The Century Project.. Algeria announces the completion of a road linking its borders with Tunisia and Morocco

The Century Project.. Algeria announces the completion of a road linking its borders with Tunisia and Morocco

    Sunday, August 13, 2023   No comments

Algeria announced, on Saturday, the completion of the “East-West Highway,” which starts from the country’s western border with Morocco and reaches its eastern border with Tunisia, with a length of 1,216 km.

This came during the inauguration of the Algerian Prime Minister, Ayman bin Abdel Rahman, the last section of the road that connects the city of Daraan (Al-Tarif Governorate in the far east) with the Tunisian border at a distance of 84 km, according to state television.

Thus, Algeria has completely completed the completion of this road, which began to be built at the beginning of the new millennium and was called the “Project of the Century”.

According to official figures of the Algerian government, the total cost of the road exceeded 13 billion dollars, and it was supposed to be completed in 2012.

The project experienced delays due to technical and administrative problems, and at that time a corruption case erupted, known as the “scandal of the century,” and the trials ended in 2015 with the Algerian judiciary issuing prison sentences and financial fines against those involved.

And the Algerian authorities relied on the immediate exploitation of every section of the road that was prepared, until it was completely completed, on Saturday.

Bin Abdul Rahman called for activating road maintenance networks and ensuring that it is suitable for vehicle traffic.

The last section of the road allows for an increase in the volume of trade exchanges with Tunisia, in addition to ensuring the smooth movement of people between the two countries.

The "giant road" is located within an economic and commercial integration scheme drawn up by the Union of Arab Maghreb States, to link the land of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, but the differences between Algeria and Rabat and the closure of the land borders between them since 1994 prevented the completion of the road scheme.

And the Algerian Prime Minister, Ayman bin Abdel Rahman, inaugurated the last section of the road, which connects the city of Daraan (Al-Tarif Governorate in the far east) with the Tunisian border, at a distance of 84 kilometers, and thus Algeria has completely completed the completion of this road, which began construction at the beginning of the new millennium, and was named with the "Project of the Century".

The Algerian Prime Minister said that Algeria "now has the longest road network on the continent, with a distance of 141,000 km, of which 9,000 km are highways, according to international standards."

Bin Abdul Rahman called for "activating road maintenance networks and ensuring that it is suitable for vehicle traffic." The last section of the road allows for an increase in the volume of trade exchanges with Tunisia, in addition to ensuring the smooth movement of people between the two countries.

In this regard, bin Abd al-Rahman said that this road is "the artery of the economy, and we are working with an economic approach to endorse development and end isolation," pointing out that "although the Dhara'an section was completed by foreign institutions, the project involved many competencies and hands." qualified Algerian worker.

The East-West Highway is of paramount importance, in terms of the economic, developmental and social dimension, and its completion means the complete opening of the motorway that connects 17 northern Algerian states, out of 58 states, that make up the Algerian Republic, and also connects Algeria with other Arab countries.

Prospects For The Referendum On The New Draft Constitution And Its Challenges In Tunisia

Prospects For The Referendum On The New Draft Constitution And Its Challenges In Tunisia

    Sunday, July 24, 2022   No comments

 

The last hours before the start of the referendum on the new draft constitution in Tunisia seem decisive and decisive.

It is expected that more than nine million registered voters will go to the polling stations to vote “yes” or “no” on a draft new constitution for the country, including more than eight million voters inside Tunisia and nearly 900,000 outside it.

The voting process abroad begins on Saturday and ends on Monday, July 25, which is the day on which the voting takes place at home and coincides with Tunisia’s commemoration of the Republic Day, as well as the first anniversary of the approval of the exceptional measures that allowed President Kais Saied to dismiss the government and freeze Parliament and then finally dissolve it permanently.

While about 160 participants in the campaign for the referendum, including parties, organizations and natural persons, conclude their activities in preparation for the day of silence and then the referendum day, the opposition moves its spectrum again in the street with calls for demonstrations launched by the parties of the national campaign to overthrow the referendum, which brings together the Democratic Current, the Republican Party, the Ettakatol Party and the Labor Party The Qutb Party, as well as the Civil Coalition for a Social Democratic Civil State on the one hand, and the National Salvation Front led by veteran lawyer and politician Ahmed Najib al-Shabbi, and in which ten political components are included, foremost of which is the Ennahda movement on the other.

read more...

What Authority Does The President Have Under Article 80 Of The 2014 Constitution Of Tunisia?

What Authority Does The President Have Under Article 80 Of The 2014 Constitution Of Tunisia?

    Monday, July 26, 2021   No comments

On July 25, the president of Tunisia, Kais Saied, cited article 80 of the ratified 2014 constitution to declare a national emergency. The presidential order suspended the parliament for 30 days, dismissed the prime minister, and lifted immunity on parliamentarians. Here is a translation of the article that the president is relying on to justify and enforce his declaration.

 

Article 80 * Emergency provisions

In the event of imminent danger threatening the nation’s institutions or the security or independence of the country, and hampering the normal functioning of the state, the President of the Republic may take any measures necessitated by the exceptional circumstances, after consultation with the Head of Government and the Speaker of the Assembly of the Representatives of the People and informing the President of the Constitutional Court. The President shall announce the measures in a statement to the people. The measures shall guarantee, as soon as possible, a return to the normal functioning of state institutions and services. The Assembly of the Representatives of the People shall be deemed to be in a state of continuous session throughout such a period. In this situation, the President of the Republic cannot dissolve the Assembly of the Representatives of the People and a motion of censure against the government cannot...

read more ... 

     

Tunisian mediator group wins Nobel Peace Prize for aiding move to democracy

Tunisian mediator group wins Nobel Peace Prize for aiding move to democracy

    Friday, October 09, 2015   No comments

Tunisia's National Dialogue Quartet won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for helping build democracy in the birthplace of the Arab Spring, an example of peaceful transition in a region otherwise struggling with violence and upheaval.

The quartet of the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT), the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts (UTICA), the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH), and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers was formed in the summer of 2013.

It helped support the democratisation process when it was in danger of collapsing, the Norwegian Nobel committee said in its citation.

"This is a great joy and pride for Tunisia, but also a hope for the Arab World," UGTT chief Hussein Abassi told Reuters.

"It's a message that dialogue can lead us on the right path. This prize is a message for our region to put down arms and sit and talk at the negotiation table."

With a new constitution, free elections and a compromise politics between Islamist and secular leaders, Tunisia has been held up as a model of how to make the transition to a democracy from dictatorship.

"This a brilliant example, I think Tunisia is one of the Arab countries that has done best since the so-called Arab Spring and the upheavals in that part of the world," said Ahmad Fawzi, chief U.N. spokesman in Geneva.

The Nobel Peace Prize, worth 8 million Swedish crowns (633,196 pounds), will be presented in Oslo on Dec. 10.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee praised the quartet for providing an alternative, peaceful political process at a time when the country was on the brink of civil war.

"More than anything, the prize is intended as an encouragement to the Tunisian people, who despite major challenges have laid the groundwork for a national fraternity which the Committee hopes will serve as an example to be followed by other countries," it said.

Committee head Kaci Kullman Five told Reuters: "I think it's timely to put the limelight on the positive results that have been obtained in Tunisia to try to safeguard them, to try to inspire the Tunisian people to build further on this basis."

Source

Islamic State blamed for Tunisia attack after killing of Libyan cell leader

Islamic State blamed for Tunisia attack after killing of Libyan cell leader

    Thursday, March 19, 2015   No comments

A total of 22 people, including South African, French, Spanish, Polish and Italian holidaymakers, were killed when gunmen disguised as soldiers stormed the museum in the capital, Tunis.

Armed with Kalashnikovs and grenades, the terrorists sprayed gunfire at tourists getting off buses outside the museum and then charged inside. The Western tourists had apparently got off cruise ship buses and were deliberately targeted.

Other people in the Bardo museum fled the scene in terror while some were taken hostage inside.

The building was then surrounded by heavily-armed security forces. After a two-hour stand-off, they attacked the gunmen and killed two of them, freeing the captives. At least two of the gang escaped and were being hunted by police on Wednesday night.


 A Tunisian tourist guide told how he had “stared death in the face” as the terrorists opened fire in the museum.

“They opened up on anything that moved,” said Walid, who only gave his first name.

“The choice was to run away, or face certain death or injury. I helped my clients find shelter as best I could,” he said, explaining that he knew where the nearest emergency exits were.

The random savagery of the attack bore all the hallmarks of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil), which set up its first North African cell last year in neighbouring Libya, vowing it to be a staging post for strikes on Europe.

As of Wednesday night, no group had issued a claim of responsibility. But speculation was growing that it was linked to the death of Ahmed al-Rouissi, Tunisia’s most-wanted terrorist, who had become a senior leader in Isil’s Libya group.

Accused by the Tunisian government for a string of terrorist attacks in his home country, he was killed last weekend in a clash with Libyan militiamen.

The slaughter at the museum was also seen as a deliberate attempt to destabilise Tunisia, which was the birthplace of the Arab Spring four years ago, and which has so far managed to avoid the turmoil that has engulfed other Arab Spring countries like Libya, Syria and Egypt.

read more >>

Instability in Libya and fighters trained in Syria and Iraq returning to Tunisia might be behind the attack that killed 17 foreign tourists and two Tunisians in national museum in Bardo

Instability in Libya and fighters trained in Syria and Iraq returning to Tunisia might be behind the attack that killed 17 foreign tourists and two Tunisians in national museum in Bardo

    Wednesday, March 18, 2015   No comments

Gunmen wearing military uniforms stormed Tunisia's national museum, killing 17 foreign tourists and two Tunisians on Wednesday in one of the worst militant attacks in a country that had largely escaped the region's "Arab Spring" turmoil.

Visitors from Italy, Germany, Poland and Spain were among the dead in the noon assault on Bardo museum inside the heavily guarded parliament compound in central Tunis, Prime Minister Habib Essid said.

"They just started opening fire on the tourists as they were getting out of the buses ... I couldn't see anything except blood and the dead," the driver of a tourist coach told journalists at the scene.

Scores of visitors fled into the museum and the militants took hostages inside, government officials said. Security forces entered the building, a former palace, around two hours later, killed two militants and freed the captives, a government spokesman said. A police officer died in the operation.

The attack on such a high-profile target is a blow for the small North African country that relies heavily on European tourism and has mostly avoided major militant violence since its 2011 uprising to oust autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali.

Authorities did not immediately identify the gunmen. But several Islamist militant groups have emerged in Tunisia since the uprising, and authorities estimate about 3,000 Tunisians have also joined fighters in Iraq and Syria -- raising fears they could return and mount attacks at home.

read more >>