Tunisia leader to meet union chief on crisis

The head of Tunisia’s ruling Islamist party Al Nahda is to meet the powerful UGTT trade union chief on Monday on the crisis sparked by the killing of an opposition politician.

The UGTT said that its head, Housine Abassi, would meet Al Nahda leader Rashed Gannouchi and Mustafa Bin Jaafar, speaker of the National Constituent Assembly.

Nearly 500,000 Tunisians are members of the UGTT, and the union can paralyse the country with strike action.

The planned meeting comes after Ben Jaafar announced the suspension of the assembly’s work drawing up a new constitution while the Islamist-led government and the opposition hold talks on ending the political crisis.

Bin Jaafar has proposed the UGTT as mediator for the talks.

The union has called for the resignation of the Islamist-dominated cabinet and its replacement by a government of technocrats.

Al Nahda has rejected the proposal so far.