Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Tracking Tunisia

Yeah, they are still out in the streets.

"Controversial Tunisian foreign minister quits" by Associated Press,   February 14, 2011

TUNIS — Tunisia’s foreign minister resigned just weeks after he was named to replace the month-old transitional government’s first foreign minister, the official TAP news agency said yesterday.

The report didn’t provide any details....

Also yesterday, hundreds of Tunisians landed on a Sicilian island by the boatload, swelling the numbers of illegal migrants arriving on Italian shores in less than a week to well over 4,000.

Related: Tunisian Terrorists Causing Trouble in Italy

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"Tunisia extends emergency rule, ends curfew" by Associated Press / February 16, 2011

TUNIS, Tunisia — Tunisia extended a state of emergency that has been in place since the country’s longtime autocratic president was overthrown during an uprising last month, while it ended the curfew imposed during the deadly protests, the Interior Ministry said yesterday....

Life in Tunisia has largely returned to normal as a caretaker government tries to stabilize the mostly Muslim country ahead of elections, supposed to take place later in 2011. Stores, markets, gas stations, and schools have reopened, and people have returned to work.

The marauding gangs of suspected regime loyalists who pillaged homes and businesses in the early days of upheaval have mostly faded away, though sporadic incidents persist.

There have also been questions over whether radical Islam could emerge in Tunisia.  


Oh, no! What false-flag attacks are in the offing?

On Friday, several Muslim fundamentalists broke away from a demonstration and stopped in front of the capital’s synagogue, making anti-Semitic remarks, said Roger Bismuth, the leader of Tunisia’s small, historic Jewish community.

Bismuth, however, downplayed the incident.

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"Abuses by Tunisian security forces alleged" by Associated Press / February 17, 2011

TUNIS — Security forces loyal to Tunisia’s former president unleashed a wave of terror on the population during the uprising that toppled the autocratic leader last month, with police killing, raping, and robbing protesters, a women’s group said yesterday.

In an emotional news conference, the Association of Tunisian Democratic Women unveiled the conclusions of an investigation that took a panel of professional women to four cities in the interior of the North African country in the final days of the protests that toppled former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali on Jan. 14.

The panel of eight — made up of doctors, lawyers, and human rights advocates — braved the violence, traveling to the hard-hit cities of Kasserine, Thala, Maknassy, and Regueb, where they said they witnessed scenes of oppression and spoke with victims and their families.

There were “fierce attacks, torture, robberies, rapes, and attacks on houses committed by the impressive contingent of security forces,’’ said Emna Zahrouni, a member of the association’s so-called investigative and truth commission. “Snipers and units of the feared ‘public order brigades’ went so far as to fire on people gathering for funerals, which forced the families to flee and leave the coffin on the ground.’’

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"The Tunisian government and a long-banned Islamic party both denounced the slaying of a Roman Catholic priest, while several hundred people gathered outside the French embassy in Tunis to demand the recall of France’s new ambassador.

The priest, Marek Marius Rybinski, was found Friday with his throat slit and stab wounds in the parking lot of a religious school in a Tunis suburb.

The slaying of the Polish priest was the first deadly attack on members of religious minorities since last month’s ouster of Tunisia’s autocratic president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.  

Hmmmmm.

The Interior Ministry said the killing appeared to be the work of a “group of extremist terrorist fascists,’’ and vowed that those responsible for the “odious crime’’ would be punished.

The long-outlawed Ennahdha, or Renaissance, party called on authorities to “cast light on the real circumstances of this incident . . . before making accusations.’’

The statement, signed by the party’s leader, Rached Ghannouchi — who returned to Tunisia last month after decades in exile — urged “vigilance in order to ward off anything that could spark anarchy.’’

Ennahdha was considered an Islamic terrorist group and outlawed under Ben Ali, but is considered moderate by scholars.

At least 2,000 people staged a peaceful demonstration in central Tunis yesterday to denounce extremism and call for tolerance.

In another protest in the capital, several hundred people gathered yesterday outside the French embassy to demand that France recall its new ambassador, Boris Boillon.

The protesters denounced what they called Boillon’s “insulting behavior’’ at a news conference last week, though it was not clear what he said to anger them....   

Support of the dictator maybe?

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Also see: French Flap Over Tunisian Trip

He was a good friend (to the French elite).

"Tunisia’s government asked Saudi Arabia yesterday whether its exiled former president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, is dead and called for his extradition if he is still alive, as thousands of people protested in the capital, demanding that the caretaker government resign....   

So where did Ali stash all those millions, and which Caribbean island is he living on now?

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"Thousands of people protested in the capital demanding that the caretaker government resign."   

Still there today, aren't they?

Related: Tunisian Turnabout