Tunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali announced on Friday that talks on the formation of a new government of technocrats had been rescheduled for tomorrow, after he met the leaders of the main political parties.
“There has been some progress on all the points raised ... That is why we have decided to continue the discussions on Monday,” Jebali told reporters.
He said a previous deadline for the announcement of his planned new cabinet, intended to extricate the country from its worst political crisis since the revolution, had been canceled and no new date set.
Jebali, No. 2 in the ruling Islamist party an-Nahda, had said earlier this week that he would resign if he failed to win enough support for his plan, first announced amid public outrage over the killing of leftist leader Chokri Belaid.
“The delay is important, but more important are the interests of Tunisia and finding a solution for the people,” the Islamist premier said on Friday, in justifying the latest postponement of his initiative.
Jebali’s latest comments came after he sought to hammer out a new government line-up in talks with the heads of Tunisia’s ruling parties, namely an-Nahda’s Rached Ghannouchi, Ettakatol’s Mustapha Ben Jaafar and Mohamed Abbou of President Moncef Marzouki’s Congress for the Republic (CPR).
Also present at the meeting were prominent opposition leader Beji Caid Essebsi, a former premier who heads the popular center-right party Call of Tunisia, and the Republican Party’s Neji Chebbi.
Since the Feb. 6 assassination of Belaid, who was an outspoken critic of the ruling Islamists, Jebali has sought to achieve consensus for his plan.
He is broadly supported by the secular opposition parties, by the UGTT, Tunisia’s powerful workers’ union, and by civil society groups, who see the proposal as the only way out of Tunisia’s unfolding crisis.
However, an-Nahda and its center-left ally in the ruling coalition, the CPR, along with two smaller parties, have voiced opposition, demanding that the new administration include both politicians and independents.
If those parties vote comprehensively against it, they would have a big enough majority in the assembly to block the planned new administration, even though Jebali has said it does not require parliament’s approval.
An-Nahda was planning a huge demonstration in Tunis on Saturday to defend its right to rule as the party voted to power in October 2011 elections, in an effort to discredit Jebali, who has crossed swords before with his party’s hardliners.
The political crisis in Tunisia, which has for months been rocked by social unrest including protests that often degenerate into violence, has sown fear and uncertainty in the first country to undergo regime change caused by Arab Spring protests.
Poverty and unemployment, two key factors that led to the revolution that ousted former Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, continue to grip Tunisia.
Belaid’s killing has enflamed tensions between liberals and Islamists over the direction of the once proudly secular Muslim nation, with opposition protesters engaging in street clashes with police.
As well as the pro-an-Nahda rally, yesterday was to see two memorial ceremonies for Belaid, one in southern Tunis and another in Jendouba in the northwest, from where his family originates.
Belaid’s wife, Besma Khalfaoui, who has become a symbol of Tunisia’s secular opposition and scourge of the ruling Islamists since her husband was gunned down outside their home in a Tunis suburb, was expected to attend the Jendouba ceremony.
Belaid’s family has accused an-Nahda of orchestrating his murder, a claim the Islamist party strongly denies.
As well as the row over the new government, there is deadlock over the drafting of the constitution, with parliament divided over the nature of Tunisia’s future political system 15 months after it was elected.
The country has been further destabilized by a spate of attacks blamed on radical Salafists.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese