Struggling
Tunisia unity cabinet to meet
January
19, 2011 10:07:39 AM
* Caretaker PM trying to hold new
government together
* Cabinet set to meet for first time
since Ben Ali ousted
* Street protests have eased
* President Obama calls for calm
(Adds Obama comment, Arab summit,
Moody's downgrade)
By Christian Lowe
TUNIS, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Tunisia's
national unity cabinet was due to hold its first meeting on Wednesday, with the
caretaker prime minister under pressure from opposition leaders who demanded he
fire more of the ousted president's allies.
Four opponents of former president
Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali quit the government within a day of being appointed,
saying street protesters who triggered the upheaval were disappointed at how
many of the old guard, including Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi, were still
in power.
The tree-lined Avenue Bourguiba, in
the centre of the capital, was re-opened to traffic for the first time in
several days. The street had on Tuesday been the scenes of clashes between
protesters demanding the removal of Ben Ali's RCD party from power, and police
using tear gas.
Tunis residents said the streets
were quiet overnight, with no reports of shooting or looting.
Abid al-Briki of the UGTT trade
union, whose three ministerial nominees all resigned, said it still wanted to
see all ministers from Ben Ali's team cleared out, though it would make an
exception for Ghannouchi.
"This is in response to the
demands of people on the streets," Briki said.
Trying to defuse the row, Ghannouchi
and caretaker President Fouad Mebazza quit the Democratic Constitutional Rally
(RCD).
NEW MINISTERS
One of the new ministers who
resigned, Mustafa Ben Jaafar, indicated that move might be enough to tempt him
back.
But the UGTT responded that while
their ditching of old party cards was positive, it was not sufficient.
Ghannouchi said some ministers were kept on because they were needed in the
run-up to elections, expected in the next two months.
Underlining international concern
over Tunisia, U.S. President Barack Obama spoke to Egyptian President Hosni
Mubarak about Washington's desire for calm.
"The President ... shared with
President Mubarak that the United States is calling for calm and an end to
violence, and for the interim government of Tunisia to uphold universal human
rights and hold free and fair elections in order to meet the aspirations of the
Tunisian people," the White House said in a statement on Tuesday.
At an Arab summit in Egypt on
Wednesday, the emir of Kuwait called for national unity to resolve the crisis.
Ministers in the coalition
government took the oath of office in a ceremony on Tuesday evening, Najib
Chebbi, an opposition party leader and minister in the government, told
Reuters.
In an indication of the new
government's desire to break with the past, the ruling RCD party cancelled the
party membership of Ben Ali, ex-presidential advisor Abd Elwahab Abdallah, Ben
Ali's son-in-law Sakher Materi and brother-in-law Belhassen Trebelsi, state
television reported.
The government says at least 78
people were killed in the unrest and the cost in damage and lost business was
estimated at $2 billion.
The weeks of protests over poverty
and unemployment which forced Ben Ali out prompted speculation across the Arab
world that other repressive governments might also face unrest.
In Syria, opponents of President
Bashar al-Assad said that the overthrow of dictatorship in Tunisia had fatally
undermined assertions by Arab governments that their repression is the only
alternative to chaos or extreme Islamist rule.
Rating agency Moody's Investors
Service on Wednesday lowered its credit rating for Tunisia, and Standard and
Poor's has threatened to do so if uncertainty continues.
The cost of insuring Tunisia's debt
against default rose sharply after the downgrade. (Writing by Giles Elgood,
Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
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