Tunisian Parties Call For Dissolution of Parliament, Withdrawal of Confidence from Speaker

President Kais Saeid meets with his South Korea's Interior minister on Tuesday. (dpa)
President Kais Saeid meets with his South Korea's Interior minister on Tuesday. (dpa)
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Tunisian Parties Call For Dissolution of Parliament, Withdrawal of Confidence from Speaker

President Kais Saeid meets with his South Korea's Interior minister on Tuesday. (dpa)
President Kais Saeid meets with his South Korea's Interior minister on Tuesday. (dpa)

The Free Destourian Party urged President Kais Saeid to take urgent action to dissolve the parliament and call on lawmakers to sign a petition to withdraw confidence from Speaker Rached Ghannouchi.

On Monday, the parliament office announced that the parliament was going to hold its plenary sessions, in defiance of Saeid's suspension of the legislature.

The parliament said it wanted to meet to address the serious financial, economic, and social crisis in the country.

Head of the Free Destourian Party Abir Moussi said the petition needs the approval of 109 deputies to dissolve parliament and call for early legislative elections.

She added lawmakers would not reject Saeid's invitation if he took a step toward dismissing Ghannouchi, dissolving parliament, and holding the elections.

Moussi filed a judicial complaint to invalidate the decisions of the frozen parliament and stop the plenary sessions scheduled to begin Wednesday.

She warned that going ahead with the meetings would mark a dangerous precedent in the country given the president's order to suspend parliament in July last year.

Saeid had criticized Ghannouchi's call for parliament to convene. Speaking a National Security Council meeting, he stressed that the law must be respected, noting that "the so-called 'virtual meeting' is illegal because the assembly is frozen."

"The State will only recover through an independent judiciary, which is being challenged by those who desperately trying to stage a coup," charged the president.

Saeid stressed that the Tunisian state is not a "puppet" to be toyed with by national and foreign entities.

He warned against attempts to convene the suspended parliament, saying the state's forces and institutions will confront those who want to tamper with the state and push Tunisians to conflict.



UN Migration Agency Head: Interim Syria Leaders Recognize Challenges Ahead

Two men wait to pass through the checkpoint on the way to Daraa, Syria, 17 December 2024. EPA/ANTONIO PEDRO SANTOS
Two men wait to pass through the checkpoint on the way to Daraa, Syria, 17 December 2024. EPA/ANTONIO PEDRO SANTOS
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UN Migration Agency Head: Interim Syria Leaders Recognize Challenges Ahead

Two men wait to pass through the checkpoint on the way to Daraa, Syria, 17 December 2024. EPA/ANTONIO PEDRO SANTOS
Two men wait to pass through the checkpoint on the way to Daraa, Syria, 17 December 2024. EPA/ANTONIO PEDRO SANTOS

The head of the UN migration agency said she was reassured by commitments she heard from Syria’s new caretaker government in meetings in Damascus, as the country seeks to rebuild after more than a half-century of rule under the Assad family.

Amy Pope, director-general of the International Organization for Migration, said in a phone interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday that Syria’s new leaders “recognize the job they have ahead of them is enormous and that they need the support of the international community.”

IOM estimates about 100,000 people — many looking to return to their former homes — have entered Syria from neighboring countries since Dec. 8, the day former President Bashar Assad fled the country as opposition fighters swarmed into the capital.

“We are also seeing about 85,000 people come out” into Lebanon through established border crossing points, she said. “It’s a rough figure: There’s certainly people who cross informally and so they’re not counted.”

Most of those found to be leaving are Shiites, she said.

“There’s no question to me that at this moment in time, they are looking for ways to make this work, to be more inclusive, to build partnerships across the international community, to build partnerships with other governments,” Pope said of the caretaker government. “It’s just going to be a question of whether they can deliver.”

IOM said Pope was one of the first heads of a UN agency to visit Syria since Assad’s ouster, and she met with unspecified members of the caretaker government on Tuesday, as well as UN officials and advocacy groups.

She reaffirmed the IOM's commitment to Syria. The organization has been providing assistance to people in the country since 2014 and is seeking $30 million in urgent aid funding for the next four months to try to help nearly 685,000 people in the northwest of the country.