On January 14, 2011 will be a date that probably will name places in Tunisia. President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, left the country it was impossible to stop the protests and landed a few hours later in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as confirmed by the Saudi royal family in an official statement [here in Arabic].The president fled to the inability to stop the protests demanding his resignation. The aircraft carrying 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, that 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 shuttle blasted off back to Tunisia escorted by Italian fighters and leaving behind a mystery. In Tunisia, after a night of looting and gunfire despite the curfew, the capital and major cities have dawned in silence and with the deserted streets, reports France Presse. There is confusion and uncertainty among citizens.
Visitor uncomfortable 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 on whether the president's plane was headed for France, although a police source who requested anonymity said minutes later that police had been informed of the likely landing Ben Ali in a Parisian airport.
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 a third who also directed the French capital was diverted to find no authorization to land. The French Foreign Ministry said that they had received any request from the Tunisian president, in case of receipt, 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.
"As the President is temporarily unable to meet its obligations, it was decided that the prime minister who is to assume those obligations," he said cryptically. 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. A period of uncertainty now open a political landscape fraught with unknowns and risks.
Tunisia is a country with no organized opposition, laminated for years of harsh repression. Mustapha Benjaafar, leader of the opposition Democratic Forum for Labour and Freedoms, asserted in this newspaper on Tuesday: "It is possible that Ben Ali is overthrown, but the people are out of play and also political actors." The work ahead is enormous.
Ahmed Brahim, head of Ettajdid, another opposition party, proposed a "national conference on political reform." Najib Chebbi, the first leader of the Popular Democratic Party, the third party was facing from the law to Ben Ali, said yesterday after the fall of President known: "We are at a crucial time.
A regime change is under way that should lead to major reforms for the people to choose. " Apart from political vicissitudes, the overwhelming question. What role has the Army and how to act in the immediate future? It is clear that the Armed Forces have refused to participate in repression, but whether the danger of division suffered during the revolt.
What will happen to the elite affects the regime? Does the committee convened to investigate corruption claims the opposition? A private television station reported last night that some relatives of Ben Ali had been arrested. Will they continue the protests? No shortage of those who do not trust.
Yet few Arab countries are as prepared as it is Tunisia for a new democratic political system to emerge. Secularism prevails, Islamist movements were crushed thoroughly by Ben Ali, has a negligible middle of a pretty decent education system, economic system very different sectors and very connected to Europe, and elites intellectual consistency.
"Other Arab leaders in Egypt and Algeria, primarily, observe, no doubt, caution and apprehension about what happened. The contagion effect is a factor to consider. And the situation in these states is more severe than that suffered by Tunisia: a population with a high percentage of youth unemployment and poverty atrocious huge.
State of emergency Friday was a day of riots in Tunisia. About three o'clock in the afternoon of Friday, the official 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.
In addition to announcing he 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.
At nine o'clock a new march began at the center of the capital. Tens of thousands of people gathered outside the headquarters of the prestigious Union UGTT. After three quarters of an hour reached the main street of the city, Habib Bourguiba, where the headquarters of the Ministry of Interior, with shouts of "Out Ben Ali," "Thank you, but enough is enough", "Either we kill or leave, but here is not negotiable.
" They surpassed the police cordon. Protesters accused the president a "murderer," French for the whole world would understand, and demanded freedom and that Trabelsi, the family of the first lady to be judged. 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 has 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. Also organized demonstrations in other parts of the country, such as Kairouan, in the center of the country or the capital of the mining area of Gafsa, in the southwest. In west and central regions Kaserín, Fabric and Sidi Bouse, thousands of people took to the streets to demand the resignation of the president.
A month of revolt The origin of the protests is a month ago, when Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26 year old college graduate who earned their wages by selling vegetables, triggered the spark with his suicide to the Bonze in a small country town in Tunisia ignoring his desperate act would lead to the rapid end of the regime of president after five terms of autocracy.
Unemployment among youth overflowing better prepared academically, the desire to establish a democratic regime that guarantees freedoms, poverty wages of workers and peasants, excessive corruption and looting of public property committed by the president's family led a popular uprising December 17 with unprecedented consequences in the Arab world.
In no country in the region has ever achieved a popular uprising to oust President apparently so well established.
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