Tunisian president names new government, political police dissolved

Tunisia's interim President, Fouad Mebazaa, named a new interim government on Monday that includes no one from the regime of former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. One of the first actions taken by the new government was to dissolve Tunisia’s political police.

File photo: AFP/Belaid

The new interim government, called the "public authority", has 22 members, including interim Prime Minister Beji Caid Essebsi, has five new ministers. All the members of the government are technocrats, and no-one belongs to any political party.

Protesters had continued to demonstrate against having members of Ben Ali’s regime in the government, even after he resigned on 14 January.

The previous interim prime minister, Mohammed Ghannouchi, who was close to Ben Ali, and two other ministers who had also served in his government resigned last week. Two ministers from the opposition also quit.

The new interim government dissolved the political police, as well as the state’s security apparatus set up by Ben Ali, according to the Interior Ministry.