Wednesday, February 09, 2011

There were new signs of unrest in provincial Tunisian towns Tuesday with many protesters demanding that regional governors step down because they had ties to ousted President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali’s administration, while gunshots were fired in the center of the Tunisian capital.

On a visit to Tunisia, British Foreign Secretary William Hague urged the country’s caretaker government to push forward with “vital” elections, while the European Union said it was drawing up an assistance plan to help with the transition to democracy after the ouster of leader Ben Ali.

In the town of Gafsa, near the border with Algeria, a high school attended by around 1,500 pupils caught fire in an apparent arson attack, official media reported.

Two trade union sources in Gassrine, about 250 kilometers southwest of Tunis, told Reuters several hundred people were blocking the highway into the town to protest at what they said was neglect by the central government.

The sources said the governor of the Gassrine region, who was only appointed a few days ago in a purge of regional officials, stepped down Monday under pressure from protesters who besieged his office.
Demonstrators also forced out the newly appointed governor of Gafsa region Tuesday, the official TAP news agency reported.

In a deal meant to defuse the tension, Tunisia’s biggest trade union said it had agreed with the government that all governors with ties to the former ruling party would be removed.
In Tunis, workers at the Foreign Ministry were on strike for a second day to demand that the minister, Ahmad Ounaiss, resign. He angered many Tunisians with comments they felt showed he did not fully support Tunisia’s change of ruler.

The gunshots Tuesday were the first time shooting had been heard in the capital for at least two weeks.
Three witnesses told Reuters they heard shooting coming from streets near Avenue Bourguiba, the main thoroughfare in Tunis, but none could see who was responsible.

“I heard sporadic gunfire,” one of the witnesses, who was near the Tunis city government building, told Reuters. Soon after, the area was back to normal with no signs of any disturbances.

In the past few days violence has flared up again, with at least five people killed since Friday in clashes between police and protesters in provincial towns. Army reservists have been called up to help restore order.

Soldiers who retired between 2006 and 2010 and conscripts who left the ranks at the end of 2008 and throughout 2009 were told to report to military posts from Feb. 16, a statement from authorities carried by TAP said Tuesday.

Some 234 people have been killed in total during the month-long protests and 510 have been wounded, an official source told AFP Tuesday, adding that the death toll included eight police officers and 74 people who died in prison.
In a further show of international support, Britain’s foreign minister became the most senior Western official to visit since Ben Ali’s ouster.

“We are witnessing a moment of opportunity here in Tunisia and in many other countries, an opportunity which should be seized rather than feared,” Hague told a news conference in Tunis.
He also announced 5 million pounds ($8 million) in British funding for a new “Arab Partnership Initiative” that will fund democratic reform projects in North Africa and the Middle East.

The EU’s enlargement commissioner, Stefan Fuele, said during a visit to Morocco Tuesday that Europe was keen to support democratic reforms in Tunisia and across the region, including in Egypt. “We are currently putting in place a transition package at the request of Tunisian authorities and we want to set priorities … that will allow Tunisia to face up to its new needs,” he told reporters in Rabat. – Agencies