Tunisia

TUNIS, March 13 (Reuters) - Thousands of supporters of a hardline secularist Tunisian party protested on Sunday against President Kais Saied for his march towards one-man rule and failure to avert an economic crisis, showing the increasingly broad opposition to his actions.

The protest is the biggest by the Free Constitutional Party since Saied seized executive power last summer, dismissing parliament and saying he could rule by decree in moves that many of his rivals have called a coup.

10 March 2022; MEMO: The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, has expressed her concern about the suspension of the Tunisian parliament and the rapid "erosion" of Tunisian institutions, Al-Quds Al-Arabi has reported.

Bachelet made her comments during the 29th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday.

09 March 2022; MEMO: Tunisia announced that it had received $112 million in loans from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to finance the construction of the country's roads.

Economy minister, Samir Saied, said the agreement was signed during a meeting with Director of the AfDB Tunis office, Mohamed Al-Azizi.

08 March 2022; MEMO: The Tunisian Ministry of Interior yesterday released the deputy head of the Ennahda party, Noureddine Bhiri, after detaining him for more than two months. He has been transferred to a hospital in the north of the country, after his health deteriorated.

Bhiri's defence team published a video documenting the moment of his release. It showed him being congratulated on his release in an ambulance.

07 March 2022; MEMO: Tunisia's President, on Monday, appointed a temporary replacement for the country's top judicial council, a body he dissolved last month in what his opponents called a move to consolidate his power, Reuters reports.

President Kais Saied seized executive authority last year, and last month broke up the top supreme judicial council which had guaranteed judicial independence.

The judges who made up the new temporary body took the oath at the President's palace on Monday.

03 March 2022; MEMO: Dozens of Tunisian politicians and human rights activists have organised a protest in front of the headquarters of the Military Court in the capital to express their solidarity with the former head of the National Bar of Association, Abderrazak Kilani, and their refusal to prosecute civilians before military courts.

24 Feb 2022; MEMO: Tunisia's President, Kais Saied, said on Thursday he will outlaw foreign funding for civil society organisations as he tries to remake the country's politics after establishing one-man rule.

Civil society organisations, including some that have had funding from Western democracies, have played a significant role in Tunisia since the 2011 revolution that introduced democracy, Reuters reports.

TUNIS, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Tunisia's President Kais Saied said on Thursday he will outlaw foreign funding for civil society organisations as he tries to remake the country's politics after establishing one-man rule.

Civil society organisations, including some that have had funding from Western democracies, have played a significant role in Tunisia since the 2011 revolution that introduced democracy.

19 Feb 2022; MEMO: Tunisian President Kais Saied decided on Friday to extend the state of emergency in the country until  31 December, 2022.

This came according to a decision published by the Official Gazette of the Republic of Tunisia in its issue released on Friday.

Saied initially extended the state of emergency for six months from 26 December, 2020, to 23 June, 2021.

On 24 June, the president extended the state of emergency until 23 July.

TUNIS, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Tunisia's powerful UGTT labour union on Saturday re-elected Noureddine Taboubi as its leader as it approaches a critical national turning point in which it may play a pivotal role.

Taboubi, who has been UGTT leader for five years, has taken a cautious stance during the turbulent months since President Kais Saied seized executive powers in a move his foes call a coup.