Sunday, January 16, 2011

New leaders are trying to regain control in Tunisia

Tunisia's new leaders, headed by Feud Mebazaa, president of Parliament proclaimed interim head of state, trying to regain control of the situation in a country on the brink of chaos after the flight to Saudi Arabia Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. In Tunis and its suburbs, where some neighborhoods were under the law and violence from looters, sometimes identified by witnesses as supporters, including police, the regime of Ben Ali, the people trying to organize defense committees.

After the entry into force of the curfew, the Centre of Tunisia was totally deserted and shops and cafes were closed. Only saw the police. The people of Tunisia in the early hours found a spectacle of desolation: stolen cars abandoned on the streets, shops and luxury residences burned. Tunisian Parliament President, Feud Mebazaa, was proclaimed interim head of state of Tunisia by the Constitutional Council, definitely excluding a return of President Ben Ali, after his flight to Saudi Arabia.

The Constitutional Council declared a "power vacuum" in the head of state and appointed interim president by parliament speaker. This sudden change was made under Article 57 of the Constitution, which provides for elections within 60 days, and took place at the request of Mohammed Ghannuchi, prime minister during the administration of Ben Ali, who was appointed interim president after who managed to flee the country for 23 years.

The appointment of Ghannuchi, who remained in office only a few hours, had made under Article 56 of the Constitution, which does not provide for election and provide for an eventual return of the former president. The most serious incidents occurred yesterday in Monastir, in the Mid-East country, where dozens were killed, at least 42 - in a prison fire caused because the prisoners set fire to the beds in their cells.

Tunisian Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi, the opposition agreed to negotiate the inclusion of the games so far excluded from the political system to create a national unity coalition. Mustafa Ben Jaafar, leader of the opposition Freedom Union party and Labour, said he discussed the idea of a coalition government and Prime Minister accepted the request.

The new president, Fouad Mebazaa, has two months to organize elections. It is unclear who might show, after 23 years of a government in which the favorite Zine El Abidine Ben Ali took up the positions of power and the opposition ended up in jail or exile.

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