Tunisian MP sues president for ‘grabbing power’

TUNIS -A Tunisian MP has filed a legal suit against President Kais Saied for violating the constitution and suspending parliament last month.

Bichr Chebbi, of the Ennahdha party, is accusing the president of a power grab and using the military force to shut down parliament.

Ennahdha party, the largest party in parliament, has distanced itself from Chebbi’s court case.

But it has denounced the president’s measures, which have included the sacking of the prime minister.

The 63-year-old leader’s actions have largely been welcomed by those deeply disillusioned by the performance of the country’s political parties.

Saied says he wants to save the country from collapse amid economic woes and rising Covid cases.

In Chad, a military-political rebel group behind this year’s deadly insurgency said it was prepared to take part in a national dialogue proposed by transitional president Mahamat Idriss Deby.

Deby seized power in April after his father, the former president, was killed while visiting troops fighting the rebels, who had crossed the border from Libya to take a stand against the elder’s 30year rule.

The Libya-based rebel group that claimed responsibility for Deby’s death, known as the Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT), has now welcomed his son’s offer to hold talks with all stakeholders, including opposition armed groups.

“If there are peaceful initiatives to build a new democratic Chad without dictatorship and the absolute confiscation of power, of course we will join them,” said FACT spokesman Kingabe Ogouzeimi de Tapol. – BBC/REUTERS.