Tunisia’s premier has pledged to form a government of technocrats ahead of new elections, after the murder of opposition leader Chokri Belaid sparked deadly protests and attacks on the ruling party’s offices.
Furious demonstrators built barricades in central Tunis on Wednesday and clashed with police, and four opposition groups, including Belaid’s Popular Front bloc, said they were pulling out of the national assembly.
One policeman was killed after being hit on the chest by rocks in Tunis, the Tunisian interior ministry said, while an ambulance carrying Belaid’s body to the city center was accompanied by crowds who pressed against the vehicle to protect it.
Photo: AFP
Tunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali said in a televised address after Belaid was shot dead outside his home in Tunis on Wednesday that he would form a new, non-political administration ahead of fresh elections.
“I have decided to form a government of competent nationals without political affiliation, which will have a mandate limited to managing the affairs of the country until elections are held in the shortest possible time,” he said.
Jebali did not specify that he was dissolving the existing government, nor did he set a date for the reshuffle which must be confirmed by the national assembly.
Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki denounced the killing of Belaid, an outspoken critic of his government, as an “odious assassination.”
The ruling Islamist an-Nahda party, which Belaid’s family accused of being behind the killing, rejected any involvement.
An-Nahda chief Rached Ghannouchi said that the “cowardly” murder was the result of a settling of political scores.
The killers “want a bloodbath but they won’t succeed,” he said.
The four opposition groups blamed Tunisian Interior Minister Ali Laraydeh from an-Nahda for Belaid’s murder and demanded his sacking “because he knew he was threatened and he did nothing,” said Nejib Chebbi, leader of one of the blocs.
Belaid’s Popular Front and other opposition parties called for a general strike to protest against the assassination.
The US led Western nations who reacted with dismay at the killing, while Human Rights Watch said the authorities should ensure those responsible were brought to justice.
“There is no justification for an outrageous and cowardly act of violence like this. There is no place in the new Tunisia for violence,” US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle expressed his “horror” at the attack, while French President Francois Hollande condemned a murder that “robs Tunisia of one of its most courageous and free voices.”
The violent scenes triggered by Belaid’s murder were reminiscent of the uprising that ousted veteran president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali just over two years ago, with thousands protesting outside the interior ministry.
Belaid’s brother, Abdelmajid, bluntly accused the an-Nahda chief of the murder of the 48-year-old leftist leader, who headed the Party of Democratic Patriots, part of the Popular Front.
“I accuse Rached Ghannouchi of assassinating my brother,” Abdelmajid said.
The slain politician’s wife said her husband had received daily death threats and was murdered before her eyes.
“I saw his blood flowing, I saw his little smile. I saw that they want to kill democracy,” Basma Belaid told France’s Europe 1 radio.
Belaid had last week accused an-Nahda “mercenaries” of attacking his supporters and on Tuesday warned that militias were being created “to terrorize citizens and drag the country into a spiral of violence.”
His supporters flooded the streets of Tunis and other cities, including Sidi Bouzeid, birthplace of the 2011 revolution, where tear gas was fired as about 200 people tried to storm the police headquarters.
Protesters torched the an-Nahda office near Sidi Bouzeid, ransacked another in Gafsa and set fire to a party office in the northeastern town of Kef.
In Kasserine, on the border with Algeria, hundreds of people calling for “vengeance” took to the streets.
Marzouki deplored the killing in an impassioned speech at the European Parliament.
“This odious assassination of a political leader who I knew well and who was my friend ... is a threat, it is a letter sent that will not be received,” he said, insisting the murder would not plunge Tunisia into violence.
Belaid, whose funeral will be today after the main weekly prayers, was a populist known for his iconic smile and black mustache.
A lawyer who spoke with the working class accent of northwestern Tunisia, he defended human rights, was jailed under Ben Ali, and was a member of executed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s legal defense team.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of