Saturday, January 15, 2011

Ben Ali took refuge in Saudi Arabia after fleeing Tnez

The Tunisian President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, has landed in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as confirmed by the Saudi royal family in an official statement [here in Arabic]. The president left Tunisia to the inability to stop the protests demanding his resignation. The plane that carried him off at 18.15 from the international airport of Tunis-Carthage escorted by the Tunisian Air Force announced aimlessly.

By midnight of Saturday, Spanish time, the Al Arabiya announced that the presidential plane landed at the Arabian peninsula. The sheikhs were quick to announce that they welcomed the president and his family, which would be installed there "for a indefinite period." Arabia was not the first destination that was given to the politician in a country dance and airports, after being rejected a first attempt to land in France, about ten o'clock on Friday night Tunisian plane was authorized to take land and refuel at the airport in Cagliari, Sicily, for three hours speculated that Ben Ali was on board.

Finally the plane took off back to Tunisia escorted by Italian fighters and leaving behind a mystery. Ben Ali has become a visitor uncomfortable for Western democracies. In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy and Prime Minister Francois Fillon met yesterday at the Elysee Palace to address the situation posed a possible exile in the territory of African leader.

The headquarters of the French presidency said at first he had no information about the direction of the plane, but a police source who requested anonymity said minutes later that police had been informed of the likely landing Ben Ali in an airport in the capital French. According to Le Monde, a plane that was the daughter of Ben Ali landed at 19.30 at the airfield of Le Bourget and a second aircraft was traveling empty "land not invited," while missing a third one also ran the French capital that was diverted to find no authority to take land.

The French Foreign Ministry said that they had received any request from the Tunisian president in the country and that if you receive it, before consulting with the interim authorities in Tunisia. According to French media, Sarkozy rejected the arrival of Ben Ali. Acting Chairman In Tunisia, in the absence of the president, prime minister, Mohamed Ghanuchi, assumed the presidential duties on an interim basis, as he announced on state television.

In a brief message, Ghanuchi pledged to uphold the Constitution and asked the Tunisian "of all political persuasions" who displayed a sense of patriotism and unity. Hours later, the private television channel Nessma announced the arrests of several relatives of Ben Ali and his wife. The events have caused the reaction of the international community and many countries have recommended that their citizens not to travel to Tunisia.

The Spanish ambassador in the country, Antonio Cosano, told the 24-hour channel TVE that moment, no European country has raised evacuate their nationals from Tunisia. The Foreign Ministry called on those already there to stay so far in their homes or hotels. State of emergency around three in the afternoon of Friday, the official news agency TAP said the dismissal of the entire Government and legislative elections within six months.

It was the last and futile attempt to placate Ben Ali protests against him. Ben Ali also announced that it would not opt for a sixth term in 2014, the Tunisian promised greater freedom, reductions in the price of food and commodities. Neither this reform package and the promise of greater freedoms released the day before had managed to calm the protesters.

Thousands of people took from the morning the streets of downtown Tunis, the Tunisian capital, calling for the end from which the country has been president for 23 years, which they accuse of corruption and unemployment that has claimed dozens of lives. After several hours of concentration, the police used tear gas and charged the protesters, but fighting between youth groups and police officers continued for hours.

In response, the government declared a state of emergency throughout the country. This involved the extension of the curfew days ago, which is now current 17:00 to 7:00. Nor can there be meetings of more than three persons and the security forces may shoot any suspect who fails to obey an order.

In addition, the Army has taken control of the capital's international airport and closed the airspace.
Posted by Manlio Gandolfi at 2:39 AM

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