Ghannouchi: “Bouteflika asked me to play role of mediation with the Islamists Libyans”

President of the Tunisian Ennahdha movement Rached Ghannouchi revealed in an interview published Saturday by Algerian Arabic news website Al-khabar, that a meeting between, Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt is expected to be held soon in Tunisia to pave the way, if all goes well as hoped and expected, to a summit in Algeria between the three presidents, Bouteflika , Eessebsi and Al-Sissi  to find a regional solution for the current crisis Libya is going through. He also revealed that president Bouteflika asked him to make efforts in this regard especially…

Whistleblowers feted in Tunisia call for more protection

Efforts by Tunisian whistleblowers to reveal unjust and illegal activities related to corruption do not go unnoticed. On Friday, ten whistleblowers were awarded in a colourful ceremony in the capital Tunis amid calls for more protection. Nine years ago, Tunisia ratified a UN Convention Against Corruption which encourages countries to incorporate appropriate measures into their domestic legal system to provide protection against any unjustified treatment of those who expose corruption. In January 2014, legislators in the country adopted a new constitution which has been hailed for its progressive nature. However,…

Jarrafa: Tunisian side of Ras Ajdair border drains Libya of veggies, fuel, and goods

The chief of the Ras Ajdair border checkpoint on the Libyan side, Mohammed Jarrafa, said the crossing is seeing a growing transportation of Libya’s goods, fuel and vegetables by whom he called the salves of dinar in Tunisia and Libya amid the Libyan authorities’ inaction. On Saturday, Jaraffa told the press that the prices of vegetables in Libya have soared after they have all been taken to Tunisia once the movement returned to normal on the border in the last few days. “The real revolutionaries must go to the Ras…

Tunisia: per capita consumption volume rises to 3,871 dinars in 2015

The volume of average per capita consumption has increased in Tunisia from 2,600 dinars in 2010 to 3,871 dinars in 2015, Minister of Development, Investment and International Co-operation, Fadhel Abdelkefi said Tuesday at a plenary session of the House of People’s Representatives. He noted that the drop in the rate of poverty between 2010 and 2015 is mainly due to the increase in remuneration in the public sector (from 6.5 billion dinars to 13.5 billion dinars) and private sector (from 7.3 billion dinars to 11.3 billion dinars), besides the rise…

Human rights & counter-terrorism: UN expert announces follow-up mission to Tunisia

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, Ben Emmerson, will carry out an official visit to Tunisia from 30 January to 3 February to assess progress achieved by the country in the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism since the visits of his predecessor Martin Scheinin, in 2010 and 2011. “I will discuss and asses the implementation of a new 2015 Organic Law on the fight against terrorism and money laundering, and the new 2016 National strategy against extremism and counter…

EU interior ministers at loggerheads over distribution of migrants

The EU wants to cut off the maritime migrant route from Libya to Italy and is mulling over camps in Africa as a deterrent to would-be migrants. Interior ministers are conferring in Malta, as Bernd Riegert reports. The Maltese clearly like Europe. “Prelude to Te Deum”, the baroque fanfare written by Marc-Antoine Charpentier which has become known as the Eurovision anthem, blares every hour from loudspeakers across the square in front of the Grandmaster’s Palace. The music caught the EU’s Commissioner for Migration Dimitris Avramopoulos by surprise. On his arrival at…