Tunisia Rivals Agree to Form Govt of Independents

Tunisia's ruling Islamist party agreed Saturday to stand down at the end of October by signing a roadmap with the opposition for a government of independents to be formed within three weeks.

The document, drawn up by four mediators, foresees the nomination of an independent prime minister by the end of next week, who would then have two weeks to form a cabinet.

Last-minute disputes delayed Saturday's signing ceremony, but Rached Ghannouchi, head of the ruling Islamist Ennahda party, and his opposition rivals finally signed the roadmap in the presence of politicians and the media.

But Ennahda's secular ally, the Congress for the Republic party of President Moncef Marzouki, refused to initial the agreement.

By signing the roadmap, the Ennahda-led coalition, which has been rocked by the murder of two political opponents, economic woes and prolonged political disputes, has agreed to step down two years after winning a general election.

Its victory at the polls on October 23, 2011, was the first free vote in Tunisian history, and followed the overthrow of long-ruling strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in the first revolt of the Arab Spring.

Saturday's roadmap also foresees, within the next four weeks and after a national dialogue across the political spectrum, the adoption of a Constitution and a timetable for elections.

Tunisia's rivals opened dialogue Saturday aiming at ending a two-month crisis after a delay of several hours that underscored the rival camps' mutual distrust.

"I want to thank you for joining this dialogue because you are opening the door of hope for Tunisians," said Houcine Abassi, whose UGTT trade union group was the lead mediator behind a roadmap for ending the crisis sparked by the assassination of an opposition MP in July.

Delegates at the Palais des Congres said the launch of the hard-won dialogue with a symbolic ceremony, during which the ruling Ennahda was to declare its readiness to resign, had been put in jeopardy because of a last-minute dispute.

The moderate Islamist movement Ennahda and the opposition were also due to pledge allegiance to a roadmap on Tunisia's political future at Saturday's session, with talks due to begin in earnest next week.

The UGTT, one of four mediators which drafted the roadmap, said Ennahda had been refusing to formally sign the text that underlines the timetable of the national dialogue.

It was not immediately clear how the dispute was resolved, but Ennahda leader Ghannouchi on Twitter blamed the almost four-hour delay on "last-minute blackmail" by the opposition.

Saturday's ceremony was to be attended by President Marzouki, Prime Minister Ali Larayedh and parliament speaker Mustafa Ben Jaafar, as well as party leaders.

Earlier this week, Ennahda and the secular opposition agreed on a blueprint for talks, drafted by the UGTT, the employers' organization Utica, the bar association and the Tunisian League for Human Rights.

The roadmap sets a three-week deadline to form a government of independents to replace the Ennahda-led government, after the launch of dialogue with opposition parties.

It also sets a four-week deadline for adopting a new electoral law and paves the way to the much-delayed adoption of a new constitution.

But the opposition said Ennahda refuses to sign the roadmap aimed at ending the crisis, which was triggered by the July assassination of MP Mohammed Brahmi.

Political activity in Tunisia has ground to a halt since Brahmi's murder, holding up the formation of stable state institutions more than two and half years after the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and touched off the Arab Spring.

A member of Ettakatol, a center-left party allied with Ennahda, accused the opposition of imposing last-minute conditions, but declined to give details.

"There is a real problem of trust," Mouldi Riahi told Agence France Presse before the dialogue finally opened.

Ennahda has been accused of mismanaging the economy and failing to rein in Islamic extremists, who are blamed for murdering Brahmi and opposition MP Chokri Belaid, another prominent secular politician killed six months earlier.

Analysts voiced cautious optimism ahead of the dialogue.

"The roadmap is a platform but its application word for word is less probable because of the lack of trust between the two sides," said Slaheddine Jourchi.

Fellow analyst Sami Brahem echoed him, saying "the problem is a moral one, lack of trust between the ruling coalition and the opposition."

On Friday, a newspaper took at swipe at Tunisia's political actors and expressed skepticism at the outcome.

"Tunisians are hanging on the words of political actors, protagonists in a national dialogue... Will this dialogue lead to a saving solution?" asked the francophone daily Le Quotidien.

"It's like watching a Mexican soap opera, but without the romance."