Tunisia's president has stepped down after 23 years in power amid unprecedented protests on the streets of the capital Tunis.

Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi said he would be taking over from President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.

A state of emergency has been declared amid protests over corruption, unemployment and rising prices.

Earlier, police fired tear gas as thousands of protesters gathered outside the interior ministry.

Doctors say that 13 people were killed in overnight clashes in the capital, and there are unconfirmed reports that five people have been killed in protests on Friday outside the capital.

Troops have surrounded the country's main international airport, Tunis Carthage, and the country's air space has been closed.

In an address on state television, Mr Ghannouchi said: "Since the president is temporarily unable to exercise his duties, it has been decided that the prime minister will exercise temporarily the duties."


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12195025

The President did the right thing. He has adhered to the overwhelming voice of his people. It was an honorable thing to do. I applaud that. However here come the opposition sharks who now smell blood and will come with their promises of changing the country when in all honesty its merely a power struggle on what to control.

Long live Africa and ALL its people. Change is in the wind.

Now only if those fools to the south like Gbagbo will do the same thing. I doubt it though since most of the people are illiterate ethnic driven buffons

morpheus24:

The President did the right thing. He has adhered to the overwhelming voice of his people. It was an honorable thing to do. I applaud that. However here come the opposition sharks who now smell blood and will come with their promises of changing the country when in all honesty its merely a power struggle on what to control.

Long live Africa and ALL its people. Change is in the wind.

Now only if those fools to the south like Gbagbo will do the same thing. I doubt it though since most of the people are illiterate ethnic driven buffons

haha but i think it has more wide implications for the arab world rather than sub saharan africa

d right thing 2 hav done wuld hav bin 2 comit suicide but he fled, leaving his family.

morpheus24:

The President did the right thing. He has adhered to the overwhelming voice of his people. It was an honorable thing to do. I applaud that. However here come the opposition sharks who now smell blood and will come with their promises of changing the country when in all honesty its merely a power struggle on what to control.

Long live Africa and ALL its people. Change is in the wind.

Now only if those fools to the south like Gbagbo will do the same thing. I doubt it though since most of the people are illiterate ethnic driven buffons

Morpheus you still dey? I havent seen you in a while

The country has been too peaceful. Small violence and president pick race.

Nigeria has been too violent. They only thing that would make a Nigerian president resign is a sustained period of peace and tranquility. Now that would be "abnormal".

snowdrops:

The country has been too peaceful. Small violence and president pick race.

Nigeria has been too violent. They only thing that would make a Nigerian president resign is a sustained period of peace and tranquility. Now that would be "abnormal".

lol. . .what is happening in Nigeria,is violence against our selves.We are turning against ourselves instead of turning against the elites who have kept us in this situation.I can bet u,if we all come 2gether,those guys will flee,but that seems a distant possibility,as muslims are busy turning against christians,tribes against tribes,masses celebrating jonathan(d same PDP dat has kept us in our present state).

Now only if those fools to the south like Gbagbo will do the same thing. I doubt it though since most of the people are illiterate ethnic driven buffons

A resistance and demostration by armed and un-uniformed rebelled soldiers is different from that by real civillians who are armed with only stones and the will to die. Also the Tunisian Army which was alienated by Ben Ali and his special forces was on the people side.

Real Ivorian can"t demostrate for a man willing to serve the french before them

Other arabs in egypt,libya and algeria will want to tail the recent happenings in tunisia. Its time they confront their ever-ruling leaders too. They even try passing the baton to their children when they get weary of power.

The military is now in control of Tunisia. The Tunisian people ousted the president, but the military is the real power behind the throne. As you can see, that they are the only people out on the streets now.

However, Egypt, Algeria and Libya should be afraid now. This might be a voice of change in the Arab world. Especially when it comes to Egypt with its booming population. The people may rise up.

.

tpia*:

why havent the demonstrations stopped?

i dont get it.


and is any of this affected by the developments in sudan?

btw, i thought tunisia was relatively well off. Surprised at news of widespread poverty, since i thought nigerians also migrate there.

Technically, Tunisia is quite well off compared to most African states.

However, what cause the regular citizenry to hit the streets and protest was the actions of a young college graduate who could not find a job lit himself on fire in front of a governor's palace. This act sent shock-waves across Tunisia, because their economy was slow to recover from the world wide economic recession.

This toppled the regime that has been in power for over 20 years.

Libya and Egypt need to be careful. They have much larger populations that are impoverished. The Tunisian protest may only be a precursor to much more violent protest in Egypt and Libya. And let us not forget Syria and Morocco.

^^^ The young graduate set himself on fire because the police tried to stop him from selling fruits and vegetables on a cart, saying he needed a license to do so.

Googler:

^^^ The young graduate set himself on fire because the police tried to stop him from selling fruits and vegetables on a cart, saying he needed a license to do so.

I already knew that. But the main point was that he could not find a job, in which there many Tunisian graduates who cannot find jobs.

Akhenaten:

I already knew that. But the main point was that he could not find a job, in which there many Tunisian graduates who cannot find jobs.

I'm surprised you can't seem to appreciate how important context is in reporting a shocking incident such as a young man burning himself alive. And I would have thought the main points were (1) He could not find a job (2); The state harassed him for trying to make an honest living.

But, perhaps, you can argue that only point 1 is important since he would have committed suicide without point 2?

Googler:

I'm surprised you can't seem to appreciate how important context is in reporting a shocking incident such as a young man burning himself alive. And I would have thought the main points were (1) He could not find a job (2); The state harassed him for trying to make an honest living.

But, perhaps, you can argue that only point 1 is important since he would have committed suicide without point 2?

Well you just went more into detail. The overarching theme is that the economic malaise that is impacting the Tunisian economy is the major factor that drove this young man to do such an act and the aftermath of his action, which caused the Tunisian youth to rise up against the state.

Don't you agree?

The economic factor was there, but it was not sufficient to drive the young man to suicide - it took an insensitive law enforced by an inhuman police department. Again the economic factor had been there, but it then took this suicide to ignite the riots - talk about lighting a match in a room full of explosives. But you don't seem to get my point - proper reporting, context and all that. There is no one you will tell anywhere in the world that a young man committed suicide because he could not find a job who will be able to make sense of it since that person is bound to know many people who are without jobs. It is when you then supply the context that the story would be complete.

Looks like there is a likely revolution in North Africa (abi Arabic World, all join), as Egypt might follow the Tunisia way soon.

mystikal:

Looks like there is a likely revolution in North Africa (abi Arabic World, all join), as Egypt might follow the Tunisia way soon.

Do not forget about their immediate neighbor Libya. Egypt might be the next to fall. Syria & Morrocco should be worried as well.

Algeria is lucky, because there economy is very robust.

Sudan as well. Students protest in north Sudan over price hikes
Students clashed with police in two northern Sudanese cities in a rare public protest against price rises, as the oil-producing south is voting on secession, opposition officials and witnesses saidReuters, Thursday 13 Jan 2011
Print Send Students held protests in the universities of Khartoum and Gezira in the north's agricultural heartland on Wednesday against proposed cuts in subsidies in petroleum products and sugar, a strategic commodity in Sudan.

The cuts come at a politically sensitive time for the government of President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir, who stands to lose control over the south in the referendum, agreed as part of a 2005 deal to end a north-south civil war.
Other prices have also risen due to a surge in global food prices and a devaluation in the local currency.
In Khartoum University, police beat dozens of students demonstrating against the price rises, with five slightly injured and an unknown number arrested, one student said.
"The security forces were already there with a very, very heavy presence," said journalism student Al-Fadil Ali.
"They fear this could lead to revolution."
Sheza Osman Omer from the opposition Democratic Unionist Party in Gezira said several people were injured in clashes between police and students protesting on the streets.
She said police beat them with canes and arrested three female students. The police spokesman was not immediately available to comment on the reports
http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/3804.aspx

Sudanese youths call for peaceful government overthrow


Fri, Jan 14 2011
Students protest in Sudan's north over price rises
»
KHARTOUM | Sat Jan 15, 2011 10:04am EST

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Young people in Sudan, the last Arab state to experience a successful popular uprising, are using social networking sites to rally support for their plan to topple the government through peaceful protests.

Encouraged by weeks of Tunisian demonstrations which ousted President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali on Friday, Sudanese are harking back to the popular uprising in 1985 which overthrew President Jaafar Nimeiri after 16 years of harsh rule.

Fresh from this week's demonstrations against rising prices, young Sudanese are circulating calls on Facebook, Sudanese websites and by text message calling on families to stand outside their houses and light a candle for 30 minutes at 7 p.m. (11 a.m. EST) every day -- starting on Saturday.

"People will stand for one day, two, three, seven - soon it will reach the media , then it will hit the streets and topple this tyrant," Wail Jabir wrote on Facebook, where more than 400 people have already signed up for the protest.

"This is just a beginning," another comment said.

Students demonstrating against rising food and petrol prices clashed with police on Wednesday and Thursday in three towns in the mostly Arab north, including Khartoum.

The Khartoum government is grappling with a deep economic crisis at the same time as it faces the near-certainty that South Sudan, which produces 75 percent of the country's oil, will secede when results of a referendum are announced.

Foreign exchange shortages have forced Sudan to cut subsidies on petroleum products and sugar, a strategic commodity, to devalue the currency and restrict imports.

Khartoum deployed 17,500 police in north Sudan for the southern independence referendum which ends on Saturday. The opposition says the aim was to crack down on dissent rather than secure polling booths, as few southerners voted in the north.

President Omar Hassan al-Bashir is wanted for war crimes and genocide in the western Darfur region by the International Criminal Court, the only sitting head of state indicted by the court, and even some close allies have refused to let him visit. Bashir denies the allegations.

Sudan's 1985 uprising began with popular protests by students and spread into a general strike, with hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets.

Eventually the military leadership turned against Nimeiri and joined the protesters, recalls lawyer Omer Abdelaati, who gave the speech calling for the general strike in 1985.

"It was just like this," he said, pointing to footage of Tunisia on the news. "The schools, universities, banks, everything closed, Khartoum was paralyzed -- everyone was on the streets in Khartoum and in the regions," he said.

A joint civilian and military transitional government then ruled for one year before holding Sudan's last democratic elections in 1986.