Terrible Uncertainty in Tunisia

Terrible Uncertainty in Tunisia

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Constitutional glitch fixed at last: The Parliament Speaker, Fouad Mbazzah, has just been sworn in as the new interim president, and this based on Article 57 of the Constitution. A Constitutional Committee is supposed to be formed soon to arrange for early elections.

During this power vacuum, militias and snipers (most likely part of Ben Ali’s elite presidential guard and other hired thugs) continue prowling through city streets setting fire to public property. Army and civilians are side by side trying to save the country from the chaos that these militias are creating. It is reported that these armed gangs and snipers are connected to the former regime and receive their orders from high national security officials. 

Conflicting opinions about the state of affairs in Tunisia. We no longer know who is on the side of whom.  We haven’t seen any evidence yet of the arrest of any member of the Trabelsi family. The Trabelsi family are Ben Ali’s in-laws who have become over the years a much-dreaded, rapacious mafia controlling different key sectors of Tunisia’s economy.  While people are dying in the streets, politicians are beginning to hedge their political bets in an effort either to abort or co-opt the revolutionary tide sweeping the country.

This is insane! One has the feeling that  the people’s revolution is being manipulated somehow.Tunisian Facebookers begin to suspect a nasty conspiracy being hatched up by leaders of the RCD, the former ruling party (Rally for Constitutional Democracy).  There is talk that tomorrow Jan 16, major protests across the country will be launched to demand the dissolution of the RCD and the arrest of all its leaders.  Reading FB comments, one can actually feel the anxiety of the people and their fear of the unknown, but there is also a sense of unwavering commitment to the fundamental principles  of Tunisia’s revolution (dignity, freedom, democracy) and its success.

It’s surprising that the US administration has remained conspicuously silent about the Tunisian uprising. There has been calls for calm and peaceful negotiations, but no outright condemnation  of human rights violation.