A FORMER TUNISAN dissident has defended members of the country’s old regime holding office in the interim administration, following the resignations yesterday of four ministers in Tunisia’s day-old government.

Four of Tunisia’s ministers resigned yesterday in response to the presence of RCD members in the interim government – the party of ousted president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.

Slim Amamou – a former dissident blogger who was released from jail only last week – has defended the continuation of RCD members in office because the new government is a temporary administration ahead of a general election, which is due to take place in six months’ time.

Amamnou has himself joined the cabinet, and told the BBC’s World Today programme: “It’s a temporary government in special conditions – we’re here just to set up elections. It’s not like I was elected… Not everybody can be a novice in politics in government like me”.

The BBC reports that the country is divided over whether to accept RCD members as interim leader. Protesters flooded the streets again today as part of a peaceful demonstration, according to AFP, chanting: “We want a new parliament, a new constitution, a new republic! People rise up against the Ben Ali loyalists!” and “Ben Ali has gone to Saudi Arabia! The government should go there too”.

However, an editorial in Tunisia’s independent daily newspaper Le Quotidien read: “Let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water… The resentment is legitimate but it should not transform itself into a blind hatred that blocks the victorious march of the Tunisian people towards liberty”.

It also appears that Tunisia’s ‘Jasmine Revolution’ is continuing to stir the spirit of protest across the Arab world. Two more people set themselves alight in Algeria today, bringing the total number of attempted public suicides to seven this week, according to Saudi newspaper al-Arabiya. Similar attempts at self-immolation have been seen in Egypt and Yemen in recent days, where anti-government demonstrations have been taking place alongside expressions of support for the Tunisians.

Meanwhile, the former president Ben Ali and his family have fled to Saudi Arabia – but it seems they might face yet more difficulties as Swiss authorities have decided to freeze their assets, according to Reuters.