TUNIS - Tunisia's new leadership moved to form a coalition government to gain the upper hand over violent looters and quell arson and shooting that broke out after President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was ousted by protests. Speaker of parliament Fouad Mebazza, sworn in on Saturday as interim president, asked Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi to form a government of national unity. Constitutional authorities said a presidential election should be held within 60 days. Soldiers and tanks were stationed in the center of Tunis to restore order in the aftermath of looting that broke out when Ben Ali, president for more than 23 years, fled to Saudi Arabia following a month of violent anti-government protests that claimed dozens of lives. “What will worry many governments in the region is that the crisis was spontaneous and not organized,” said Henry Wilkinson of the Janusian Security Consultancy. Gunmen fired at random from cars in Tunis on Saturday and inmates staged a mass jailbreak while leaders tried to prevent Tunisia from descending into chaos after the president was swept from power. It was not clear who the assailants were but a senior military source said that the people affiliated to Ben Ali were behind the shootings. The French government called on Tunisia to hold free elections as soon as possible and said it had taken steps “to ensure suspicious financial movements concerning Tunisian assets in France are blocked administratively,” President Nicolas Sarkozy's office said in a statement. Opposition leader Najib Chebbi said after talks with Ghannouchi that elections could be held under international supervision within six or seven months.
