Tuesday, February 22, 2011

The Tunisian government took steps  Monday to dissolve the ruling party whileWashington offered Tunisia help in shoring up security following its “model” revolution, U.S. Senator John McCain said.

 Authorities also “made an official request to Saudi authorities through diplomatic channels for the extradition of Leila Trabelsi, the wife of the ousted president,” state TAP news agency said, quoting the Foreign Ministry.
Meanwhile, Turkey said the Tunisian revolution could provide a model for other countries seeking reform if it can avoid pitfalls on the path to elections.

Tunisia’s Interior Ministry filed for the dissolution of ex-President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali’s political party Monday following accusations its members sought to destabilize the country, state media reported.

“The revolution in Tunisia has been very successful and it has become a model for the region,” McCain, the leading Republican on the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee, told Reuters after meetings with Tunisian government officials. “We stand ready to provide training to help Tunisia’s military to provide security,” he said.
Elections to replace Ben Ali are expected by July or August. But new protests have erupted in recent days against the interim government tasked with organizing the vote for failing to address rising crime rates and lingering poverty.

Earlier Monday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told a media briefing that Tunisia had a chance to provide a positive model for other countries seeking reform.
“Tunisia has a strong middle class and high levels of education,” Davutoglu said. “If the transformation is successful in Tunisia it can be a model for other countries.”

He said the interim government needed to make constitutional changes and set up institutions to ensure the rule of law for the poll, expected in July or August, to ensure that it passes smoothly. “We moved into a multi-party system in Turkey in 1946 and our first elections were in 1950,” he said. “In Tunisia, there are risks because everything is happening so fast.”

Davutoglu, who is also the current president of the Council of Europe, was in Tunisia along with council Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland for a meeting with Prime Minister Mohammad Ghannouchi. Jagland said Tunisia’s ability to set smooth elections was crucial for its trade ties with Europe.

“It is very important that these processes are entertained in a way that everybody in this society can believe in and have trust in,” he said. “This is the only way to come closer to Europe and to form the basis of any economic progress,” he said after the meeting.
Meanwhile, Tunisia’s interim government Monday named career diplomat Mouldi Kefi, who served in the regime of Ben Ali, as its new minister of foreign affairs.

Kefi, 65, replaces Ahmad Ounaies who quit on Feb. 13 after two weeks in office amid criticism following a visit to France. “Mouldi Kefi has been designated minister of foreign affairs in the transitional government,” the official TAP news agency said, citing the presidency. He was expected to be sworn in Monday.
Kefit succeeds Ounaies after the 75-year-old diplomat quit a day before a visit to Tunisia by Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s top diplomat.

Ounaies was appointed foreign ministry secretary of state in the first government of national unity announced on Jan. 17. In a Jan. 27 reshuffle, he was appointed foreign minister. – Agencies