Tunisia

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Ministers from Germany and France tasked with regulating migration are joining forces to try to curb deaths on dangerous routes across the Mediterranean Sea, traveling Sunday for talks with the president and their counterpart in Tunisia, a major North African stepping stone for migrants trying to reach Europe at risk of their lives.

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — European leaders visiting Tunisia held out the promise of more than 1 billion euros in financial aid as well as investments in undersea data cables and renewable energy Sunday in an effort to restore stability to the North African country — and to stem migration from its shores to Europe.

24 May 2023; MEMO: Former Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki called on the Tunisian people to engage in "civil resistance" to put an end to the "absurdity" engulfing the country and the "accelerating slide towards the abyss".

In a post on Facebook, Marzouki said a black decade in Tunisia's history began in July 2021 and not in 2011 as the supporters of President Kais Saied claim.

17 May 2023; MEMO: A leader in the Tunisian Ennahda Movement, Sahbi Atigue, yesterday began a hunger strike to protest his imprisonment on "malicious" charges, his lawyer Mohsen Al-Sahbani told reporters in the capital, Tunis.

TUNIS, May 16 (NNN-TAP) – Tunisian President, Kais Saied, yesterday, discussed with visiting Italian Interior Minister, Matteo Piantedosi, bilateral ties and the illegal immigration problem, according to a statement issued by the Tunisian Presidency.

The Tunisian president pointed out that, the number of victims of illegal immigration attempts is multiplying on a daily basis, noting that, “There are criminal networks that take advantage of the inhumane conditions of those stranded, as a result of poverty and despair.”

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — A Tunisian naval guard shot and killed a colleague and two civilians Tuesday as he tried to reach a synagogue on the Mediterranean island of Djerba during an annual Jewish pilgrimage, the Tunisian Interior Ministry said. The attacker was slain by security guards, and 10 people were injured.

The motive for the attack was under investigation. It came as Tunisia, once a prized tourist destination and birthplace of the Arab Spring pro-democracy uprisings, has fallen into political and economic crisis.

25 Apr 2023; MEMO: The leader of the Ennahda Movement, Rached Ghannouchi, is preparing to start a hunger strike in protest against the "ill-treatment" he has been subjected to since his detention.

Sources from the movement said Ghannouchi "announced, during the investigation with him, that he intends to start a hunger strike as a protest for the ill-treatment and prohibiting his family to visit him after the police imposed unfair restrictions on the visit."

23 Apr 2023; MEMO: Germany's Foreign Minister has warned against Tunisia's backtrack on democracy, as president Kais Saied continues to suppress the country's opposition and solidify his power following his coup two years ago.

Tunisia's main opposition leader Rached Ghannouchi was arrested on Monday this week, following comments that to eradicate different viewpoints in Tunisian politics and society, such as the leftism or political Islam, may lead to a "civil war".

20 Apr 2023; MEMO: The investigative judge at the Court of First Instance in Tunis ordered the imprisonment of the head of the Ennahda movement, Rached Ghannouchi, today charging him with "conspiracy against the state".

20 Apr 2023; MEMO: Tunisian security forces yesterday closed the headquarters of the Ennahda Movement a day after they arrested party leader, Rached Ghannouchi.

Riadh Chaibi, a leader of the party, said: "A security force entered the party's main headquarters, asked those present to leave, and closed it."