Tunisian Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi has announced his resignation after a series of renewed protests calling for his resignation and an outbreak of street violence in the past few days . “I have decided to quit as prime minister,” Ghannouchi told a news conference on Sunday. “I am not running away from responsibility. This is to open the way for a new prime minister. “I am not ready to be the person who takes decisions that would end up causing casualties,” the Associated Press quoted Ghannouchi as saying. Ghannouchi was a longtime ally of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, and had vowed to guide the country until elections can be held this summer. Ben Ali fled the country on 14 January amid massive protests. Interim President Fouad Mebazaa named Beji Caid Essebsi, a former foreign minister who served under Tunisia's long-ago President Habib Bourguiba, as new caretaker prime minister until the elections take place sometime this summer. Five protesters died in Tunis on Saturday and more than 100 people injured in a day of clashes between demonstrators throwing rocks and security forces firing tear gas. Earlier Sunday, security forces and anti-government protesters clashed in capital Tunis, with police firing tear gas and warning shots at stone-throwing youths during a third day of violence. Meanwhile, the European Union welcomed the moves in Tunisia. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Sunday welcomed the quick appointment of a new Tunisian prime minister after the resignation of Ghannouchi, according to a EU news release. “I take note of the decision to resign taken by Tunisian Prime Minister M. Ghannouchi. I commend his sense of responsibility, so as to avoid further violence,” Ashton said. BM
