FOCUS ON
TUNISIA
Click here to sign up for free weekly email
Sign up today
Tunisia: Army helicopter crashes at sea, killing four soldiers
Four Tunisian soldiers died when a military helicopter crashed into the sea off the country's northwest, President Kais Saied said Thursday, stressing the need "to renew military equipment". Offering his condolences to the bereaved families, the president said in a...
Migrant crisis: Italy wants IMF loan for Tunisia to shield self from migrant crisis
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Tuesday Rome backed efforts to secure an IMF bailout for Tunisia and support to tackle its growing migrant problem. She was speaking after talks in Tunis with President Kais Saied whose country is going through a dire...
Tunisia: Body of young girl found after migrant ships sink off the coast of Sfax
The Tunisian coastguard Friday recovered the body of a young girl thought to have drowned when two vessels carrying migrants sank in the Mediterranean, a journalist working with AFP said. The body, dressed in a pink jumpsuit and grey woollen cap, was discovered by a...
Tunisia’s president considering taxing the wealthy to prevent IMF meddling
Tunisia's President Kais Saied on Thursday proposed taxing the North African country's wealthiest citizens as a way of avoiding what he has called the "diktats" of the International Monetary Fund. Despite reaching an agreement in principle last October on a bailout...
Tunisia says it arrested five “IS militants” in Sfax
Tunisia's national guard on Friday announced the arrest of a suspected Islamic State group member in possession of explosives who was planning "four simultaneous terrorist operations" in the country. The suspect was arrested in Tunisia's second city of Sfax on its...
Tunisia arrests two students for a song critical to police, then releases them under presidential pressure
A Tunisian court on Thursday released two students arrested earlier this week for a song criticising police, shortly after President Kais Saied denounced their detention as "unacceptable" amid a public outcry. Dhia Nassir and Youssef Chalbi, aged 26 and 27, were...
Tunisian president evokes ‘tolerance’ after synagogue attack
Tunisian President Kais Saied has hosted Jewish, Muslim and Christian leaders following a deadly mass shooting outside a local synagogue, telling them Tunisia was a country of "tolerance and coexistence". The May 9 attack on the resort island of Djerba killed five...
Tunisia: Senior opposition figure Rached Ghannouchi gets one year in prison, as president moves to authoritarianism
The Tunisian Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party on Tuesday condemned the one-year prison sentence handed to its leader Rached Ghannouchi, calling it an "unjust political verdict". Ghannouchi, a leading opponent of President Kais Saied, was sentenced on Monday on...
Tunisia pushes for more judicial harassment against the media, arrests journalist Khalifa Guesmi
A Tunisian appeals court has handed a five-year jail term to a radio journalist for disclosing information about the security services, his lawyer said Tuesday. Khalifa Guesmi of the private Mosaique FM radio station had appealed a one-year jail term handed down in...
Tunisia: Five killed in terror attack on Jewish community in Djerba
By Fethi Belaid and Akim Rezgui: Tunisia's small Jewish community was in shock and mourning Wednesday after a bloody shooting rampage in which a police officer killed five people outside Africa's oldest synagogue. The shooting Tuesday sparked mass panic during an...
Tunisia: UGTT union chief rejects talks with IMF in fear of tough austerity measures
Tunisia's largest union on Monday attacked the government's handling of negotiations with the IMF on a loan to bail out the North African country as it slides deeper into debt. Tunisia is seeking a bailout package worth nearly $2 billion from the International...
Tunisian court orders detention of leading Islamist opposition figure Ghannouchi
Tunisian opposition leader Rached Ghannouchi has been remanded in custody following his arrest earlier this week, his Ennahdha party said Thursday, denouncing his "unjust imprisonment". Ghannouchi, 81, a former speaker of parliament, was arrested on Monday after...
Fifteen Tunisian migrants missing in Mediterranean
Fifteen Tunisian migrants are missing after their boat sank in the Mediterranean during an attempt to reach Europe, authorities said Wednesday. The boat carrying 19 Tunisians sank Monday night, said a statement by Tunisia's National Guard, which oversees the...
Tunisia: Profile of jailed opposition leader Rached Ghannouchi
Islamist-inspired Ennahdha opposition party arrested on Monday, once towered over Tunisia's politics but many now blame him for the country's ills. The reputation of the 81-year-old veteran politician, once seen as a kingmaker following the 2011 Arab Spring revolt...
Tunisia arrests opposition leader Ghannouchi, shuts offices of Ennahdha party
Tunisian authorities closed the offices of Islamist-inspired opposition party Ennahdha on Tuesday, a day after arresting its leader Rached Ghannouchi, a senior party official said. [Read Ghannouchi's profile here] "A police unit showed up at the party's main...
Migrations: 32 migrants perish off the coast of Tunisia
The death toll after a boat carrying sub-Saharan migrants sank off Tunisia this week rose to 32 on Friday after another eight bodies were recovered, the coastguard said. On Wednesday, the day after the sinking off the Tunisian port of Sfax, the authorities said 10...
Tunisia: Football star Nizar Issaoui sets himself alight to protest police brutality
A professional footballer in Tunisia has died after setting himself alight earlier this week in what he called a protest against the "police state" ruling the country, his brother said Friday. Nizar Issaoui, 35, suffered third-degree burns from his action in the...
Tunisia wants more help from Europe, despite worrying policies of President Saied
Tunisia on Monday called for "constructive discourse" from the European Union after a string of leaders warned the country is facing a crisis that could impact the 27-member bloc. In a statement after meeting EU Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni in Tunis, Foreign...
Tunisia: Growing concern in Washington over Tunisia’s political and economic struggles
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Wednesday that Tunisia urgently needs to reach a deal with the IMF, adding to dire EU warnings about the country's future. "The most critical thing they can do on the economic side is actually get an IMF agreement," Blinken...
Migrations: Five migrants die off the coast of Tunisia, Algeria disbands smuggling gang
Five migrants from sub-Saharan Africa drowned and another 28 were missing Wednesday after their boat capsized off Tunisia, a rights group said. "Five migrants' bodies were recovered and five other migrants were rescued, but 28 are still missing," said Romdhane Ben...
Connect
You can find us on a few social media platforms. Feel free to connect with us there.