Refleksi : SBY dan komplotannya dibilang membohongi rakyat. Apakah rakyat di 
NKRI akan memberontak karena kesukaran hidup (banyangkan cabe pun mahal) dan 
korupsi bersar-besaran dilakukan penguasa seperti di Tunisia, kira-kira kemana 
SBY & Co akan minggat? Hehehe

http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=23782


Unrest engulfs Tunisia after president flees

15/01/2011 

     
      A protester gestures as she shouts slogans during a demonstration against 
Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in Tunis January 14, 2011. (Reuters) 
     
      A protester holding a torn poster reading "Ben Ali get out" demonstrates 
in Tunis, Friday, Jan. 14, 2011. (AP) 
     
      In this image made from Channel 7 Tunisia TV Tunisian President Zine El 
Abidine Ben Ali is seen making a speech in Tunis, on Thursday Jan. 13 2011. 
(AP) 
TUNIS, (AP) - Unrest engulfed Tunisia on Saturday after a popular rebellion 
forced the president to flee: Dozens of inmates were killed in two prison 
fires, looters emptied shops and torched the main train station and gunfire 
echoed through the capital. 

Power changed hands for the second time in 24 hours in this NorthAfrican 
country after President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled the country Friday for 
Saudi Arabia. The head of the Constitutional Court declared Saturday that Ben 
Ali has left office for good - not temporarily - and rejected the prime 
minister's move to assume power. 

The speaker of the lower house of parliament, Fouad Mebazaa, took the highest 
office instead, and was given two months to organize new elections. 

Anger over corruption and the lack of jobs ignited a month of protests, but Ben 
Ali's departure - a key demand of demonstrators - has not calmed the unrest. 
While the protests were mostly peaceful, after Ben Ali's departure rioters 
burned the main train station in Tunis and looted shops. 

A fire in a prison in the Mediterranean coastal resort of Monastir killed 42 
people, coroner Tarek Mghirbi told The AP on Saturday. The cause of the fire 
was not immediately clear. Witnesses said another deadly fire also broke out at 
a prison farther down the coast, in Mahdia, but the exact number of deaths 
there was not yet known. 

Sporadic gunfire was heard in the capital of Tunis on Saturday. Smoke billowed 
over a giant supermarket outside the capital as looters torched and emptied it. 
The army fired warning shots to scare them away, to little avail. 

An Associated Press photographer saw soldiers try to stop looters from sacking 
the huge supermarket in the Ariana area north of the capital. Shops near the 
main bazaar were also looted. 

A helicopter circled low over the capital, apparently acting as a spotter for 
fires or pillaging. Gunfire crackled anew Saturday morning. 

Public television station TV7 broadcast phone calls from residents of 
working-class neighborhoods on the capital's outskirts, describing attacks 
against their homes by knife-wielding assailants. 

Tunisian airspace reopened Saturday, but some flights were canceled and others 
left with delays. Thousands of tourists were still being evacuated from the 
Mediterranean nation known for its sandy beaches, desert landscapes and ancient 
ruins. Tour operator Thomas Cook's German subsidiary sent home 200 tourists 
from Tunisia on Friday, but 1,800 were still waiting to be flown out. 

Saudi King Abdullah's palace confirmed Saturday that the ousted president and 
his family had landed in Saudi Arabia, saying the kingdom welcomed him with a 
wish for "peace and security to return to the people of Tunisia." 

There was no official announcement about Ben Ali's whereabouts in Saudi Arabia, 
but a source inside the kingdom said he was in the small city of Abha, about 
310 miles (500 kilometers) south of Jeddah. The source said Ben Ali had been 
taken there to avoid sparking any possible demonstrations by Tunisians living 
in the larger, seaside city of Jeddah. 

He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. 

When Ben Ali left after 23 years of iron-fisted rule, Prime Minister Mohammed 
Ghannouchi stepped in briefly with a vague assumption of power that left open 
the possibility that Ben Ali could return. But Constitutional Council President 
Fethi Abdennadher said Saturday the departure was permanent and, under the 
constitution, lawmaker Mebazaa has up to 60 days to organize new elections. 

Ben Ali's downfall sent a potentially frightening message to autocratic leaders 
across the Arab world, especially because he did not seem especially vulnerable 
until very recently. 

He managed the economy of his small country of 10 million better than many 
other Middle Eastern nations grappling with calcified economies and booming 
young populations. He turned Tunisia into a beach haven for European tourists, 
helping create an area of stability in volatile North Africa. There was a lack 
of civil rights and little or no freedom of speech, but a better quality of 
life for many than in neighboring countries such as Algeria and Libya. 

Ben Ali won frequent praise from abroad for presiding over reforms to make the 
economy more competitive and attract business. Growth last year was at 3.1 
percent. 

Unemployment, however, was officially 14 percent but actually far higher - 52 
percent - among the young. Despair among job-seeking young graduates was 
palpable. 

The riots started after an educated but jobless 26-year-old committed suicide 
in mid-December when police confiscated the fruits and vegetables he was 
selling without a permit. His desperate act hit a nerve, sparked copycat 
suicides and focused generalized anger against the regime into a widespread, 
outright revolt. 

President Barack Obama said he applauded the courage and dignity of protesting 
Tunisians, and urged all parties to keep calm and avoid violence. 

Arabs across the region celebrated news of the Tunisian uprising on Twitter, 
Facebook and blogs. Thousands of tweets congratulating the Tunisian people 
flooded the Internet, and many people changed their profile pictures to 
Tunisian flags. 

Egyptian activists opposed to President Hosni Mubarak's three-decade regime 
looked to the events in Tunisia with hope. About 50 gathered outside the 
Tunisian Embassy in Cairo to celebrate with singing and dancing. They chanted, 
"Ben Ali, tell Mubarak a plane is waiting for him, too!" 

Ben Ali, 74, came to power in a bloodless palace coup in 1987. He took over 
from a man formally called President-for-Life - Habib Bourguiba, the founder of 
modern-day Tunisia who set the Muslim country on a pro-Western course after 
independence from France in 1956. 

Ben Ali removed Bourguiba from office for "incompetence," saying he had become 
too old and senile to rule, but after a brief period of reforms, Tunisia's 
political evolution stopped. 

Ben Ali consistently won elections with questionable tallies: In 2009, he was 
re-elected for a fifth five-year term with 89 percent of the vote - and that 
was the lowest official percentage of any of his victories. 

U.S. diplomatic cables recently released by WikiLeaks called Tunisia a "police 
state" and described the corruption there, saying Ben Ali had lost touch with 
his people. Social networks like Facebook helped spread the comments to the 
delight of ordinary Tunisians, who have complained about the same issues for 
years. 



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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