Tunisia to Recognize Banned Parties, Mourns Uprising Victims

21/01/2011 Tunisian transitional cabinet on Thursday decided to recognize all banned political parties and agreed on a general amnesty for all political prisoners, as the country witnesses from Friday three days of national mourning for dozens of people killed in the uprising that toppled the Ex-President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.

The interim government convened for the first time on Thursday amid wide criticism over the presence of old regime figures in powerful posts.

The development minister, Ahmed Nejib Chebbi, said following the meeting: “The minister of justice presented a bill for a general amnesty, which was adopted by the cabinet, which decided to submit it to parliament.”

Asked if the government had decided to lift bans on political groups, including the al-Nahda movement, the youth minister, Mohamed Aloulou, said: "We will recognize all the political movements."

Earlier this week, the head of al-Nahda, the exiled Rachid al-Ghnannouchi, told al-Jazeera that he had plans to return Tunisia. But the Prime Minister Mohammed al-Ghannouchi said he would only be able to do so once the amnesty law is passed because he carries a life sentence for plots against the state.

The cabinet declared three days of national mourning starting on Friday following the country's deadly unrest. The government has said 78 people have been killed since the uprising started in December but the United Nations has put the toll at about 100.

The government said in a statement that schools and universities, closed since last week, would reopen on Monday.

Aloulou also told reporters after the cabinet meeting that sporting events, also on hold since last week, would resume "very soon."

The government spokesman, Tayyib Al Bakouchi, the multiparty government pledged to make security its top priority, to prepare for new presidential elections and speed up political reforms.

The ministers also vowed to restore goods and real estate appropriated by the ruling party under Ben Ali, the former president who fled into exile in Saudi Arabia last Friday after weeks of anti-government protests.

GOVERNMENT UNDER CRITICISM

The government meeting followed another day of protests, with police firing shots into the air to try to disperse hundreds of demonstrators demanding that ministers associated with the rule of Ben Ali leave the government.

The protesters, who gathered outside the Tunis headquarters of Ben Ali’s Constitutional Democratic Rally (CDR) party RCD, Tunisia's ruling party for several decades, refused to move back when police fired shots from behind a metal fence.

Protests also took place in other towns.

Also on Thursday, the minister of administrative development stepped down.

"I am stepping down for the higher interests of the country in this delicate situation to try to bring the country out of crisis and ensure a democratic transition," Zouheir M'Dhaffar, a prominent member of the former ruling party and one of the closest to Ben Ali, was quoted as saying by the official TAP news agency.

Earlier on Tuesday, four ministers quit the government in protest at the presence of old regime figures in the cabinet.

The PM Ghannouchi along with other seven ministers, including M'Dhaffar, stayed in their posts in the previous government under Ben Ali’s rule, sparking political and popular protests.

Ghanouchi and the Interim leader Foued Mebazaa left the RCD party this week, but protesters in Tunis and other cities kept up their pressure.

Mebazaa has pledged free and fair elections within six months but has given no dates, as he vowed a “total break” with the past.

Under the constitution, parliamentary and presidential elections should take place in less than two months.

Agencies

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