Mohammed Ghannouchi resigned as Tunisia’s prime minister on Sunday and was replaced by Beji Caid Essebsi, a former minister, after anti-government protests left five people dead over the weekend.
Security forces again clashed with protesters in Tunis demanding the removal of some ministers of Ghannouchi’s interim government before the prime minister announced his resignation.
“The acts of violence and looting, the unrest and the fires on Habib Bourguiba avenue in Tunis on Saturday have left five people dead,” said an interior ministry statement quoted by TAP news agency.
“These human losses happened during the clashes” with “interior security forces which tried to push back a group of young people armed with knives and stones that tried to storm the interior ministry headquarters,” the ministry said.
The statement also said 16 security officers were wounded when stones and other objects were hurled at them. An investigation was under way to shed light on the circumstances of the deaths and injuries, it added.
Ghannouchi earlier said he decided to quit after just over six weeks as interim prime minister prior to elections expected by mid-July, but was “not running away from responsibility.”
“I am not ready to be the person who takes decisions that would end up causing casualties,” Ghannouchi said. “This resignation will serve Tunisia, and the revolution and the future of Tunisia.”
Interim President Foued Mebazaa appointed Caid Essebsi, 84, to succeed the 69-year-old Ghannouchi.
Caid Essebsi “is known for his patriotism, his faithfulness and his self-sacrifice for the benefit of the fatherland,” the president said.
He thanked Ghannouchi for serving Tunisia in difficult times afterformer president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia in mid-January after 23 years in power.
Considered a liberal, Caid Essebsi held several ministerial posts under Ben Ali’s predecessor Habib Bourguiba, who led Tunisia to independence from France. He was defence and foreign minister and speaker of parliament.
UGTT trade union leader Ali Ben Romdhane welcomed Ghannouchi’s resignation, saying his government had been hesitant and “unable to stop the violence.” However, he criticized the rapid nomination without consultations of a successor, which he said had taken his movement by surprise.
How can Tunisia overcome its crisis “if the president does not take at least 24 hours for consultations,” he said.
Left-wing opposition leader Hamma Hammami said: “We are expecting the formation of a new transition government, breaking totally with the old regime, which will follow an understanding between all the country’s political forces.”
On Sunday police fired tear gas and warning shots on the capital’s central Habib Bourguiba avenue to disperse stone-throwing youths on a third day of violence.
Security forces acted to stop protesters, who were chanting anti-government slogans, from reaching the interior ministry.
The demonstrators demanded the removal from the interim government of members of Ben Ali’s regime.
AL-QAEDA
In other developments, Osama bin Laden’s deputy urging Tunisians and Egyptians to continue their uprisings and revolt against the interim governments set up after the ouster of theirc presidents.
Ayman al-Zawahri said the US watched the developments in Tunisia for a long time, only deciding to support Ben Ali’s removal after realizing his regime no longer served Washington’s interests.
Al-Zawahri also said the US made intentionally vague statements on Egypt because US President Barack Obama’s administration wanted to see if former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak would be able to suppress the popular uprising against his rule.
The message is al-Zawahri’s third audio since the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. The 15-minute recording was posted on a militant Web site late on Sunday.
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