Tunisia’s Interim Leader Pledges “Total Break” with Past

20/01/2011 About one week after Tunisia’s Ex-President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled into Saudi Arabia amid a popular uprising, Interim Leader Foued Mebazaa promised on Wednesday a “total break” with the past and hailed "a revolution of dignity and liberty".

"Together we can write a new page in the history of our country," Mebazaa said in his first public appearance since being sworn into office on Saturday.

In an address to the nation late Wednesday, the interim leader vowed to ensure an amnesty for political prisoners, media freedoms and an independent judiciary.

Mebazaa thanked the army for ensuring security during recent days of chaos.

"We have discovered those responsible for the terror in our country. We have arrested these armed gangs," he said.

He also paid homage to "the martyrs of dignity and liberty" -- a reference to the dozens of people killed in the protests.

More than 100 people have reportedly died in the unrest, the UN said, promising to carry out an investigation.

CABINET TO CONVENE AMID PROTESTS

Earlier on Wednesday, hundreds of protesters led a rally in central Tunis demanding that former allies of deposed Ben Ali stop leave power and later, about 30 youths broke a curfew and set up camp to stage a sit-in near the heavily guarded interior ministry.

Waving banners and chanting, they called for all links to the old regime to be severed. However, riot police did not respond with tear gas or water cannons, media reported.

The cabinet is to hold its first cabinet meeting on Thursday but it remains clear if the cabinet can survive after the withdrawal of a number of opposition figures angry over the number of Ben Ali loyalists handed positions.
The government was unveiled on Monday, with eight ministers from the previous government under Ben Ali, including Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi, held on to their posts.

On Tuesday four ministers quit the cabinet in protest at the presence of old regime figures in the new government.

In response, Ghannouchi and Mebazaa quit Ben Ali’s Constitutional Democratic Rally (CDR) party.

In the same context, a newly appointed Tunisian minister and former opposition leader has pledged to resign if "free and fair elections" are not held in the coming months.

"Of course I will resign if I begin to doubt that it will not be free and fair elections in six or seven months," said Ahmed Nejid Chebbi, leader of the former opposition Progressive Democrat Party (PDP) told BBC late Wednesday.

"I am not the only person who will resign -- all the people who came to this unity government will resign if the elections are not free and fair, or if the measures we've decided will not be carried on immediately."

BEB ALI’S FAMILY ‘ARRESTED’

Meanwhile, prosecutors opened a vast inquiry into the affairs of Ben Ali, including investigations into his assets and the arrest of dozens of family members.

Tunisian investigators have said they will look into the extensive domestic and foreign assets held by Ben Ali.

Tunisian television reported that 33 members of the deposed leader's family had been arrested on suspicion of "crimes against Tunisia".

"Investigations will be carried out in order for them to face justice," a statement read out on state television said, citing an "official source".

The central bank also took over a bank owned by Ben Ali's brother-in-law in the first such move against assets controlled by the former strongman's influential family, which formed the core of Tunisia's business elite.

It showed footage of gold and jewelry allegedly found in the possession of the arrested members of Ben Ali's family.

In a separate development, the new government said it had freed all political prisoners.

Agencies

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