Security deteriorated, and state forces fought gun battles with armed men in the Tunisian capital yesterday
HOURS BEFORE the ousted president, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, fled Tunisia on Friday, Mohammed Ben Kilani was sitting in the cockpit of his TunisAir jet at Carthage airport, preparing to take off for the French city of Lyon.
Just before the 38-year-old pilot approached the runway, an order came through on the radio: hold the aircraft until six more passengers arrive. Rumours had circulated all day about the departures of the extended Ben Ali family from Tunisia, and now word came through that the six were related to the first lady, Leila Trabelsi. Mohammed Ben Kilani refused to obey the order and the flight was cancelled.
"It was a decision I had to take. It was an easy decision, considering the history and the situation in Tunisia," he told The Irish Times. "It was an entirely normal thing to do for a Tunisian who loves his country. I feel close to my people, to their suffering."
The pilot’s act of defiance has been celebrated by the protest movement whose wave of demonstrations culminated in Ben Ali’s departure on Friday. On the streets of Tunis, the sense of relief was unmistakable.
As he queued outside one of the few well-stocked bakeries in the city, Chokri Ben Salah (39) said he was overjoyed that Ben Ali had gone. Like many, Ben Salah said he could speak freely now, without fear of the mouchards – those, believed to be ubiquitous, who would report to police the slightest criticism of the regime.
“In a cafe, you wouldn’t know who was sitting next to you, who was [with the] secret police . . . For 23 years, we had a dictatorship.”
Tunisia’s independence came not in March 1956 – the year of the French withdrawal – but in recent days, he said. “Because it was the people who did it – not the French, not the Americans. No country helped us.”
At his pastry shop in the medina, 80-year-old Ahmed Ben Mahmoud produced a sepia photo of himself in uniform, taken when he fought against French forces for the Tunisian resistance. Ben Ali’s party was an offshoot of that resistance movement, but Mahmoud has little sympathy for the president. “He did me neither good nor ill, but his family were no good. Their acts against the population – the kidnappings, taking people’s property – they wronged their people. The president knew about all these acts.”
But any pleasure at the removal of Tunisia’s authoritarian president has been tempered by the violence and political uncertainty that has followed his departure. Prime minister Mohamed Ghannouchi said on state television last night he would announce a new government today, pledging it would herald “a new page in the history of Tunisia.” Parliamentary speaker Fouad Mebazza was sworn in as interim president after constitutional authorities said it was he, and not the prime minister, who should become acting head of state after Ben Ali’s departure. Mebazza has asked Ghannouchi to form a government of national unity, and constitutional authorities have said a presidential election should be held within 60 days.
But as talks on the new government continued yesterday, security deteriorated, and state forces fought gun battles with armed men in the capital.
Breaking a relative calm enforced by the army in Tunis earlier in the day, state television reported two separate gun battles, one near the central bank building and another outside an opposition party’s headquarters, about 1km away. There were also reports of gunfire exchanges with members of the ousted president’s security force near the presidential palace.
The firefights suggested a worsening of violence following drive-by shootings and jailbreaks that reportedly resulted in the deaths of scores of inmates on Saturday.
State TV and police said people holding Swedish and German passports had been arrested after the latest clashes. Further reports from the same source said security forces had killed two gunmen stationed on a rooftop near the central bank. A military official told the station the two men had been killed by fire directed from a helicopter.
Last night it was reported a group of Swedes on a hunting trip were attacked in the capital. The 13 men were attacked by locals as they got out of taxis at their hotel. They were then taken to a police station, where the authorities realised a mistake had been made, said a representative of the company that arranged the trip.
On the political discussions, Ahmed Ibrahim, head of the opposition Ettajdid party, said he and other party leaders would soon meet the prime minister.
“The main thing for us right now is to stop all this disorder. We are in agreement on several principles concerning the new government. We will continue to discuss. My message is to say no to Gadafy: we do not want to go backwards,” he said, in reference to a speech by Libyan leader Col Muammar Gadafy, who said Tunisians were too hasty in getting rid of Ben Ali.
Opposition leader Najib Chebbi said after talks with Ghannouchi that elections could be held under international supervision within six or seven months.