Tunisian Industry Minister Resigns After Renewed Violence

[shian]

[quote=Bloomberg]
Tunisia’s industry and technology minister resigned, a day after Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi quit following renewed violence that left at least five people dead in the capital Tunis.

Afif Chelbi handed in his resignation today, the state-run Agence Tunis Afrique Presse reported, without saying how it got the information or providing further details. Yesterday, hours after Ghannouchi stepped down, interim President Fouad Mebazaa named an octogenarian former foreign minister, Beji Caid Essebsi, as the new prime minister.

Demonstrators had repeatedly called for the departure of Ghannouchi, who served under ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and created an interim government on Jan. 18, four days after Ben Ali fled the country. It wasn’t immediately clear if the resignations would appease the demands of the various protesters. At least two groups indicated they wanted more.

“We want the resignation of all the government members and the establishment of a council to re-draft the constitution,” Zouhair Maghzaouin, a member of the Secondary Education General Syndicate union, said in an interview today.

The mass protests that forced Ben Ali to flee to Saudi Arabia inspired a wave of unrest throughout the region. Since Jan. 14, the benchmark Tunindex stock has fallen 11 percent and rallies have continued as demonstrators say the interim government includes too many former regime members.

Essebsi, who was born in 1926, served as foreign minister under late President Habib Bourguiba from 1981 until 1986, the year before Ben Ali became president.

Clashes

Security forces surrounded the Interior Ministry with barbed-wire barriers today after three protesters were killed in clashes with security forces on Feb. 26, TAP reported. More than 3,000 protesters rallied in central Tunis on Feb. 20 to demand Ghannouchi’s resignation, it said.

“This resignation is a service to Tunisia’s revolution,” Ghannouchi said at a news conference yesterday. “I am not prepared to be someone who makes decisions that result in victims.”

Ghannouchi announced changes on Jan. 18 including the dissolution of the Communications Ministry, the release of all political prisoners and the formation of a committee to investigate corruption and abuse of power and aimed at moving the nation toward a system of elected institutions.
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Source:
[url]http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-28/tunisian-industry-minister-resigns-after-renewed-violence.html[/url]