Tunisia Opposition Rejects Ruling Islamists' Concession
Tunisia's opposition Friday rejected the ruling Islamists' proposals for ending a month-long political crisis, ahead of anti-government protests, saying their offer to enter talks on a technocrat administration was insufficient.
"All negotiations without the (immediate) dissolution of the government are a waste of time," said Taieb Baccouche, a representative of the National Salvation Front (NSF), the broad coalition of opposition parties.
He was speaking after meeting members of the UGTT trade union confederation, which has been mediating between the two sides and which forwarded the ruling Ennahda party's proposals.
The UGTT's secretary general, Houcine Abassi, met parliamentary speaker Mustapha Ben Jaafar and was due to hold talks with Ennahda's leader Rached Ghannouchi later in the day.
Jilani Hammami, another NSF representative, described Ennahda's proposals, the details of which were not communicated to the media, as ambiguous.
Ennahda indicated on Thursday, for the first time since the start of the crisis triggered by the assassination of opposition MP Mohammed Brahmi on July 25, that it might agree to the resignation of the coalition government which it heads.
But the Islamists stressed a "national dialogue" bringing together supporters and opponents of the ruling coalition needed to take place first.
The NSF has instead demanded the immediate formation of a new cabinet composed entirely of independents, and has called for nationwide demonstrations, starting on Saturday, with the first big gathering to take place outside the national assembly.
"We are going to keep up the pressure for the government's dissolution, we have a plan to step up the mobilization on the ground," Hammami said.
Activists and opposition MPs have gathered regularly outside parliament over the past month, with two protests, on August 6 and 13, drawing tens of thousands of people, and the NSF says Saturday's demonstration will begin of week rallies intended to force the government's departure.
The UGTT, which boasts some 500,000 members and is capable of bringing the country to a standstill, has been central to the negotiations, at the request of the parliamentary speaker, shuttling between the Islamists and the opposition in a bid to break the deadlock.
Ennahda, which won the largest share of votes in October 2011 elections, insists it has the democratic mandate to rule.
As well as proposing a broad-based coalition government, it wants the national dialogue to address other key political differences, including on the new constitution, which has been repeatedly delayed, and has promised to hold fresh elections this year.
But the opposition remains intransigent, accusing the government of failing to rein in Tunisia's Islamists hardliners, who are blamed for murdering Brahmi and Chokri Belaid, another prominent secular politician whose assassination in February brought down the first Ennahda-led coalition.
Ennahda has also been accused of mismanaging the economy and failing to improve living standards.
The criticism is similar to that leveled against Egypt's Islamist president Mohammed Morsi by millions of protesters who took to the streets before the army overthrew him on July 3.
Senior Ennahda members have, for their part, accused the opposition of trying to mirror events in Egypt, saying their demands amount to an attempt to engineer a "coup" like the one that ousted Morsi.
Source: Agence France Presse
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://mobile.naharnet.com/stories/en/95235 |