishing speed, over the past few weeks. It is essential that we, the international community, give our full support to their call for freedom and for the full respect of human rights for everyone in Tunisia," Pillay said.
She said it's important that "the seeds of change are sown wisely and sown now, before former entrenched interests start to reassert themselves, or new threats emerge."
Pillay said she met with a group of non-governmental organizations Monday and spoke by phone with the new deputy minister of foreign affairs Wednesday. Also, she said she welcomed the interim government's announcement that it will release of political detainees, permit political parties to operate freely and establish freedom of the press.
"I also welcome the government's announcement that it will address the underlying causes of the unrest by enacting policies to ameliorate economic hardship," she said.
Protesters in Tunisia have denounced the wealth and corruption of Ben Ali and his family. The Swiss Foreign Ministry website said authorities there have decided to freeze any of the assets belong to Ben Ali or his "entourage."
Authorities in Switzerland are doing this to "avoid any possible risk of embezzling Tunisian state assets," it said. The Swiss federal council has also forbidden "the sale or disposal of any properties belonging to this person."
Asked by a Saudi TV station about hosting Ben Ali, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal defended the nation's action.
He said it's unfair to infer that the move was made to interfere in Tunisia's internal affairs and stressed that Saudi Arabia stands by the Tunisian people "in achieving their objectives."
"Sheltering anyone is an Arabic tradition, and we are all Arabs, so whoever asks for refuge should be received," he said.
International powers are expecting the interim government to hold free and fair elections, and the flight of Ben Ali has emboldened Tunisian opposition figures.
Monsef al Marzouki, the leader of Tunisia's National Congress Party -- a leftist and secularist movement that was banned by Ben Ali's ruling party -- has returned to Tunisia from exile in Paris.
On Tuesday, Marzouki told CNN he'll run for president "if there are fair and transparent elections" and will call for changes to the current constitution.
He said he objects to the Ben Ali party keeping the main ministries, referring to Defense, Finance, Foreign ministries as well as the post of prime minister, even though Ghannouchi submitted his resignation from the ruling party.
"They are trying to hijack the revolution that the people of Tunisia have achieved," Marzouki said. "The revolution requires a total break with the past."
Marzouki called for "more peaceful demonstrations" and urged the government to remove all members of Ben Ali's party.
"The RCD party is a dictator party, and this party needs to be dissolved," he said, using the acronym for the Constitutional Democratic Rally. "We even consider the current Parliament and government institutions (consisting of RCD members) as nonexistent, politically."
Marzouki also said he visited the tomb of Bouazizi in Sidi Bouzid and attended a peaceful demonstration there.
As Moussa indicated, the ouster of Tunisia's longtime ruler has cast a shadow over the surrounding region.
Speaking at the Arab League economic summit, Moussa said, "The revolution happening in Tunisia is not far from the subject matter of this summit, namely the socioeconomic development and the extent of its balance, expansion, comprehensiveness and fair distribution."
Neighboring Algeria was also wracked by rioting last week, triggered by the spiraling costs of basic foods after its government slashed price supports for staples like milk, oil and sugar. State-run media reported at least three people had died in the clashes.
Libya's longtime strongman, Moammar Gadhafi, mourned Ben Ali's ouster and warned in a nationally televised speech that Tunisia was facing "unjustified chaos." And in Egypt, several people have set themselves afire in public this week -- the same type of protest that triggered Tunisia's demonstrations in December.
But few analysts are willing to predict the revolt will spread to other countries. Nathan Brown, a professor of Middle Eastern politics at George Washington University in Washington, said the events in Tunisia are unlikely to yield a rerun of 1989, when Communist regimes across Eastern Europe imploded before a string of popular uprisings.
In Tunis, crowds of people tramped down Avenue Habib Bourguiba, singing the country's national anthem and chanting against the former ruling party and the former president, who fled the country last week amid the countrywide grass-roots uprising.
The people strode to a police line and met the officers eyeball to eyeball, but there was no conflict. Witnesses said the police demeanor appeared more relaxed than in previous days, with the officers holding their ground but not acting aggressively.
When the protests were at their height, thousands took to the streets, but the throng has dwindled. Trams that moved through the protests were spray-painted with slogans denouncing the former ruling party, the Constitutional Democratic Rally, and tram riders and drivers held protest signs, too.
This is in contrast to other days in Tunis, when police lobbed tear gas and dispersed peaceful marchers with batons.
As protesters chanted, an army helicopter flew over the city, drawing a cheer from the crowd, which views the army as a calming factor in the street conflict and sees the police as aligned with former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his party.
Tunisian officials are attempting to keep afloat the country's unity government, formed earlier this week with members of the opposition and the Ben Ali party.
But there have been difficulties in getting that administration going because protesters upset about living conditions are demanding that more be done to sweep the old guard out of power.
Tunisia's interim president, Fouad Mebazaa, and prime minister, Mohammed Ghannouchi, resigned from the ousted leader's ruling party, state TV said Tuesday, a move seen as a gesture to placate angry street demonstrators and keep the unity government afloat.
But at least four ministers from opposition parties have pulled back from the new government, leaving some observers concerned that the coalition may collapse before it can set up new elections.
Asked whether the unity government will collapse if demonstrations continue, Minister of Social Affairs Moncer Rouissi said that everyone has the right to demonstrate, but that will not stop the government from fulfilling its duties.
Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia last week after ruling the country for 23 years, following weeks of protests over what Tunisians said were poor living conditions, high unemployment, government corruption and repression.
The unrest over the past several weeks was triggered in December when Mohamed Bouazizi, an unemployed college graduate, set himself ablaze after police confiscated the fruit cart that was his source of income. He died early this month.
More than 100 deaths have occurred so far during the unrest in Tunisia, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said Wednesday, and she announced that she plans to send an assessment team to Tunisia in the coming days.
In a keynote statement delivered at a news briefing in Geneva, Pillay noted that "human rights abuses were at the heart of Tunisia's problems, and therefore human rights must be right at the forefront of the solutions to those problems."
Pillay said that she expects her team, in addition to gathering information about the current and past human rights situation, to come back with a set of concrete proposals for action on issues related to past abuses as well as future reforms.
Saying that "human rights lie right at the heart" of the developments that led to Ben Ali's departure, Pillay said her agency and others hope for "the beginning of a new Tunisia."
"We have all been watching anxiously as the historic events triggered by the courageous people of Tunisia have been unfolding, with astonishing speed, over the past few weeks. It is essential that we, the international community, give our full support to their call for freedom and for the full respect of human rights for everyone in Tunisia," Pillay said.
She said it's important that "the seeds of change are sown wisely and sown now, before former entrenched interests start to reassert themselves, or new threats emerge."
Pillay said she met with a group of non-governmental organizations Monday and spoke by phone with the new deputy minister of foreign affairs Wednesday. Also, she said she welcomed the interim government's announcement that it will release of political detainees, permit political parties to operate freely and establish freedom of the press.
"I also welcome the government's announcement that it will address the underlying causes of the unrest by enacting policies to ameliorate economic hardship," she said.
Protesters in Tunisia have denounced the wealth and corruption of Ben Ali and his family. The Swiss Foreign Ministry website said authorities there have decided to freeze any of the assets belong to Ben Ali or his "entourage."
Authorities in Switzerland are doing this to "avoid any possible risk of embezzling Tunisian state assets," it said. The Swiss federal council has also forbidden "the sale or disposal of any properties belonging to this person."
Asked by a Saudi TV station about hosting Ben Ali, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal defended the nation's action.
He said it's unfair to infer that the move was made to interfere in Tunisia's internal affairs and stressed that Saudi Arabia stands by the Tunisian people "in achieving their objectives."
"Sheltering anyone is an Arabic tradition, and we are all Arabs, so whoever asks for refuge should be received," he said.
International powers are expecting the interim government to hold free and fair elections, and the flight of Ben Ali has emboldened Tunisian opposition figures.
Monsef al Marzouki, the leader of Tunisia's National Congress Party -- a leftist and secularist movement that was banned by Ben Ali's ruling party -- has returned to Tunisia from exile in Paris.
On Tuesday, Marzouki told CNN he'll run for president "if there are fair and transparent elections" and will call for changes to the current constitution.
He said he objects to the Ben Ali party keeping the main ministries, referring to Defense, Finance, Foreign ministries as well as the post of prime minister, even though Ghannouchi submitted his resignation from the ruling party.
"They are trying to hijack the revolution that the people of Tunisia have achieved," Marzouki said. "The revolution requires a total break with the past."
Marzouki called for "more peaceful demonstrations" and urged the government to remove all members of Ben Ali's party.
"The RCD party is a dictator party, and this party needs to be dissolved," he said, using the acronym for the Constitutional Democratic Rally. "We even consider the current Parliament and government institutions (consisting of RCD members) as nonexistent, politically."
Marzouki also said he visited the tomb of Bouazizi in Sidi Bouzid and attended a peaceful demonstration there.
As Moussa indicated, the ouster of Tunisia's longtime ruler has cast a shadow over the surrounding region.
Speaking at the Arab League economic summit, Moussa said, "The revolution happening in Tunisia is not far from the subject matter of this summit, namely the socioeconomic development and the extent of its balance, expansion, comprehensiveness and fair distribution."
Neighboring Algeria was also wracked by rioting last week, triggered by the spiraling costs of basic foods after its government slashed price supports for staples like milk, oil and sugar. State-run media reported at least three people had died in the clashes.
Libya's longtime strongman, Moammar Gadhafi, mourned Ben Ali's ouster and warned in a nationally televised speech that Tunisia was facing "unjustified chaos." And in Egypt, several people have set themselves afire in public this week -- the same type of protest that triggered Tunisia's demonstrations in December.
But few analysts are willing to predict the revolt will spread to other countries. Nathan Brown, a professor of Middle Eastern politics at George Washington University in Washington, said the events in Tunisia are unlikely to yield a rerun of 1989, when Communist regimes across Eastern Europe imploded before a string of popular uprisings.
"I would say we're dealing with 1975," Brown said. "We've got kind of tired regimes that have just lost their ideological sense of direction, they've lost popular support -- but they're just there, and they don't look like they're going anywhere."
(CNN)
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