Archive: tunisia

1st January 2011
By: Brian Whitaker
The Tunisian regime seems to be clutching at straws. Yesterday, the official news agency reported that six local organisations, including the Road Traffic Association and the Professional Association of Banks, have congratulated President Ben Ali on hisrecent speech. They allegedly think it "… Read more
28th December 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
Tunisian demonstrators confront the police by singing the national anthem    With the disturbances in Tunisia showing no sign of abating, President Ben Ali decided to address his people on television last night. But his seven-minute speech, also relayed to the wider Arab world via al-Jazeera, didn… Read more
27th December 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
Demonstrations continued in Tunisia over the weekend and have now entered their second week – an extraordinary development in Ben Ali's police state. Here is a YouTube video showing protests outside a government building in Kairouan, 120km north-west of Sid Bouzid, and here isanother at an… Read more
26th December 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
    Protests in Tunisia spread to the capital, Tunis, yesterday when human rights activists, trade unionists and students held a demonstration in the Place Mohamed Ali in solidarity with the people of Sid Bouzid. The nawaat.org website has videos and photographs. Meanwhile, it is reported (via… Read more
25th December 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
A teenage protester was shot dead by police yesterday as rioting continued in Tunisia.  Demonstrators in Menzel Bouzaiene reportedly set fire to three police cars, a train locomotive, the local headquarters of the ruling Constitutional Democratic Rally party and a national guard post. The interior… Read more
24th December 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
    Following an "incident" in the town of Sid Bouzid, Tunisia issued a statement to clarify "the groundless rumours spread by certain sides". It said: "The matter has to do with a procedure carried out by the city of Sidi Bouzid’s municipal regulations services, as part of their ordinary… Read more
9th December 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
"By many measures, Tunisia should be a close US ally. But it is not." That was the blunt message from the American ambassador in Tunis, in a document released by Wikileaks. It was written by the departing ambassador, Robert Godec, in July last year, apparently as a briefing for his successor, the… Read more
5th December 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
In Tunisia, 30-year-old Mohamed Sakhr El-Matri is increasingly viewed as a possible successor to his dictatorial father-in-law, President Ben Ali. The American ambassador in Tunis met him last year and wrote a report marked "secret" which has now been published by Wikileaks: El-Matri presented… Read more
30th July 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
At the end of his fact-finding visit to Tunisia this week, Martin Scheinin, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, was full of praise for the Tunisian approach to dealing with terrorism. At least, he was if you believe the Tunisian media. It is true that he thanked… Read more
20th July 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
The latest issue of the Tunisian weekly, al-Mawqif, has disappeared from the news-stands – apparently confiscated by government agents. There has been no court order (which would make the seizure legal) and the government denies taking action against the paper, though witnesses have reported seeing… Read more