Exiled opposition leader returns 4 ministers quit TUNIS: Tunisia's new coalition government hit trouble Tuesday when four ministers quit and an opposition party threatened to walk out, undermining efforts to restore stability and end unrest on the streets. Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi brought opposition leaders into the coalition Monday after president Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia following weeks of street protests. But key figures from the old guard kept their jobs, angering opposition members of the coalition and street protesters. In a bid to defuse the row, Ghannouchi and the caretaker president, Fouad Mebazza, later quit their party, the Democratic Constitutional Rally, long the vehicle for Ben Ali's hardline authoritarian rule. State television, which reported the move, said the two men hoped to “split the state from the party”. But the immediate response of trade union UGTT was that, while this was positive, it was not enough to reverse a decision to pull its three members out of the new unity government. Paris-based opposition leader Moncef Marzouki arrived at Tunis airport to be met by 200 cheering supporters. “The revolution must continue,” Marzouki, who went into exile after being harassed by Ben Ali's intelligence services, said. Police in Tunis repeatedly used teargas in an attempt to break up a protest by hundreds of opposition party supporters and trade unionists who labelled the new government a “sham”. Several hundred people also protested against the new government in Monastir, south of Tunis. Abid Al-Briki of the UGTT union said it still wanted to see all ministers from Ben Ali's cabinet pushed out, though it would make an exception for prime minister Ghannouchi: “This is in response to the demands of people on the streets,” Briki said. The opposition Ettajdid party will pull out of the coalition if ministers from Ben Ali's RCD party do not give up party membership and return to the state all properties they obtained through the RCD, state television said. Ettajdid leader Ahmed Ibrahim was named minister of higher education. Opposition Health Minister Mustafa Ben Jaafar also resigned over the presence of RCD members in the cabinet, his party said. On the streets, protesters insisted that ministers who had served Ben Ali had no place in the government. “The new government is a sham. It's an insult to the revolution that claimed lives and blood,” said student Ahmed Al-Haji. “The problem with the interim government is it has a number of ministers from the old government,” protester Sami Bin Hassan said. Ghannouchi defended his government, saying some ministers had been kept on because they were needed in the run-up to elections, expected in the next two months. “We have tried to put together a mix that takes into account the different forces in the country to create the conditions to be able to start reforms,” Ghannouchi told Europe 1 radio.
