Tag Archives: Tunisia

Tunisian President Kais Saied has dismissed the country’s prime minister and suspended parliament following a day of rallies against the ruling Ennahda Party, a move greeted with both celebrations and protests on the streets. Saied announced on Sunday he would assume executive authority with the assistance of a new prime …

At least 43 migrants drowned in a shipwreck off Tunisia as they tried to cross the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy, while another 84 were rescued, the Tunisian Red Crescent told Reuters on Saturday. The boat had set off from Zuwara, on Libya’s northwest coast, carrying migrants from Egypt, Sudan, …

Tunisia’s Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi has been infected with the coronavirus, the government said on Friday. Mechichi received a COVID-19 vaccine last month. The prime minister will cancel his meetings and continue to work remotely, the government statement added. Tunisia is seeing a significant increase in COVID-19 cases, with intensive …

Violent protests erupted in the streets of Tunisia’s capital again on Saturday night, adding to the pressure on Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi’s government to crack down on police abuses. The clashes occurred in the Sejoumi neighborhood of Tunis and followed protests earlier in the day in the center of the …

At least 57 migrants drowned in a shipwreck off Tunis as they tried to cross the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy and 33 were rescued, humanitarian organization Tunisian Red Crescent said on Tuesday. In recent weeks, drowning incidents have occurred off the Tunisian coast, with an increase in the frequency …

Tunisian security forces killed five suspected militants in the mountains near the border with Algeria on Monday, a Tunisian security official says. The operation, carried out by joint police and army forces in the Chaanabi mountains, is still continuing, he added. Six years ago an Islamic State terrorist group shot …

The number of migrants landing on Italy’s shores has more than doubled in the last year as an economic crisis in Tunisia fuels migration in boats across the Mediterranean, Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese said on Saturday. More than 21,000 people reached Italy between August 2019 and the end of July, …

Tunisia prime minister-designate Hichem Mechichi said on Monday he will form a technocrat government without political parties, due to the disagreement between parties in the North Africa country. Mechichi’s decision will likely put him in confrontation with the moderate Islamist Ennahda Party, the largest party in Parliament, which announced its …

Tunisian President Kais Saied on Saturday designated the interior minister as the new prime minister to succeed Elyes Fakhfakh, who resigned over allegations of a conflict of interest, the presidency said. New premier Hichem Mechichi pledged to respond to the social and economic demands that have spawned constant protests in …

The death toll from the sinking of a boat carrying migrants off the Tunisian coast has risen to 54 as more bodies were recovered during the search operations. The boat, heading for Italy’s coast on Saturday, sank off the Tunisian city of Sfax. Tunisian search teams recovered the bodies of …

A police robot has been deployed to patrol areas of Tunisia’s capital, Tunis, to ensure that people are observing a coronavirus lockdown. If it spies anyone walking in the largely deserted streets, it approaches them and asks why they are out. They must then show their ID and other papers …

A policeman has been killed and several others have been wounded in an explosion outside the United States Embassy in the Tunisian capital, Tunis. Tunisia’s Interior Ministry said two assailants on a motorbike blew themselves up outside the embassy in the Lac district on Friday, adding that that attack also …

Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara will consider deploying soldiers to help the United Nations-backed government in Libya fight off rival factions in the civil war-torn country. Erdogan made the comment in a meeting with Tunisian President Kais Saied during a surprise visit to Tunisia on Wednesday. We …

Tunisia has a new president. Kais Saied has been sworn in after winning a landslide victory in this month’s election. The low-profile law professor took the presidential oath of office before the parliament on Wednesday. Saied’s victory delivered a heavy blow to the established political elite, who have failed to …

Conservative political outsider Kais Saied has won Tunisia’s presidential election with 72.71 percent of votes, the North African country’s electoral commission said Monday. Saied garnered 2.7 million votes against one million received by his rival business tycoon Nabil Karoui in Sunday’s runoff, the commission said. Karoui conceded defeat earlier on …

Tunisian polling stations opened on Sunday in a run-off that will resolve presidential elections between media magnate Nabil Karoui and retired law professor Kais Said. The first presidential round, in which 26 candidates competed, saw what was termed an “electoral earthquake” following a “vote of punishment” by voters against representatives …

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, commonly known as Ben Ali was a long-serving Tunisian president between 1987 and 2011 when he was ousted as a result of a coup Former Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali passed away on Thursday after suffering a health crisis, the former president’s lawyer …

About 40 people are feared dead or missing after the latest wreck of a boat carrying migrants bound for Europe off the coast of Libya, while about 60 people may have been rescued, the U.N. refugee agency said on Tuesday. “Terrible news coming in of potentially large loss of life …

Tunisia’s electoral commission said on Wednesday it had approved 26 candidates including two women for next month’s presidential election and had rejected 71 other applicants. The Sept. 15 vote follows the death at age 92 last month of Beji Caid Essebsi, the first president to be democratically elected in Tunisia …

Mourners and international delegates have gathered at Tunisia’s Carthage Palace to bid farewell to the country’s first democratically elected president Beji Caid Essebsi. The state funeral was attended by foreign leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, Qatar’s Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Spanish King Felipe VI, Algerian President Abdelkader …