Tunisia's new government purges police leadership

TUNIS — Tunisia's interim government moved to take back control of the country's security forces on Wednesday, firing dozens of senior allies of fallen dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi's new administration axed 30 top police officials, appointed a top military officer to head up the national security service and named new chiefs for seven key regions in the country.

The government also approved wage rises for the country's beleaguered police service.

But Ben Ali's former interior minister Rafik Belhaj Kacem, previously under house arrest, was in custody Wednesday after being arrested a day earlier.

Admiral Ahmed Chabir, the new director of national security, has been charged with sweeping away stalwarts of ousted dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's regime from key positions.

He also has to get the thousands of police officers, who deserted the streets as the popular uprising swept Ben Ali from power, to get back on post.

Protesters blame the police for brutal and sometimes deadly attacks on demonstrators during the uprising -- the United Nations puts the death toll at 219.

On Wednesday, Tunisia's newspapers backed the new administration's bid to restore order, drawing a clear link between democracy and security.

"The return of the police officer, this soldier of democracy, to the streets after an eclipse which has thrown the country into alarm and disarray, will restore confidence to Tunisians," said an editorial in the Quotidien.

But with 100,000 police officers having been members of Ben Ali's now-reviled Constitutional Democratic Assembly (RCD) party -- which had two million members in all -- cleaning house will be no easy task.

The RCD were the eyes and ears of the old regime and enforced the former dictator's repressive rule.

In contrast, the army, which supported the uprising by refusing to fire on the protesters, has only 35,000 men, mainly posted along the country's borders.

On national television late Tuesday, newly appointed Interior Minister Farhat Rajhi sketched an alarming picture of the powerful forces still lined up against the new administration.

He told of how a mob of up to three thousand people had attacked his ministry late Monday, he said.

"Thanks to General Rachid Ammar and to the anti-terrorist forces, I was able to escape," he added. Ammar, head of the armed forces, last month pledged to anti-government protesters that his soldiers would defend Tunisia's revolution.

But although 50 of the intruders, several of whom were armed, had been arrested, they were subsequently released, Rajhi said.

This showed collusion between them and officers still inside the security services, he said, denouncing what he said was a plot against the state.

After a cabinet meeting Tuesday, the interim government pledged to stand firm.

As a statement of intent, they agreed to sign up to international conventions including the Rome statutes on the International Criminal Court and the optional protocol to the UN Convention to Combat Torture.

They also approved pay rises for the police, concentrating on middle-ranking officers -- a departure from the old regime.

The curfew declared under the old regime on January 13 remains in place, but the government has also set up a hotline for victims of violence to call.