Following on from

In the wake of Tunisia’s inspiring revolution, Giuseppe Caruso offers reflections on his involvement in a recent ‘solidarity caravan’ to the country.

Some people arrive with only a pair of worn out flip flops on their feet, because they couldn’t get anything better. Some drag suitcases and bundles filled with the little they were able to take away with them. All the languages of the world are spoken at Ras Ajdir, the frontier, on the border between Tunisia and Libya. Since the beginning of the Libyan crisis, more than 230,000 people fleeing war have crossed this checkpoint in an endless flow, 85,000 at the start of the conflict alone.

Tunisian activists were unanimous in calling for the abolition of the Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD). However, last week's decision to bar representatives of the former ruling party from political life altogether is raising doubts among some activists and politicians. The High Commission for the Realisation of Revolutionary Goals on 11 April prohibited senior RCD members from participating in July's constituent assembly elections.

Despite widespread opposition, France's Parliament has approved a law which seeks to ensure that refugees from the unrest in North Africa stay outside of the republic. Under EU laws, the country of arrival is responsible for dealing with any asylum seekers, but nearly all of the migrants are Tunisians who wish to join the 600,000-strong Tunisian community in France. France has responded by unveiling plans for barely-legal border checks and new sea patrols, which have already turned back more than 1,000 exiles.

Since the Libyan conflict began only a few short weeks ago, some 236,000 people have crossed Libya’s western borders in search of safety and protection, including Libyans fleeing for their lives and many foreign nationals who had gone to work in Libya as migrants, reports an Amnesty International blog post. Already, around 100,000 of them have been able to return to their homes through the joint efforts of the two main international agencies that exist to assist migrants and refugees, IOM and UNHCR.

Tunisian private clinics relied heavily on patients from Libya in recent years, but the ongoing Libya turmoil makes doctors and nurses wonder whether they will have a job. Libyans made up nearly 80 per cent of patients at Tunisian clinics before the recent tumult. Other foreign patients represented fewer than 1 per cent of admittances. Three clinics in the south were already forced to close.

A search is under way for 150 migrants missing in the Mediterranean after their boat capsized in rough seas near the Italian isle of Lampedusa. Italian rescue vessels and a helicopter have saved 48 refugees from the boat, which had been carrying about 200.

Pro-democracy campaign groups are calling for an ‘April 12 Uprising’ in Swaziland. Peter Kenworthy assesses the potential impact of the campaign.

Thousands of people, many who left North Africa following recent unrest, are stranded on the Italian island of Lampedusa in appalling conditions, Amnesty International reports. The unequivocal assessment by Amnesty International's delegation on the island came as Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi pledged 'to clear Lampedusa within 48-60 hours'. There are currently about 6,000 foreign nationals on the island, mostly from Tunisia.

A Tunisian court has rejected an appeal by the party of former president Zine el Abidine Ben Ali against a ruling that it be dissolved, state media has reported. A judge had previously ruled on 9 March that Ben Ali's Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD) be disbanded and its funds seized, provoking street celebrations as one of the last vestiges of the ousted leader's rule was dismantled.

Italy's interior minister is to visit Tunis for talks aimed at stopping the flow of migrants to the Italian Mediterranean island of Lampedusa. More than 15,000 people, mainly Tunisians but including some Libyans and Moroccans, have arrived since January's uprising in Tunisia. The UN refugee agency says tensions are rising between migrants and the local population and there is 'chaos and disorganisation'.

When violence broke out in the western Libyan town of Zawiyah, Bangladeshi migrant worker Mohammed Nienn, 28, was doing a shift as a steelworker. In a hurry to leave, he persuaded his Libyan supervisor to hand back his passport, but not the wages he was due. Then he jumped into a taxi with four other Bangladeshis and headed for the Tunisian border, where a bus eventually took him to Choucha transit camp, 25km from the frontier town of Ras Ajdir. Ten days later, he was still there, waiting for a flight to Dhaka.

A press freedom watchdog took Egypt and Tunisia off its online censorship blacklist following their recent revolutions and awarded a web media award to Tunisian news bloggers. In Egypt, 'the heavy filtering (of Internet sites) at the height of the revolution has reportedly ended,' said Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in an annual report on the eve of its World Day Against Cyber-Censorship.

Tunisia's interim authorities have disbanded the country's feared state security apparatus, notorious for human rights abuses under the ousted president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Seeking to assert their authority and gain legitimacy in the eyes of protesters who forced Ben Ali to flee in January, the authorities appear to be attacking the remaining vestiges of his 23-year rule, one-by-one.

The National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT) met last week to discuss the state of the nation's media in the post-Ben Ali era. 'It's hardly a change,' said Soukaina Abd Samad, SNJT executive office member and Tunisian television journalist. 'The changes in the media did not keep pace with the democratic changes in the country.'

Embattled French Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie has announced her resignation after weeks of criticism over her contacts with the former Tunisian regime. Revelations about her and her family's links to the regime of former President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, and the fact that she had taken a Christmas holiday in Tunisia during the uprising made her position increasingly untenable.

Tunisia's Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi resigned and was replaced by Beji Caid Essebsi, a former minister, after anti-government protests left five people dead over the weekend. Security forces again clashed with protesters in Tunis demanding the removal of some ministers of Ghannouchi's interim government before the premier announced his resignation.

Tunisia's interim government on January 22nd lifted licensing restrictions on the importation of books, publications and films, opening the floodgates to foreign media. The constraints were imposed by the Ben Ali regime to control the flow of information. 'Lifting restrictions on importing books is a key demand that has been called on by voices of enlightenment, modernity and the democracy of culture and knowledge in Tunisia,' said Moktar Kalfaoui, a writer for the website Alawan.

‘Tunisia and Egypt are a big “we can do it too,” not just for Swaziland, but for the rest of the African continent and the repressed Arab world,’ according to Swaziland United Democratic Front (SUDF) project coordinator Sikelela Dlamini.