TUNIS: Tunisia’s opposition coalition agreed yesterday to start direct talks with ruling Islamists on a transition plan under which the government would step down and make way for a caretaker administration and new elections.
The agreement follows weeks of unrest that erupted after the assassination of an opposition figure in July. The secular opposition accused the moderate Islamist ruling party, Ennahda, of tolerating the Islamist militants it blamed for the killing.
Issam Chebbi, a senior official in the Salvation Front, said the opposition had decided to accept “without any conditions” the initiative proposed by the powerful UGTT labour movement which has been mediating in the dispute.
Ennahda had already accepted the negotiation plan after expressing some initial reservations it said would be discussed during talks.
A formal announcement by the UGTT about the agreement should lead to the start of a three-week negotiation period after which the Ennahda-led government will step down.
The two sides will discuss a timetable for new elections, the composition of the caretaker government and other guarantees for a transition to full democracy.
Tunisia has been caught in deadlock for weeks, delaying a political transition seen as one of the more successful among the region’s nascent democracies.
REUTERS
