Defectors from Tunisia’s Ennahda Seek to Form New Party

President Kais Saied presides over the first government meeting headed by Najla Bouden. (AFP)
President Kais Saied presides over the first government meeting headed by Najla Bouden. (AFP)
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Defectors from Tunisia’s Ennahda Seek to Form New Party

President Kais Saied presides over the first government meeting headed by Najla Bouden. (AFP)
President Kais Saied presides over the first government meeting headed by Najla Bouden. (AFP)

Dozens of figures, who resigned from the Ennahda movement, are preparing to establish a new political party, said Tunisian political sources.

The new party is expected to meet some of Ennahda’s intellectual and ideological views. However, according to the sources, it will not adopt the same strategy in dealing with politics and social organizations.

The new party will be “a middle ground” for everyone who believes in the identity of the “Arab Islamic Tunisian people.”

Abdelfattah Mourou, a former leading member of Ennahda, will chair the new party. The leadership will also include Abdellatif Mekki, Mohamed Ben Salem, Samir Dilou, and several lawmakers of the suspended parliament.

Several officials resigned from the Ennahda movement, headed by parliament Speaker Rached al-Ghannouchi, in protest against the leadership’s actions and stances.

They slammed the party for its lack of internal reforms and warned that the wrong choices led to the leadership’s isolation and failure to engage in any common front to confront President Kais Saied’s recent extraordinary measures.

Earlier this year, Saied invoked emergency powers under Article 80 of the constitution to sack Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi, freeze parliament, lift the immunity of parliament members and make himself prosecutor general.

Secretary-General of the Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT) said that “there will be no return to autocracy” in reference to the expected political reforms being arranged by the presidency.

Speaking to the press during the “African Continental Free Trade Agreement,” Noureddine Taboubi underscored the demands for the formation of a political system that is not based on single rule, rejecting attempts to establish an autocracy.

Taboubi acknowledged disagreements with the presidency, noting: “We want a balanced government based on oversight, accountability, constitutional institutions and the rule of law.”



UNRWA: Israel is Using Advanced Weaponry in Jenin Operation

A group of Palestinians (rear) waits to leave from a hospital on the second day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 22 January 2025. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
A group of Palestinians (rear) waits to leave from a hospital on the second day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 22 January 2025. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
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UNRWA: Israel is Using Advanced Weaponry in Jenin Operation

A group of Palestinians (rear) waits to leave from a hospital on the second day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 22 January 2025. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
A group of Palestinians (rear) waits to leave from a hospital on the second day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 22 January 2025. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH

Director of UNRWA Affairs in the West Bank Roland Friedrich said Wednesday that Israel is “using advanced weaponry and warfare methods including airstrikes” in its “massive operation” in the flashpoint West Bank town of Jenin.

On Tuesday, Israeli forces launched an operation in Jenin which Palestinian officials said killed 10 people, just days after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect in the Gaza Strip.

Friedrich said Jenin Camp is “nearly uninhabitable, with some 2,000 families displaced since mid-December.”

“UNRWA has been unable to provide full services to the camp in this time,” he said on X.

“The operation comes merely a week before implementation of Israeli legislation that severely undermines UNRWA’s operations in the West Bank, including coordination of humanitarian access,” he said.

“It also threatens to undermine the fragile ceasefire reached just days ago in Gaza,” Friedrich added.