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Tunisia in damage control campaign after president’s remarks on migrants
By Ezzedine Said: Tunisia's top diplomat sought to "reassure" sub-Saharan African migrants on Monday, in an interview with AFP days after comments by President Kais Saied drew accusations of racism. Last week, Saied called for "urgent measures" against "hordes" of...
Tunisia arrests secular opposition politician Jawhar Ben Mbarek
Tunisian security forces have arrested Jawhar Ben Mbarek, the most prominent opposition figure to be rounded up in an escalating campaign of detentions targeting rivals of President Kais Saied. "Jawhar was arrested late last night and we haven't seen the charges...
Tunisia: Presidential ‘hate speech’ on migrants causes public outcry
Tunisian rights groups accused on Wednesday President Kais Saied of racism and hate speech after he said "hordes" of sub-Saharan African migrants were causing crime and posed a demographic threat. Saied, who has seized almost total power since a dramatic July 2021...
Tunisia: Judicial harassment against former Parliamentary Speaker Rached Ghannouchi intensifies
Tunisia's former parliamentary speaker Rached Ghannouchi appeared in court Tuesday on new terror-related charges after being accused of calling police officers "tyrants", his party said. Ghannouchi, who leads President Kais Saied's arch-foes the Islamist-inspired...
Tunisia: Police call head of dissolved opposition party Ennahdha for more questioning
The head of Tunisia's dissolved parliament is facing a new police inquiry, his Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party said Monday, days after a string of arrests mainly targeting opposition political figures. Rached Ghannouchi, President Kais Saied's 81-year-old arch-rival,...
Tunisia: Attacks against trade union leaders could backfire on beleaguered President Kais Saied
Dozens of Tunisian civil society organisations,parties and political figures on Thursday voiced their "full support" for the powerful UGTT trade union, accusing President Kaid Saied of "targeting" it. The top UGTT official for highway workers, Anis Kaabi, was arrested...
Tunisia foreign minister Othman Jerandi fired
Tunisian President Kais Saied on Tuesday fired the country's top diplomat -- the fourth minister to lose his post this year in the politically divided nation. Nabil Ammar, Tunisia's ambassador to the European Union, will replace Othman Jerandi as foreign minister, the...
Tunisia reopens case of two politicians murdered ten years ago
Tunisia's justice ministry said Monday it had set up a special commission to examine files relating to the investigation and prosecution over the 2013 killings of two prominent left-wing opponents. The murders of Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahmi, coming just two years...
Tunisia: Government of Kais Saied now targets trade union leaders
A powerful Tunisian trade union Wednesday condemned the arrest of one of its top officials, saying it was linked to President Kais Saied warning workers against striking for "political ends". The arrest of Anis Kaabi, the UGTT's top official for highway workers, was...
Most Arab leaders were no-show in regional meeting in Libya, unwilling to deal with Tripoli
Major Arab states boycotted a ministerial meeting hosted by Libya's interim government on Sunday, with just five of the Arab League's 22 members sending their top diplomats and even the bloc's secretary general staying away. The snub underlines Arab divisions over the...
Tunisia: Opposition figure Seifeddine Makhlouf sentenced to prison by military court for “insulting police
Plainclothes security officers in Tunisia detained a prominent critic of President Kais Saied in the early hours of Saturday after a military court ruling, his lawyer told AFP. Seifeddine Makhlouf had been found guilty of insulting police during a standoff at Tunis...
Economy: Tunisia gets food donations from Libya
Food shortages and rising cost of commodities in Tunisia: briefly explained Conflict-wracked Libya donated several dozen trucks of food supplies on Tuesday to neighbouring Tunisia, the Libyan embassy said, months into an economic crisis that has seen repeated...
Migrations: Italy tells Tunisia to help reduce irregular migration in exchange of more legal migrant inflow
Italy is prepared to allow more Tunisians to reach its shores legally in exchange for greater efforts to cut irregular migration from its North African neighbour, Rome's foreign minister said Wednesday. Rome wants to cooperate with Tunis to "reduce irregular...
Tunisia: President faces public discontent over economy
Thousands of Tunisians marched Saturday in the capital to protest against President Kais Saied, whom they accuse of seeking to install a new dictatorship amid a worsening economic crisis. Separate rallies by different opposition groups were held in Tunis with a heavy...
Tunisia: Nine women sentenced to prison for plotting to kill government minister
Tunisia has jailed nine members of an all-women "terrorist" gang accused of plotting to assassinate a government minister, media reported Thursday. In the North African nation's first known case of an all-woman jihadist group, two of the ringleaders were jailed for 25...
Podcast: Sahel and North Africa week in review 7 Jan 2023
Greetings to our second episode of Week in Review and a quick summary of what we are tracking in the Sahel and in North Africa. Today is Saturday, the 7th of January 2023. This past week was somewhat subdued in the region largely due to the year-end holiday season and...
Tunisia facing daunting economic outlook, headed to IMF bailout
Tunisia faces a year of low economic growth and runaway inflation, and urgently needs a bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund, its central bank chief said Wednesday. "We need to reach a deal with the IMF as soon as possible to mobilise external finance in...
Tunisia lawyers protest tax hike on legal services
Dozens of Tunisian lawyers protested on Thursday against newly imposed taxes on legal services, part of a 2023 budget that seeks to boost revenues to the cash-strapped treasury. Led by Bar Association head Hatem Mziou, lawyers gathered outside the Palais de Justice in...
Tunisia looking to stabilize its economy with new development plan
The Tunisian government on Tuesday presented a three-year development plan that relies heavily on private sector investment, particularly in industry, and boosting phosphate production. The cash-strapped North African country is battling 10 percent inflation alongside...
Tunisia: President on the offensive to eliminate the opposition
The main coalition against Tunisian President Kais Saied said Tuesday his administration was using the judiciary to close down opposition to his rule, after several inquiries were opened against its members. In July last year, Saied sacked the government, froze...
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