Tunisian official orders shutdown of former ruling party’s offices
Tunisia’s new interior minister on Sunday ordered the party of ousted President Zine el Abidine ben Ali to shut its offices and suspend all activities pending its formal dissolution as part of the purge of all vestiges of the former regime, state television reported.
Interior Minister Farhat Rajhi, a former criminal court judge, has been a particularly zealous advocate of forcing former regime loyalists from power and has already purged his own ministry of top officials. He blamed members of the Constitutional Democratic Rally, the former ruling party, for a fresh outbreak of violence in the provinces that has left two dead in recent days.
After Ben Ali was deposed and driven into exile Jan. 14, activists continued to hit the streets, setting up a tent encampment outside the prime minister’s office in an attempt to pressure him to remove former regime figures from the interim government. Many holdover officials were sacked Jan. 27.
The purge has implications for Egyptian protesters, who were inspired by the Tunisian revolt and are closely watching the North African Arab state as a possible road map for their nation’s transition from one-man and one-party rule to some sort of democracy.
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