Proclamation of the make-up of the national unity government is to be made on Monday, Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi announced.
In a statement, on Sunday evening, to the national television, Mr. Ghannouchi said that consultations on the formation of the Government made advanced progress, which is to help the different national sides to rapidly focus on the tasks of reconstruction and reform, notably the promotion of political life, consecration of democracy and development of social and economic life which will unquestionably improve Tunisians’ living conditions.
“In the face of fear and anguish which are overwhelming the citizen, let me reassure the Tunisian people that things are now on their way to return to normalcy,” he pointed out.
In this regard, he reminded of the arrest of a large number of criminal gangs who chose to attack the citizens and looting, adding that those same gangs, who were bent on sowing chaos and destruction, wished to enslave once again the Tunisian people.
Mr. Mohamed Ghannouchi insisted that the conduct of all those who attack the country’s and citizen’s security will never be tolerated.
The main conclusion to be drawn, he said, from the current crisis the country is going through, is the greatness and heroism shown by the Tunisian people, such a brave people who is now writing a new chapter of its history.
“I wholeheartedly thank all Tunisians for the exceptional courage they have demonstrated to preserve the country’s gains, by forming vigilante groups.”
The Prime Minister also praised the Tunisians’ spirit of solidarity and their patriotism, hailing the heroic work of the forces of internal security, the police, the National Guard and National Army, in guaranteeing security of the homeland and the citizens.
He pointed out that this action helped arrest a large number of members of those criminal gangs, and that instigators acting behind the scene will be unmasked in the coming days. “These obscure sides wish to harm Tunisia, a country which, without denying its shortcomings and its modest means, has made important gains.” The Prime Minister went on adding: “These sides wish to coerce and subdue the Tunisian people into slavery.”
He underlined that those criminal gangs will be prosecuted and punished. “Tunisia,” Mr. Ghannouchi said, “is a state of Law, and Justice will judge these gangs and their deeds. There will be no clemency towards them.”
He called on the Tunisian people to be steadfast in their defence of this “wind of liberty” which is blowing across the nation. “Liberty takes precedence over bread,” he exclaimed, “as there cannot be any dignity or creativity without liberty.”
He hailed the fact that all components of the national scene understood the message, which has greatly eased consultations about the formation of the national unity government, specifying that the make-up of the government will undoubtedly usher in a new stage in Tunisia’s history, such a stage that will testify to the greatness of the Tunisian people, a people whose destiny could but respond to its will to live.
