Tunisia to hold polls in 60 days

Troops have sealed off central Tunis, the Capital of Tunisia

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/160267.html


Tunisia's constitutional council says the presidential election must be held within 60 days, after placing the country's Parliament speaker in power.

The council, Tunisia's highest legal authority on constitutional issues, decided to formally oust president Zine El Abidin Ben Ali and put Speaker Fouad Mebazaa in charge based on Article 57 of the Constitution.

Premier Mohammad Ghannouchi had earlier taken over from Ben Ali.

Tunisian airports were reopened after Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia.

Ben Ali ruled Tunisia for more than two decades. His era was marred by repeated human rights violations and torture.

Meanwhile, unrest continues in the capital Tunis where the central railway station and a market were set on fire. Witnesses have reported lootings in shopping centers.

Police have arrested several people in central Tunis during the overnight curfew.

Analysts believe the ouster of the Tunisian president is a warning to authoritarian regimes across the Arab world.

In an interview with Press TV, Clovis Maksoud, Lebanon's former ambassador and permanent observer of the League of Arab States in the United Nations described the Tunisian uprising as a wake-up call for the Arab world.

"It's going to be infectious in several other areas in a manner that might not necessarily lead to bloodshed but [could] weaken the authority [in many Arab countries]," Maksoud told Press TV.

Meanwhile in another development in the country, reports also say that at least 42 inmates have been killed in an inferno at a jail in the Tunisian resort town of Monastir.

"The whole prison is on fire, the furniture, mattresses, everything," Reuters quoted one witness as saying.

Tunisia unrest leaves 66 dead

Tunisian soldiers and riot police are seen in Cite Ettadhamen near the capital Tunis on January 12, 2011.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/159982.html


A wave of violent clashes between Tunisian security forces and anti-government protesters has so far led to the death of at least 66 demonstrators.

The head of Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) Souhayr Belhassen told AFP on Thursday that protests between youths and police forces in the suburbs of capital Tunis claimed the lives of eight people overnight.

He also described the massive crackdown ordered by the Tunisian government to quash widespread demonstrations as an "ongoing massacre."

Meanwhile, the French Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday that one of the victims killed in the central Tunisian town of Douz during Wednesday clashes was a dual French-Tunisian citizen.

"We are continuing to investigate to confirm this fact, and his death,” Radio France Internationale cited the ministry.

Switzerland also said one of its citizens who has also Tunisian nationality was killed in Wednesday clashes in the north of Tunisia, Dar Chaabane.

"The Foreign Affairs Department (DFAE) confirms the death of a citizen with double-nationality in Tunisia. The embassy of Switzerland in Tunis as well as central services are in contact with her close ones," the ministry said in a statement to AFP.

In a live address on Monday, President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali promised to create 300,000 new jobs.

On Wednesday, Tunisian president dismissed Interior Minister Rafik Belhaj Kacem in an attempt to quell weeks of deadly protests across the North African country.

He also ordered the release of most prisoners detained since mid-December riots.

Armored vehicles rumbled through Tunis on Thursday and troops took up positions at major intersections. Security is tight in the capital as a curfew is in effect.

Riots and protests broke out in Tunisia following the self-immolation of a 26-year-old fruit vendor, identified as Muhammad Bouazizi, who set himself on fire after police confiscated his merchandise.