Troubled Tunisia Awaits New Government

Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in the wake of his departure from the country. Photo by EPA/BGNES

A new Tunisian national unity government is likely to be announced Monday, the country's Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi has said.

The government is expected to include opposition members.

Ghannouchi announcesd that after Tunisia's President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia in the face of a street revolt against unemployment, corruption, poverty and repression.

The wave of rallies in Tunisia was sparked by the suicide of fruit and vegetable seller Mohammed Bouazizi, who torched himself last month after police confiscated his fruit cart, cutting off his source of income. Subsequently, dozens of people died in a month of clashes

On Friday, thousands of angry demonstrators marched through Tunisia's capital to demand the resignation of the authoritarian President Ben Ali, who came to power in a bloodless coup in 1987.

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