Tunis

By Yasmine Ryan in Africa on March 19th, 2011
Yasmine Ryan/Al Jazeera

Muammar Gaddafi has sent a top diplomat to Tunisia in what was supposed to be a secret visit.

Ali Treki, Libya's former foreign minister, is staying at the same hotel where Ban Ki-Moon, the UN Secretary-General, is booked when he arrives on Tuesday.

When Nazanine Moshiri, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Tunisia, uncovered Ali Treki's visit to Tunis, the Libyan diplomat responded with a burst of rage.

Treki, who was president of the UN General Assembly until September, berated the Al Jazeera team when they filmed him in the lobby of the Regency Hotel in Gammarth, a suburb north of Tunis, on Saturday afternoon.

"You animal, stop shooting," Treki told Samir Gharbiah, Al Jazeera's cameraman, as his security personnel attempted to block Al Jazeera from filming.

Security staff at the hotel, at the request of Treki, tried to destroy Al Jazeera's camera, and to confiscate the footage of Treki.

By Al Jazeera Staff in Middle East on February 4th, 2011
Photo by AFP

From our headquarters in Doha, we keep you updated on all things Egypt, with reporting from Al Jazeera staff in Cairo and Alexandria.  Live Blog: Jan28 - Jan29 - Jan30 - Jan31 - 

By Yasmine Ryan in Africa on January 24th, 2011
Missing lettering on the RCD headquarters in Tunis

Remnants of the old regime linger in Tunisia, and it remains unclear exactly what will replace them.

Already, Tunisians are partaking in a collective cleansing of everything that reminds them of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's rule.

Protesters managed to climb to the top of the headquarters of the Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD), a tall building that dominates downtown Tunis. They stripped away part of the red lettering, even if traces remain, for now …

Wearing the president's favourite colour, purple, has become a fashion no-no. Gone are the days when sycophants donned purple ties in the hope of scoring easy promotions. One man told me he made the mistake of wearing a purple tie to work, only to be scolded by his co-workers.

By Yasmine Ryan in Africa on January 21st, 2011
People outside the Bouazizi family's house in Sidi Bouzid [Photo: Yasmine Ryan/Al Jazeera]

There is no sign of the uprising that has rocked Tunisia for more than a month on the road from Tunis to Sidi Bouzid. Only when we swing right into a windy road a couple of kilometres out from the town do the signs of what happened here start to show.

Approaching cars must pass through no less than three road blocks, manned by young boys, and some men, wielding heavy sticks, faces hard with the responsibility of protecting their town.

They ask for identification, and when we show our journalist permit, allow us through. Smouldering fires add to the revolutionary drama.

After the roadblocks, however, is a town that is letting its guard down after years of censorship and eager to speak about the uprising that occurred here while much of the world wasn’t paying attention.

By Yasmine Ryan in Africa on January 18th, 2011
Photo by Ayman Mohyeldin

For all the talk of unity, two opposition parties have been excluded from the national coalition government that was announced yesterday, with no immediate prospect of being integrated into what is being portrayed by some as a democratic opening.

The Communist Workers’ Party of Tunisia (PCOT) is one of those parties. Simply being a member of the PCOT has for many years meant the danger of facing a prison sentence.

Hamma Hammami (pictured, right), the party’s spokesperson, was only freed from prison on Friday.

"This is a national government which has nothing national about it,” Hammami, told Al Jazeera. “It’s intended to conserve the old regime in power with all of its authoritarian institutions in place.”

By Yasmine Ryan in Africa on January 17th, 2011
[Photos by Yasmine Ryan]

The transformation of Tunis has been swift and dramatic. The constant buzz of military helicopters, soldiers on the streets where police once were and the awareness that you cannot go out on the streets after 6pm, create a tension that feels strangely at odds with the city's former rhythm.

Tags: Tunis
By Hashem Ahelbarra in Africa on January 14th, 2011
Photo by AFP

Those who watched President Ben Ali delivering his most recent speech noticed a man with a trembling voice saying the opposite of what he stood for.

He said that he was sorry, that he's been duped by his entourage, that now he got the message and that he will leave power in 2014.

Was he genuine or just buying time.? He is definitely in damage control mode, and while we don't know for sure what his next move will be, it's pretty much obvious that the glass ceiling of fear has been for ever shattered in Tunisia and that the police state that Ben Ali created in 1987 when he came to power in a coup seems to be disintegrating.

It all started about a month ago when a public suicide of a frustrated, disillusioned Tunisian grew into widespread anger. Days later the ink-spot has been ever growing in an unprecedented scope and magnitude.

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