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Tunisia: President dissolves elected municipal councils
Tunisian President Kais Saied on Thursday moved to dissolve the country's elected municipal councils, seen as a key democratic gain after the 2011 revolt that sparked the Arab Spring. Saied sacked the government in a 2021 power grab, and has since scrapped the...
Tunisia: Migrants drown off the coast of Sfax
Fourteen migrants from sub-Saharan Africa have drowned off the coast of the Tunisian city of Sfax, the coastguard said on Thursday. "Coastguard patrols last night intercepted a group whose boat had sunk, rescuing 54 people of various sub-Saharan African...
Tunisia: Interior Minister Taoufik Charfeddine calls media and politicians “traitors”
Unions and rights groups demanded an apology from Tunisia's interior minister on Wednesday after he lashed out at media and political party "traitors", as authorities face heavy criticism over a crackdown against the opposition. Speaking during a visit to the border...
Tunisia: President’s racist speech sparks violence against migrants
By Evelyne Aka, with Françoise Kadri in Tunis: Almost 300 people returned from Tunisia to Mali and Ivory Coast on Saturday after boarding repatriation flights, fearful of a wave of violence since the president launched a tirade against migrants. Last month President...
Tunisia: World Bank suspends new lending to Tunisia after President Saied issued racist comments
By Paul Raymond: The World Bank has effectively suspended new lending to cash-strapped Tunisia after President Kais Saied sparked accusations of racism with incendiary comments against sub-Saharan African migrants. Migrants from sub-Saharan Africa have faced a wave of...
Tunisian regime accuses former head of Truth and Dignity Commission of falsifying report
The head of a panel tasked with uncovering abuses under Tunisia's autocratic past rulers said Tuesday she had been banned from leaving the country as prosecutors investigate her for alleged falsifications in the commission's report. Sihem Bensedrine, head of the...
Tunisia: Protesters demand release of political prisoners
Hundreds of Tunisians rallied Sunday in defiance of a protest ban, demanding the release of more than 20 prominent figures opposed to the president who were arrested in recent weeks. President Kais Saied sacked the government and froze parliament in a 2021 power grab...
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...
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