Tag: Tunisia

ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan International Airline (PIA), in coordination with the Defence and Foreign Affairs ministries, Saturday sent a Boeing 747 to Tunisia for bringing back home those Pakistanis who have crossed over from Libya to Tunisia. The move came on the directives of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, as the airplane, with a capacity to carry 465 persons, left for Dejerba in Tunisia. According to the information received so far, around four to five hundred Pakistanis have

ISLAMABAD - On the specific directions of Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani ,Pakistan International Airline (PIA) in coordination with the Ministry of Defence and Foreign Affairs has send a Boeing 747 (Jumbo) to collect Pakistanis who have crossed over from Libya to Tunisia.
The aero-plan with capacity to carry 465 persons has left for the city of Dejerba in Tunisia.
According to information received, around four to five hundred Pakistanis have managed to cross the

TUNIS - Libya's neighbor Tunisia has frozen assets belonging to the family of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Western countries, the United Nations and the European Union have already frozen Libyan government and Gaddafi family's assets as part of a package of sanctions imposed after Libya's crackdown on a revolt against Gaddafi's rule.
The freezing of assets in Tunisia is likely to have a significant impact because Libya has dozens of investments there, including hotels, a

TUNIS - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday pledged to help Tunisia create jobs and undertake reforms to keep the momentum behind the revolution that overthrew its president two months ago. The chief US diplomat began talks with interim President Foued Mebazaa, who replaced the ousted Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, after saying that an international donors conference would help to focus minds on Tunisia's needs.
New govt officials and other Tunisians understand "we need a

RAS JDIR - Over 10,000 Bangladeshis who fled revolt-hit Libya were still stranded in Tunisia on Friday after planeloads of Egyptians were airlifted home in a major international operation. Since Wednesday the evacuation involving an aircraft and ships from France, Britain and other countries has shifted thousands of migrants who fled across the border amid a violent crackdown on an uprising against Gaddafi.
But concerns were growing for destitute Bangladeshi labourers who had

GENEVA - Heavily armed pro-regime forces are now manning the Libyan side of the border with Tunisia, and fewer than 2,000 people fled across on Thursday, the UN refugees agency said on Friday. "On previous days, between 10,000 and 15,000 fled every day into Tunisia. Yesterday less than 2,000 made it across the border," said Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. "UNHCR is very concerned that the security situation in Libya may be preventing people

NICOSIA - Ayman al-Zawahri, al Qaeda's Egyptian-born number two, has said that the United States is installing sympathetic new regimes in Tunisia and Egypt, demanding the Muslims to rise up against 'whippers' and 'invaders'. The SITE monitoring service Monday said Zawahiri had released the third of a series of audio messages on uprisings in the Arab world, recorded between the fall of Tunisia's regime and Hosni Mubarak's government in Egypt.
"However, the reins of the affairs

PARIS - French Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie fought off renewed calls to resign Thursday over her links to Tunisia's deposed regime, amid fears France was losing diplomatic clout over the scandal. The opposition is demanding the minister stand down following the latest revelation that her parents bought a stake in a property company from a Tunisian businessman allegedly close to the regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Alliot-Marie, 64, has slammed what she called an attack

TUNIS - Tunisia has accused Rome of infringing on its sovereignty after an Italian minister suggested sending police to the north African country to stem the tide of illegal migrants trying to reach Italy. More than 4,000 migrants have crossed the sea from Tunisia to the small Italian island of Lampedusa in the past week, underscoring the lingering instability in Tunisia since protests ousted its president a month ago.
Catherine Ashton, the European Union's foreign policy chief,

TUNIS - Tunisia said it was ready to work with foreign governments to stem a wave of immigrants heading across the Mediterranean as it hosted talks Monday with the chief diplomats of the European Union and Italy.
Around 5,000 asylum-seekers have landed on the remote Italian island of Lampedusa in the past week, most of them fleeing Tunisia after the president was toppled a month ago, leading Rome to declare a humanitarian emergency. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's interior

TUNIS - Tunisia's Senate was called on Wednesday to grant wide powers to the interim president struggling to restore order to the country following the overthrow of ex-leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Caretaker Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi told the upper house ahead of a vote on the measure to follow the lead of the lower house of parliament which on Monday authorized interim president Foued Mebaza to rule by decree.
"We are coming under social pressure because of the

KARACHI - Adviser to Prime Minister on Textiles Dr Mirza Ikhtiar Baig has said that the export of Pakistani textile products to Tunisia and Egypt has declined due to the political turmoil and unrest in the region, but will resume as soon as the situation stabilises.
In an issued statement, he informed that he had received representatives of various textile exporters expressing their concern on the limited exports of textile products to Egypt and Tunisia due to the ongoing turmoil

PARIS - Allies of France's foreign minister fought off embarrassing allegations of links to Tunisia's ousted leader on Wednesday after a report that the owner of a private jet she used was close to his regime. The allegations raised pressure on the minister, Michele Alliot-Marie, following France's U-turn over authoritarian ruler Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's regime after he bowed to popular protests and fled Tunisia last month.
The investigative weekly Le Canard Enchaine reported in

BAGHDAD - France must act quickly to show its support for the Tunisian people following a series of misjudgments, the country's new envoy to Tunis said on Sunday.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy's administration has been accused of moving slowly to condemn the violent repression of protests earlier this month that led to the downfall of Tunisia's longtime president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
"We must very quickly show France's solidarity with the Tunisian people - and show we

TUNIS - Tunisia's new interim government should "urgently" investigate killings of protesters by security forces earlier this month under the country's ousted regime, Human Rights Watch said on Saturday. "Things are moving fast in Tunisia, but finding out who opened fire on demonstrators and why can't wait," Eric Goldstein, deputy Middle East and North Africa director for the watchdog, told reporters in Tunis.
"The units and commanders responsible for these apparently unlawful

TUNIS - Tunisia plans to overhaul the lineup of its interim government on Thursday, a move expected to see key loyalists of ousted leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali step aside in a bid to end persistent protests. Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia on Jan 14 when weeks of violent protests against poverty, repression and corruption toppled him after 23 years in power.
Since then, an interim government that includes many former ruling party officials has struggled to impose order. Protesters

TUNIS - Tunisia said Wednesday it had issued an international arrest warrant for ousted president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who resigned this month amid protests against his regime and fled to Saudi Arabia.
The justice ministry said Ben Ali, his wife Leila Trabelsi and other members of his once all-powerful family were accused of illegally acquiring assets and transferring funds abroad during the veteran leader's 23-year regime. The announcement came as tensions mounted in the