Riots, looting rock Tunisia

Associated Press

TUNIS, Tunisia

Looting, deadly prison riots and street chaos engulfed Tunisia on Saturday, a day after mass protests forced its strongman to flee. A new interim president was sworn in, promising to create a unity government that could include the long-ignored opposition.

It was the second change of power in this North African nation in less than 24 hours.

Amid the political instability, looters emptied shops and torched the main train station in Tunis, soldiers traded fire with assailants in front of the Interior Ministry, and thousands of European tourists sought a plane flight home.

The death toll mounted. At least 42 people were killed Saturday in a prison fire in one resort town, and the director of another prison in another tourist haven let 1,000 inmates flee after soldiers shot five dead amid a rebellion.

Those deaths came on top of scores of others after a month of protests in which police often fired upon demonstrators.

After 23 years of autocratic rule, President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali abruptly fled the country Friday for Saudi Arabia after mass street protests over corruption, a lack of jobs and clampdowns on civil liberties.

The leadership changes then came at a dizzying speed.

Ben Ali’s longtime ally, Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi, stepped in briefly with a vague assumption of power that left open the possibility that Ben Ali could return.

But on Saturday, the head of the Constitutional Council declared the president’s departure permanent and gave Fouad Mebazaa, leader of the lower house of parliament, 60 days to organize new elections.

Hours later, Mebazaa was sworn in.

Ben Ali’s downfall sent a warning to other autocratic leaders across the Arab world, especially because he did not seem especially vulnerable until the very end and managed his country of 10 million better than many other Middle Eastern nations.