TUNIS: Tunisia’s prime minister-designate Habib Jemli will form a government made up of independents who do not represent political parties, he said at a news conference on Monday.
Jemli, who was nominated as prime minister by the moderate Islamist Ennahda party last month after it took most seats in October’s parliamentary election, last week asked President Kais Saied for more time to form a government.
Talks to build a ruling coalition capable of winning a vote of confidence have proved difficult because the October election produced a fractured parliament in which no party held more than a quarter of seats.
Several of the main parties have either ruled out joining the government altogether or said they would not join if one or other major party was also involved, or if they did not secure several of the most important portfolios.
Jemli told Reuters last month he was a week away from announcing the government, but then failed to do so.
Tunisia, which adopted democracy after its 2011 revolution that sparked the “Arab spring” uprisings, has faced economic difficulties over the past eight years that have at times threatened to undermine its political transition.
The next government faces a difficult task in continuing economic reforms to bring its deficits and debt under tighter control, as demanded by foreign lenders, while raising growth and delivering better public services.
Tunisian PM-designate says to form government of ‘independents’
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Tunisian PM-designate says to form government of ‘independents’
- Jemli last week asked President Kais Saied for more time to form a government
One dead in Israeli strike on south Lebanon
- Lebanon’s health ministry said one person was killed in a strike on the village of Rub Thalatheen
- The Israeli army said in a statement that it killed a Hezbollah operative
BEIRUT: An Israeli strike on south Lebanon killed one person on Saturday, Lebanese authorities said, as the Israeli army said it targeted an operative from the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.
Israel has kept up regular strikes in Lebanon despite a November 2024 truce that sought to end more than a year of hostilities including two months of all-out war with Hezbollah.
It usually says it is targeting members of the group or its infrastructure, and has kept troops in five south Lebanon border areas that it deems strategic.
Lebanon’s health ministry said one person was killed in a strike on the village of Rub Thalatheen, close to the Israeli border.
The state-run National News Agency reported a man was killed in the strike while “carrying out repair work on the roof of a house.”
The Israeli army said in a statement that it killed a Hezbollah operative “who took part in attempts to reestablish Hezbollah terror infrastructure in the Markaba area,” adjacent to Rub Thalatheen.
It called the alleged activities “a violation of the ceasefire understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”
This month, Lebanon’s army said it had completed the first phase of its plan to disarm Hezbollah, covering the area south of the Litani river, around 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border.
Israel, which accuses Hezbollah of rearming, has criticized the army’s progress as insufficient, while Hezbollah has rejected calls to surrender its weapons.
More than 360 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon since the ceasefire, according to an AFP tally of health ministry reports.
