AS A humanitarian crisis loomed on its southern border, Tunisia’s interim government was dealt a further setback when three more ministers announced their resignations. The departures meant that in 72 hours, the prime minister and five ministers had left cabinet, raising doubts about the government’s survival.
The ministers who resigned on Tuesday included Ahmed Nejib Chebbi, the regional development minister, and Ahmed Brahim, the higher education minister.
Both are opposition figures who were brought into the government after the overthrow of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. The third minister to resign was Elyes Jouini, who held the economic reform portfolio.
Mohammed Ghannouchi resigned as prime minister on Sunday, acceding to a key demand of protesters who saw him as having been too close to Ben Ali. Mr Ghannounchi’s resignation – in response to a huge anti-government protest attended by 100,000 people and the deaths of three people in violent clashes – was followed by the departures of two more ministers who served in Ben Ali’s government.
The new prime minister, Beji Caid Sebsi, who was foreign minister under Tunisia’s first post-independence leader Habib Bourguiba, is now charged with preparing for free elections due to take place by mid-July.
His government announced yesterday that it had granted the main Islamist political movement, Ennahda, permission to form a political party.
The move will allow Ennahda, which had been banned for two decades under Ben Ali’s rule, to participate in the forthcoming elections.
The UN refugee agency has said the situation on the Libya-Tunisia border is reaching crisis point after up to 75,000 people fleeing the violence in Libya crossed into southern Tunisia.
Some 15,000 people were estimated to have crossed the border yesterday, overwhelming aid agencies and Tunisian authorities already stretched by efforts to restore security after the country’s revolution.
Tens of thousands, including large numbers of Egyptian migrant workers, were waiting for transport to take them on to other cities, while thousands more were waiting on the Libyan side to cross the border yesterday. Tunisian border guards reportedly fired into the air to control the crowds.
“Our staff on the Libya-Tunisia border have told us… that the situation there is reaching crisis point,” said Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
The UNHCR extended its camp near the border to help cope with demand, erecting tents with a capacity to accommodate 10,000 people. The organisation was preparing to put in more tents to increase the camp’s capacity to 20,000.