Tunisia coalition hits trouble on second day

Tunisia's new coalition government hit trouble on Tuesday when four ministers quit and an opposition party threatened to walk out, undermining efforts to restore stability and end unrest on the streets.

Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi brought opposition leaders into the coalition on Monday after president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia following weeks of street protests.

But key figures from the old guard kept their jobs, angering opposition members of the coalition and street protesters.

In a bid to defuse the row, Ghannouchi and the caretaker president, Fouad Mebazza, later quit their party, the Democratic Constitutional Rally, long the vehicle for Ben Ali's hardline authoritarian rule. State television, which reported the move, said the two men hoped to "split the state from the party".

Ben Ali's Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD) meanwhile expelled the ex-president, who fled to Saudi Arabia in disgrace Friday after 23 years in power, and six of his close associates, the official TAP news agency reported.

But the immediate response of trade union UGTT was that, while this was positive, it was not enough to reverse a decision to pull its three members out of the new unity government.

A "shame"

Police in Tunis repeatedly used teargas in an attempt to break up a protest by hundreds of opposition party supporters and trade unionists who labeled the new government a "shame".

Several hundred people also protested against the new government in Monastir, south of Tunis.

Abid al-Briki of the UGTT union said it still wanted to see all ministers from Ben Ali's cabinet pushed out, though it would make an exception for prime minister Ghannouchi: "This is in response to the demands of people on the streets," Briki said.

The opposition Ettajdid party will pull out of the coalition if ministers from Ben Ali's RCD party do not give up party membership and return to the state all properties they obtained through the RCD, state television said.

Ettajdid leader Ahmed Ibrahim was named minister of higher education.

The appointed health minister, opposition Democratic Forum for Labour and Liberty (FDLT) leader Mustapha Ben Jaafar who had yet to be sworn in, also said he would hold off on joining the new government.

Anger against the new line-up brought thousands of protesters onto the streets of Tunis and several other cities.

Riot police fired tear gas to break up a rally in the capital led by key Islamist figure Sadok Chourou, who was imprisoned for 20 years under the old regime.

"The new government does not represent the people and has to fall,"Chourou, 63, a former leader of the popular Islamist movement Ennahdha (Awakening) movement, told AFP.

Protesters chanted: "We can live on bread and water alone but not with the RCD."

Reforms promised

Ghannouchi defended his government, saying some ministers had been kept on because they were needed in the run-up to elections, expected in the next two months.

The prime minister said the ministers of defense, interior, finance and foreign affairs under Ben Ali would keep their jobs in the new government.

"We have tried to put together a mix that takes into account the different forces in the country to create the conditions to be able to start reforms," Ghannouchi told Europe 1 radio.

Ghannouchi rejected suggestions that the Ben Ali "dictatorship" would continue under a new guise.

His foreign minister, Kamel Morjane, said during a visit to Egypt that the interim government would respond to issues that had angered protesters, such as corruption, and would be preparing for new elections.

"It may be possible that the next government will not have any member of the former government," he said.

Paris-based opposition leader Moncef Marzouki arrived at Tunis airport to be met by 200 cheering supporters.

"The revolution must continue," Marzouki, who went into exile after being harassed by Ben Ali's intelligence services, said.

In Tunis on Tuesday, people in several parts of the city reported hearing sporadic gunfire overnight but there was significantly less gunfire than on previous nights.

The government says at least 78 people were killed in the unrest, and the cost in damage and lost business was $2 billion.

Ghannouchi promised to release all political prisoners and to investigate those suspected of corruption Those behind the killing of demonstrators would face justice.

An Egyptian man set himself on fire in Cairo and another one tried to follow suit, echoing an act of self-immolation in Tunisia which triggered the protests that ousted the president. Similar cases have been reported in Algeria and Mauritania.

In Yemen, police fired warning shots as hundreds of protesters chanted pro-Tunisia slogans at Sanaa University.