Tunisian President Names Ahmed Hachani as PM, Replacing Bouden

File Photo: Kais Saied holds talks with Prime Minister Najla Bouden (Tunisian Presidency)
File Photo: Kais Saied holds talks with Prime Minister Najla Bouden (Tunisian Presidency)
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Tunisian President Names Ahmed Hachani as PM, Replacing Bouden

File Photo: Kais Saied holds talks with Prime Minister Najla Bouden (Tunisian Presidency)
File Photo: Kais Saied holds talks with Prime Minister Najla Bouden (Tunisian Presidency)

Tunisian President Kais Saied appointed Ahmed Hachani as new prime minister, replacing Najla Bouden, who ended her duties, the Tunisian presidency said early on Wednesday.

The appointment of Hachani, who served as human resources director at Tunisia's central bank, comes amid a deepening economic and social crisis in the country.

In recent weeks, the president has repeatedly blamed officials and government, saying they must act to address problems and poor public services, including frequent water and electricity cuts.

"There are great challenges that we must raise ... to preserve our homeland, our state and civil peace," Saied told Hachani after he took the constitutional oath.

"We will work to achieve the will of our people and the desired justice ... and to achieve national dignity," Saied added, Reuters reported.

Saied had appointed Bouden as prime minister about two years ago, after he sacked Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi and took control of almost all powers in July 2021 and dissolved Parliament in a move the opposition described as a coup.

Bouden's government, however, failed to fix the economic and social crisis, amid fears that Tunisia would be unable to pay its foreign debts due to a severe financial crisis that caused a shortage of many commodities such as bread, farina, sugar, rice and coffee.

While Bouden's government supported an economic reform program to obtain a $1.9 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, Saeid rejected any reforms that would include cutting subsidies on food and energy, saying doing so could cause acute social tensions.

 

 

 

 

 

 



US Mideast Envoy: Trump's Gaza Plan is About Better Prospects, Not Eviction

MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 20: Steven Charles Witkoff, Middle East Envoy, Government of the United States, speaks during the second day of the FII PRIORITY Summit held at the Faena Hotel on February 20, 2025 in Miami Beach, Florida. Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP
MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 20: Steven Charles Witkoff, Middle East Envoy, Government of the United States, speaks during the second day of the FII PRIORITY Summit held at the Faena Hotel on February 20, 2025 in Miami Beach, Florida. Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP
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US Mideast Envoy: Trump's Gaza Plan is About Better Prospects, Not Eviction

MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 20: Steven Charles Witkoff, Middle East Envoy, Government of the United States, speaks during the second day of the FII PRIORITY Summit held at the Faena Hotel on February 20, 2025 in Miami Beach, Florida. Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP
MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 20: Steven Charles Witkoff, Middle East Envoy, Government of the United States, speaks during the second day of the FII PRIORITY Summit held at the Faena Hotel on February 20, 2025 in Miami Beach, Florida. Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP

The United States' envoy to the Middle East said on Thursday that President Donald Trump's plan for Gaza was not about evicting Palestinians, and the conversation about Gaza's future was being shifted towards how to create a better future for Palestinians.
Trump proposed on February 4 the US should take over Gaza, with Palestinians resettled in other places including Egypt and Jordan, a suggestion which caused an international outcry.
However, speaking at a Miami conference hosted by a non-profit, US envoy Steven Witkoff said that Trump's comments on Gaza were more about trying different solutions to those proposed over the previous 50 years, Reuters reported.
He said that the war between Israel and Hamas has left much of Gaza destroyed and littered with unexploded ordnance, and it was impossible to see how people could return.
"It's going to take a lot of clean-up and imagination, and a great master plan, and that doesn't mean we're on an eviction plan, when the President talks about this," Steven Witkoff told the FII Institute event.
"It means he wants to shake up everyone's thinking, and think about what is compelling and what is the best solution for the Palestinian people.
"For instance, do they want to live in a home there, or would they rather have an opportunity to resettle in some sort of better place, to have jobs, upside and financial prospects," he added.