TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's new president on Wednesday asked for a six-month political truce and a moratorium on strikes and protests, warning that otherwise the country would be committing "collective suicide."
Tunisia electrified the Arab world when it overthrew its autocratic leader in January, but since then the caretaker authorities have been buffeted by social unrest, political turmoil and rows over the role of Islam in the political system.
"I appeal to all the Tunisian people to give us a political and social truce, just for six months," Moncef Marzouki, a former political prisoner installed as president this week, said in a interview on state television.
"A political truce including all the political parties ... (and) a social truce by immediately stopping all sit-ins and strikes," said Marzouki. "If we continue like this, it will be a collective suicide."
"If things aren't working out within six months, I will submit my resignation," said Marzouki.
In Tunisia's first ever democratic election in October, voters handed victory to the moderate Islamist Ennahda party. Its nominee, Hamadi Jbeli, will be prime minister, the most powerful post.
Other top positions will be shared out among Ennahda's two junior coalition partners, Marzouki's Congress for the Republic and the left-wing Ettakatol party.
The new leaders will hold power for a year while a new constitution is drawn up and fresh elections are prepared.
A cabinet line-up is expected to be announced in the coming days. Three sources within the coalition said the finance ministry would go to Khayam Turki, a businessman who was put forward by Ettakatol.
Tunisia electrified the Arab world when it overthrew its autocratic leader in January, but since then the caretaker authorities have been buffeted by social unrest, political turmoil and rows over the role of Islam in the political system.
"I appeal to all the Tunisian people to give us a political and social truce, just for six months," Moncef Marzouki, a former political prisoner installed as president this week, said in a interview on state television.
"A political truce including all the political parties ... (and) a social truce by immediately stopping all sit-ins and strikes," said Marzouki. "If we continue like this, it will be a collective suicide."
"If things aren't working out within six months, I will submit my resignation," said Marzouki.
In Tunisia's first ever democratic election in October, voters handed victory to the moderate Islamist Ennahda party. Its nominee, Hamadi Jbeli, will be prime minister, the most powerful post.
Other top positions will be shared out among Ennahda's two junior coalition partners, Marzouki's Congress for the Republic and the left-wing Ettakatol party.
The new leaders will hold power for a year while a new constitution is drawn up and fresh elections are prepared.
A cabinet line-up is expected to be announced in the coming days. Three sources within the coalition said the finance ministry would go to Khayam Turki, a businessman who was put forward by Ettakatol.
