tunisia - The African Mirror

Jul

2023

Tunisia national guard officer stabbed, police arrest attacker

A man stabbed a national guard officer in La Goulette, a suburb of the capital Tunis, the interior ministry said, the second such attack targeting the police in two weeks. Police quickly arrested the suspect, the ministry said. The national guard officer was taken to a hospital and his condition was listed as stable. The reasons for the attack are unknown. Last month, a policeman died after a man fatally stabbed him on duty outside the Brazilian embassy in Tunis. Thomson Reuters Foundation

Jun

2023

By The African Mirror

UN rights chief urges Tunisian leader to stop curbing media freedoms

MEDIA FREEDOM

UNITED Nations human rights chief Volker Turk called on Tunisia to stop restricting media freedoms and said it was criminalizing independent journalism since President Kais Saied seized wide powers in 2021. Freedom of speech and media were key gains for Tunisians after the 2011 revolution that ousted autocratic President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and triggered the Arab Spring protests. But activists and journalists say freedom of speech faces a serious threat under Saied's rule. "The crackdown earlier this year against judges, politicians, labour leaders, businesspeople and civil society actors has now spread to target independent journalists, who are increasingly…

Jun

2023

By The African Mirror

Tunisia frees prominent journalist after two days detention

NEWS

A TUNISIAN judge ordered the release of prominent journalist Zied Heni two days after he was arrested over accusations he had insulted President Kais Saied. His release followed a campaign of solidarity with him and criticism that the authorities were clamping down on freedom of speech, a key gain won by Tunisians after the 2011 revolution that ended the authoritarian rule of the late President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Saied seized extra powers in 2021 when he shut down the elected parliament and moved to rule by decree and then assumed authority over the judiciary. "What happened was a…

Jun

2023

By TAREK AMARA

Tunisia tourist revival a rare bright spot for crisis-hit economy

NEWS

TUNISIA is set for a strong tourist season with visitor numbers nearing pre-pandemic levels, a government official told Reuters, bringing some badly needed foreign currency into an economy mired in crisis as bankruptcy threatens state finances. Tourism typically accounted for around 7% of Tunisia's gross domestic product but visitor numbers collapsed during the COVID pandemic, putting extra strain on an economy that was already in trouble. However, authorities now expect about 8.5 million tourists this year, 90% of the 9.4 million in 2019, the last year before the pandemic, and a big jump from the 6.4 million last year, Tourism Ministry official…

Jun

2023

By The African Mirror

Tunisia: President wants to tax the rich

NEWS

TUNISIAN President Kais Saied suggested raising taxes on richer people could be an alternative to socially painful reforms as a means to secure an international financial rescue package. Tunisia's government negotiated a preliminary agreement in October with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a $1.9 billion loan in return for cuts to subsidies and the public sector wage bill and reform of state-owned companies. Credit ratings agencies have warned that Tunisia faces a possible default on sovereign debt without the loan, which is also expected to unlock more bilateral financing. The IMF has said Tunisia needs to put its finances…

Jun

2023

By TAREK AMARA and ANGUS MCDOWALL

Tunisia’s financial crisis leaves the sick struggling to find medicine

NEWS

SICK Tunisians face a frantic struggle to find some medicines because the cash-strapped state has reduced imports, leaving doctors unable to control debilitating health problems and patients turning to informal markets for their medication. "The issue of missing medicine has become very hard for patients. We have a real problem with some medicines for which there are no generics available," said Douha Maaoui Faourati, a Tunis doctor specialising in kidney and blood pressure disease. Faourati has had to ask patients to try to get drugs from Europe, including ones used to control dangerously irregular heartbeat, swelling and clotting, for which…

May

2023

By The African Mirror

Tunisia detains two students over satirical song criticizing police

NEWS

TAREK AMARA TUNISIAN police arrested two students over a satirical song criticizing the police, their lawyer said on Wednesday, reinforcing fears of an erosion of freedom of speech after President Kais Saied seized most powers two years ago. Youssef Chelbi and Dhia Nsir posted a clip on Tik Tok and Facebook this week showing them laughing and singing a sarcastic song criticizing the police's treatment of detainees and a drugs law. Lawyer Imen Souissi said they are facing charges of insulting others through social networks and they could face up to a year in prison if the court finds them…

Apr

2023

By The African Mirror

Tunisia retrieves 41 drowned migrants as death toll soars

NEWS

COASTGUARDS have retrieved 41 bodies from Tunisian waters, a national guard official said, raising the number of victims of migrant shipwrecks off the country's coast to 210 in 10 days. The bodies were in a decomposed state, suggesting they had been in the water for several days, said Houssem Eddine Jebabli told Reuters. The cumulative total of fatalities was unprecedented over such a short period, he said. Numbers of boats carrying migrants - most from sub-Saharan Africa, Syria and Sudan - trying to reach Italy from Tunisia have risen sharply in recent months, in part due to a crackdown on…

Apr

2023

By The African Mirror

Tunisia finds 70 drowned migrants, morgues running out of space

NEWS

COASTGUARDS have pulled the bodies of at least 70 drowned migrants from waters off Tunisia, where morgues are running out of space and authorities are struggling to contain a surge in crossings, officials. Another two boats sank on Monday near the coastal city of Sfax, Faouzi Masmoudi, a judicial official there, told Reuters. "The morgues in Sfax hospitals are suffering from severe pressure because of the high number of corpses of migrants. It's a threat to public health," Masmoudi said. The bodies of at least 70 African migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe had been recovered since Friday,…

Apr

2023

By The African Mirror

Tunisian player dies after setting himself on fire in protest against police

NEWS

TUNISIAN football player Nizar Issaoui, 35, has died from burns suffered after setting himself alight earlier this week as a protest against "police injustice", his family said. Clashes erupted between police and angry protesters in Haffouz, the hometown of Issaoui. Police fired gas to disperse the protesters who had gathered in front of the police headquarters, witnesses told Reuters. Issaoui, a former player for top-flight side US Monastir and a father of four, published a video on Facebook in which he said the reason for his protest was being falsely accused of terrorism in Haffouz, Kairouan, central Tunisia. The striker,…