Category Archives: Tunisia

‘He ruined us’: 10 years on, Tunisians curse man who sparked Arab spring

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Thanks in part to Mohamed Bouazizi’s self-immolation, Tunisians are freer than before, but many are miserable and disillusioned

His act of despair still shakes the Arab world. Mohamed Bouazizi, the 26-year-old fruit seller whose self-immolation triggered revolutions across the Middle East, has a boulevard named after him in Tunisia’s capital, Tunis. In his home town of Sidi Bouzid, he is depicted in a giant portrait facing the local government headquarters.

But a decade since he set himself on fire in protest at state corruption and brutality, Bouazizi is out of fashion in Tunisia – along with the revolution his death inspired. His family have moved to Canada and cut most ties with Sidi Bouzid. “They were smeared,” says Bilal Gharby, 32, a family friend.

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10 years on, the Arab spring’s explosive rage and dashed dreams

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The extraordinary shock of people power gave way to a bitter backlash. So where to now?

A decade ago this week, a young fruit seller called Mohammed Bouazizi set himself alight outside the provincial headquarters of his home town in Tunisia, in protest against local police officials who had seized his cart and produce.

Accounts of the 26-year-old’s shocking act rippled through his homeland, where hundreds of thousands of people who had also been humiliated by an atrophied state and its officials now found the courage to raise their voices.

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The bookseller of Tunis: one man’s fight to preserve relic of bygone age

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As news of its uncertain future spreads, readers are flocking to the city’s oldest bookshop – but can it survive changing tastes and technology?

Despite the pandemic, shoppers crowd the small bookshop at 18 Rue d’Angleterre. Many are here for the first time, squeezing their way between the stacks of books piled high along the walls of the bookshop said to be the oldest in Tunis.

Sunk within an obscure street near the city’s medina, there is little to distinguish number 18 from its rival further down the street, or the small haphazard book stands that shelter in the square opposite from a rain that never quite comes. All nestle amid the bleached awnings of the French ville nouvelle, itself marking the transition from the storied Arab architecture of the medina to the grand colonial designs of Tunis’ city centre.

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What’s in a name? How the legacy of slavery endures in Tunisia

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Black people in the north African country suffer hardship and disadvantage, and many still carry the label of ‘liberated’ slaves

Many within Tunisia greeted the news that 81-year-old Hamden Dali had won his two decade-long campaign to have “atig” removed from his name with little more than bemusement.

But for Dali atig – meaning “liberated by” – in his name was a painful reminder of his family’s heritage as former slaves.

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Nice terror suspect phoned his family hours before attack

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Tunisian Brahim Aouissaoui, 21, gave no indication he was contemplating violence

The 21-year-old Tunisian man who is accused of using a kitchen knife to kill three people in a church in Nice spoke to his family 12 hours before the attack, giving no indication he was contemplating violence.

Brahim Aouissaoui grew up among eight sisters and two brothers in a modest home on a potholed road in Thina, a working-class neighbourhood in an industrial zone close to Sfax, a major port on Tunisia’s eastern coast.

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Man can drop part of name denoting slave ancestry, Tunisian court rules

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Case expected to open door for others wanting to drop ‘atig’ or ‘liberated by’ from their name

A court in Tunisia has allowed an 81-year-old man to remove a word from his name that marked him out as descended from slaves, in the country’s first ruling of its kind, his lawyer has said.

Tunisia abolished slavery in 1846, but critics say it has not done enough to address racism against black Tunisians, who make up 10-15% of the population and are mostly descended from slaves.

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Tunisia president calls for return of death penalty following brutal killing

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Human rights campaigners warn reinstating capital punishment ‘would be a huge step backwards’, as attack on young woman reignites debate

The brutal killing of a young woman has reignited a debate in Tunisia over capital punishment, with the country’s president suggesting an end to a decades-old moratorium on the death penalty.

President Kais Saied told a meeting of the country’s national security council on Monday that “murder deserves the death penalty” and urged the security forces to redouble their efforts in countering what he characterised as a nationwide increase in crime.

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How Tunisia’s shrinking economy and fish stocks put shark on the menu

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A lack of awareness and ever-increasing competition among fishing boats threaten one of the sea’s most vital species

The temperature is cooling down in the fish market in Monastir, Tunisia. Still, the suffocating smell of the fish guts that have sat through the full force of the day’s heat hangs heavy in the air. The stallholders have left now, but on the floor amid the detritus is the unmistakable shape of a severed shark’s head.

Nearby, in a skip, the bodies of two guitarfish rays lie discarded, stripped of meat to the cartilage.

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‘Entire families are arriving at our shores’: Covid drives Tunisian exodus

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Italy is facing an influx of people trafficked on fishing boats, desperate to escape Tunisia’s deepening economic crisis

Unsurprisingly for a coastal town perched upon Tunisia’s border with Libya, it’s hot when Ahmed climbs into the back of the car outside the petrol station in Zarzis.

It’s clear from the outset he feels uncomfortable talking to a journalist. Nevertheless, he’s here.

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Gisèle Halimi, trailblazing French feminist MP and lawyer, dies aged 93

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Instrumental in decriminalising abortion in France, Halimi spent her life fighting for women’s rights

The Tunisian-born French feminist MP and lawyer Gisèle Halimi, described as a “trailblazer” and a “rebel”, has died one day after her 93rd birthday.

Halimi was instrumental in the decriminalisation of abortion in France and spent her life fighting for women’s rights. “Injustice is physically intolerable to me. All my life can be summed up with that,” she once said.

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At least 35 people dead as migrant boat sinks off Tunisia

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Boat carrying 53 people trying to reach Italy sank last week, reports say

At least 35 people have died after a boat carrying dozens of people sank last week off the coast of Tunisia, according to local officials.

According to an initial reconstruction of events, the boat, carrying 53 people mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, had left the Tunisian coast from the city of Sfax, aiming to reach Italy. The shipwreck occurred between 4 and 5 June off the Kerkennah Islands, said investigators, and authorities were alerted on 9 June by fishermen who first spotted the floating bodies.

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Facebook deactivates accounts of Tunisian political bloggers and activists

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Several accounts reactivated after protests with social media giant blaming ‘technical error’

The Facebook accounts of several high-profile bloggers and activists in Tunisia were among those deactivated without warning over the weekend.

Up to 60 accounts are understood to have been deactivated, including that of journalist and political commentator Haythem El Mekki.

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‘We have nothing’: as lockdown bites, migrants in Tunisia feel the pinch

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With Covid-19 yet to spread widely, business closures are already causing hardship for people dependent on casual work

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    • From 6pm to 6am, the security services enforce the curfew. Like most other countries in the world, Tunisia remains in lockdown.

    At all other times, tight restrictions on public movement are in place to limit the spread of coronavirus. Across the country, many businesses are shuttered up, with employees preparing themselves for the long and potentially economically devastating wait until something like normal life returns to the country.

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    ‘Show me your ID’: Tunisia deploys ‘robocop’ to enforce coronavirus lockdown

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    A police robot is patrolling the streets of the capital calling out suspected violators of the lockdown

    Tunisia’s interior ministry has sent a police robot to patrol the streets of the capital and enforce a lockdown imposed last month as the country battles the spread of coronavirus.

    Known as PGuard, the “robocop” is remotely operated and equipped with infrared and thermal imaging cameras, in addition to a sound and light alarm system.

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    Tunisia to shelve plan for UN vote on Trump’s Middle East plan

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    Security council vote was seen as test of support for deal and of Britain’s relations with US

    Arab plans for a UN security council vote on Tuesday designed to show international opposition to Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan are expected to be shelved after the US and the UK raised separate objections to the draft text.

    In what was being seen as a key test of the diplomatic support for Trump’s “ultimate deal”, Tunisia, with Arab League and Palestinian support, had tabled a resolution saying it breached basic undertakings to the Palestinian people.

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    Tunisia to ban plastic bags in supermarkets and chemists

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    Gradual phaseout will begin in March as part of government plan to outlaw all single-use bags by 2021

    Tunisia has announced plans to stop its supermarkets and pharmacies from using single-use plastic bags from next month before phasing them out completely in 2021.

    Plastic pollution has been a growing problem in the north African country in recent years, along with the challenges presented by its ancient industrial plants and barely managed household waste.

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    ‘The dates are drying’: profits shrivel for farmers as the heat rises in Tunisia

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    Irrigation systems and oases in the arid south are failing to keep up with the demands of thirsty palm plantations

    Mansour Rajeb is wrapping a plastic protective sheet around the branch of a date palm in his oasis near the village of Bchelli, in southern Tunisia. Tying it up, he lingers.

    “I’m worried,” he says. “The quality is getting worse. The dates are getting drier.”

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    Erdoğan arrives in Tunisia for surprise talks with president

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    Turkish leader’s visit comes as Ankara moves to strike deals with Mediterranean nations

    The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has arrived in Tunisia on a surprise visit for talks with his Tunisian counterpart, his office has said.

    The visit, the first by a head of state since the Tunisian presidential elections in the autumn, comes as Turkey has ramped up efforts to strike deals with nations on the Mediterranean, where Ankara has been at odds with Greece over resources off the coast of the divided island of Cyprus.

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    Tunisia election: ‘Robocop’ Kais Saied wins presidential runoff

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    Thousands take to streets after exit polls give conservative academic more than 70% of the vote

    A low-profile, conservative law professor has beaten a charismatic media magnate released from prison last week in Tunisia’s presidential election runoff.

    In a contest that reflected Tunisia’s shifting post-revolution political landscape, Kais Saied scooped more than 70% of the vote, according to two exit polls, more than 40 points ahead of Nabil Karoui.

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    Robocop v Corleone: disgruntled Tunisians vote in presidential runoff

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    Exit poll points to victory for low-profile law professor Kais Saied over fellow outsider Nabil Karoui

    Tunisians are voting on Sunday in a runoff presidential election between a low-profile law professor and a charismatic media magnate who was released from prison earlier this week.

    The Maghreb country, often held up as the lone success story of the Arab spring, appears set to successfully carry out its second-ever presidential elections, with an earlier round of voting winnowing the field from 26 candidates to the two self-styled outsiders, the lawyer Kais Saied and the businessman Nabil Karoui.

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