Month: May 2024

Tunis: A mass rally was held on Monday in front of the Municipal Theatre in Tunis, to express solidarity with the brave Palestinian people and condemn the serious and continuous violations they face at the hands of the Zionist occupation, the latest being the massacre of innocent refugees in their tents in the Palestinian city of Rafah at dawn on Sunday.

A number of activists, human rights defenders, representatives of political parties and national organisations and a wide range of Tunisians of different ages participated in the rally to renew their support for the Palestinian people who are being subjected to a real genocide in Gaza before the eyes of the world.

Participants waved Palestinian and Tunisian flags to emphasise the deep bond between the two peoples and the strong support for the Palestinian right and the struggles of its people in all the occupied territories to regain their freedom, their occupied territories and their national state.

Participants in the solidarity rally also raised slogans
glorifying the Palestinian armed resistance and the steadfastness of its people in the face of the Israeli war machine.

They denounced the world’s silence and the support of some big countries for the Zionist war on Gaza since October 7.

The participants also chanted slogans calling for the criminalisation of normalisation with the Zionist entity and for supporting the Palestinian people and standing by them in this difficult ordeal.

The slogans included “Shame, shame, shame, Rafah is burning”, “Glory to the resistance”, “No reconciliation, no negotiations”, “Free Palestine is free”, “Resistance, resistance, no reconciliation, no compromise”, “There is no solution but to hit the occupier”, “Glory to the Qassam” and “Partners of aggression, the French and the Americans.”

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Tunis: Tunisian diplomat Tarek Ben Salem has been appointed Secretary-General of the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU) for a three-year term starting on June 1, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Migration and Tunisians Abroad announced on Monday.

Ben Salem’s appointment was made ‘in accordance with the provisions of the 1989 treaty establishing the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU), at the proposal of President Kais Saied and after the approval of all the heads of state and government of the member states of the Union’, the ministry said in a statement.

Ben Salem will succeed the union’s current secretary-general, Taieb Baccouche (Tunisian), who was appointed to the post in May 2016 following a meeting of the union’s foreign ministers.

Tarek Ben Salem, 64, joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1990 and has held several posts, most recently as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Tunisia to the Russian Federation in 2019.

The Arab Maghreb Union, a regional union, was founded on February 17, 198
9 in Marrakech, Morocco. It is made up of five countries: Tunisia, Libya, Algeria, Morocco and Mauritania.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Tunis: President Kais Saied will pay a state visit to China from May 28 to June 1, at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.

The President of the Republic will also participate, as a guest of honor, in the opening ceremony of the 10th Ministerial Conference of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum to take place on May 30 in Beijing.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Tunis: The public prosecutor’s office at the Tunis Court of First Instance has received information that Borhen Bssais and Mourad Zghidi are “seriously” suspected of having committed acts that fall within the scope of the law on combating terrorism and money laundering, said court spokesperson, Mohamed Zitouna.

In a statement to the TAP news agency on Monday, Zitouna said that “the two suspects committed these acts while working for radio and television stations, adding that the acts committed were related to sources of funding and illicit enrichment.

He also pointed out that the prosecution has information that Bssais and Zghidi ‘illegally’ own shares in several companies based in Tunisia.

To this end, the public prosecutor’s office has asked the National Financial Crimes Investigation Unit to investigate these suspicions.

Bssais and Zghidi were arrested on May 11, before being remanded in custody on the basis of a committal order issued by the public prosecutor on May 15 and a hearing was scheduled for
May 23 to rule on their case.

They were each sentenced to one year’s imprisonment in two separate cases each, after being found guilty by the Criminal Chamber of the Tunis Court of First Instance.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Tunis: The National Defence Ministry announced on Monday, from the main headquarters of the naval base at La Goulette, the launch of the first edition of the “Safe Sea 24” maritime search and rescue exercise in the Gulf of Tunis, which will run until May 29.

Head of the National Search and Rescue Operations Coordination Centre Mehdi Seliti told the media that this exercise, which is taking place for the first time in an inclusive manner and dedicated to search and rescue at sea, aims to assess the current system and determine its strengths and weaknesses in order to remedy any malfunctions.

This exercise also aims to set out standardised working procedures, put in place coordination mechanisms between all stakeholders, practise optimum use of the available systems and first aid techniques, and learn about the laws relatet to rescue at sea.

For his part, Captain Major Karim Taka said this exercise is part of the implementation of decree no. 2024-181 of April 5, 2024 on the organisation of maritime search an
d rescue at national level.

The goal is to set up a national search and rescue at sea authority, draw up a national plan to coordinate mechanisms between all stakeholders and determine the geographical area of responsibility of the Republic of Tunisia, he explained.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Tunis: The regular draw to renew the compositions of the Regional Councils and appoint the new presidents of the local and regional councils will take place on June 1, 2024, from 10 a.m. in the 24 governorates, the Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE) said.

In a statement published Monday, the Elections body added that the draw will be carried out in accordance with the provisions of its decision No. 16 of 2023.

The ISIE announced, on February 27, the final results of the 2nd round of the local council elections. The first and second rounds took place on December 24, 2023 and February 4, 2024 respectively.

The local councils resulting from these elections were set up on March 1, 2024.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Tunisia Forward, the pro-July 25 process party, called for holding presidential elections on time and provide good conditions for their conduct by means of reviewing decree 54, mainly Article 24.

The political bureau, said in a statement following an extraordinary meeting on Saturday, there is need to accelerate economic reforms with social impact on vulnerable groups in such a way as “to secure decent work, diginified living conditions and the right to freedom of expression under the Constitution of 2022.”

The party also expressed its principled commitment to July 25 goals and emphasised the importance of turning them into reality.

Utter rejection of foreign interference in Tunisia’s affairs to influence its national stances and protect the corrupt and those involved in political assassinations and the killings of police and military personnel was likewise eemphaised.

The party warned against “attempts to stir up tension in the runup to the presidential poll.”

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Tunis: An Assembly of People’s Representatives (ARP) delegation, led by Speaker Brahim Bouderbala, attended Sunday works of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union (AIPU) Standing Committees on the fringes of the 36th AIPU Conference held May 26-27 in Algiers, Algeria.

Assessor of the Speaker in charge of external relations, Tunisian expatriates and migration Ezzeddine Tayeb took part in the works of the Palestine Committee.

Participants in the meeting stressed the importance of spotlighting the Palestinian cause in all national and international bodies, reads a ARP press release issued Monday.

They further called on the international community and all influential global players to break their silence in the face of the genocidal crimes still being committed in Palestine.

The United Nations as well the human rights and health organisations are also urged to put pressure on the Zionist entity to abide by international agreements and release Palestinian prisoners.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse