Tunisia

14 Sep 2019; MEMO: The voting process for the Tunisian presidential elections for nationals living abroad in six electoral circles has begun on Friday at dawn. This will continue until 15 September, the date of commencement of the voting process within Tunisia.

TUNIS, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE) announced on Wednesday that 26 candidates had been approved for the early presidential elections scheduled for Sept. 15.

"Out of a total 97 applicants, only 26 were approved for the forthcoming presidential elections," said Nabil Baffoun, the ISIE president, at a press conference in the capital Tunis.

10 Aug 2019; MEMO: The number of candidacies for the Tunisian presidential elections yesterday reached 69, just hours before the closure of submissions at the headquarters of the Independent High Authority for Elections.

6 Aug 2019; MEMO: African migrants have sent a distress call after Tunisian authorities left them behind on Libyan borders suffering harsh weather conditions.

The Tunisian authorities expelled these Ivorian migrants and sent to the Libyan-Tunisian border

The Tunisian authorities deported 36 Ivorian migrants after being arrested in Sfax. They were taken to the Tunisian-Libyan border and then left behind in the middle of the desert because they entered the country using illegal ways.

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi, the North African country’s first democratically elected leader and a symbol of the generation of Tunisians who shook off French rule in the 1950s, died Thursday. He was 92.

In a hasty ceremony hours after Essebsi died at a military hospital in Tunis, the leader of parliament took over as interim president. However, Essebsi’s death while still in office could lead to new power struggles in the only country to emerge from the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings with a functioning democracy and relative stability.

25 July 2019; MEMO: The Presidency of the Republic of Tunisia today announced the death of President Beji Caid Essebsi.

In a statement on Facebook the office said that Essebsi died at 10.25 this morning at the military hospital in Tunisia where he was admitted after his health deteriorated.

Details of the burial would be announced later, it continued.

Essebsi was taken to the military hospital late last night “after an emergency health issue”, local media reported.

9 July 2019; MEMO: Hundreds of Tunisians and Palestinian ex-patriots demonstrated, Monday, in solidarity with the Palestinian people in the Mohamed Ali Square in Tunis. The demonstrations were in response to an invitation by the Tunisian General Labour Union to declare the rejection of the Deal of the Century and to stress on Tunisia’s support of the Palestinians and their cause.

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Tunisia has banned face-covering veils in state-run buildings for security reasons, ending a policy of official tolerance with the garment.

Prime Minister Youssef Chahed signed an order on Friday demanding that ministers, governors and heads of public establishments “take the necessary dispositions to stop all people whose faces are covered from entering public buildings.”

The measure said the ban was needed “to preserve public security” and assure the smooth running of establishments.

22 May 2019; DW: German-Tunisian UN diplomat Moncef Kartas, who was jailed nearly two months ago on suspicion of espionage, has been temporarily released on bail. But the case against him continues.

An appeals court in Tunisia ruled on Tuesday that UN diplomat Moncef Kartas be released from prison. But his lawyers said the case against Kartas "has not been closed and investigations will continue." It is unclear whether he will be able to leave Tunisia. 

11 May 2019; DW: A boat carrying people towards Europe capsized in the Mediterranean Sea, with dozens losing their lives in the deadliest migrant boat sinking in months. Nearby fishing boats managed to save 16 people.