Tunisia

04 Oct 2021; MEMO: Tunisia's President Kais Saied has signed four contracts with French oil and gas companies within a week, a parliamentarian announced yesterday.

Safi Saïd told local media that the pacts were signed "discreetly", noting that Saied was "bias to the French stance in its dispute with the United States over wealth and interests in Tunisia."

The lawmaker accused France of being behind the Tunisian crisis, and of "sponsoring several coups in Africa."

TUNIS, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Thousands of supporters of Tunisian President Kais Saied rallied in the capital and other cities on Sunday to back his suspension of parliament and promises to change the political system, acts his critics call a coup.

The demonstration of at least 8,000 people in central Tunis was by far the biggest since Saied seized executive power in July - a show of support by his supporters that dwarfed two protests over the previous two weekends against his actions.

02 Oct 2021; MEMO: Tunisian President Kais Saied has announced that there is no room for consultation with Tunisia's political parties and civil organisations regarding forming the next government.

Saied stressed his rejection of "extortion and infiltration attempts" to impose a certain name to head the government.

02 Oct 2021; MEMO: Speaker of Tunisian Parliament Rached Ghannouchi has declared the resumption of parliamentary sessions, urging lawmakers to resume work, news agencies reported on Friday.

Ghannouchi defied President Kais Saied's suspension of Parliament and called in a statement for the resumption of Parliament's work on 1 October.

02 Oct 2021; MEMO: Egypt's Foreign Ministry yesterday announced that it welcomed the assignment of Najla Bouden Romdhane to form a new government in Tunisia.

"The Egyptian ambassador to Tunisia, Ahmed Hafez, highly values the step – taken by the Tunisian President Kais Saied – of appointing Bouden as a new Prime Minister-designate," the ministry said on Facebook.

30 Sep 2021; MEMO: Tunisian parliamentarians yesterday expressed their rejection of the exceptional measures taken by President Kais Saied, calling for the resumption of parliamentary work to get out of the crisis the country is facing, local reports have said.

The deputies called for a general meeting and to resume the work of parliament in order to start establishing new legislative elections. They said they consider that "all exceptional measures are void, and are nothing but the foundation of an individual dictatorship."

TUNIS, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Nurse Amina Ben Hammou beamed with pride when President Kais Saied named Najla Bouden Romdhane as Tunisia's first woman prime minister on Wednesday.

"I am optimistic about a woman being prime minister, so let's try it," she said.

"And I imagine, according to my opinion, that a woman will make Tunisia succeed because women are serious, combative and patient, and these three things are very important."

ABOARD GEO BARENTS (AP) — The small fiberglass boat had begun to take on water not long after the engine stopped working. Its six passengers started bailing it out, not knowing how long they could keep the sea at bay.

Waleed, a Tunisian man who, along with five others, was hoping to cross the Mediterranean for a better life in Europe, estimates they removed water from the boat for roughly five hours.

“We were so desperate,” he said.

29 Sep 2021; MEMO: Tunisian President Kais Saied wasted all available opportunities for dialogue and it is time for him to be dismissed by parliament, the Secretary-General of the Movement Party told Al-Quds Al-Arabi.

Lamia Al-Khameri said Kais Saied "exceeded even the limits of logic and rationality" through the steps he has taken to orchestrate his coup.

27 Sep 2021; MEMO: The political adviser to Tunisia's Parliament Speaker, Rached Ghannouchi, yesterday denied reports claiming he had delegated his parliamentary powers to his deputy, Samira Chaouachi.