Government meets to discuss action aimed at containing spreading discontent over unemployment

23 Jan 2016 – Tunisia’s Prime Minister Habib Essid has held an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss a wave of protests and rioting over growing unemployment, Al-Jazeera reported.
The meeting on Saturday came a day after the government declared a nationwide curfew after four days of violence.
Al Jazeera reporting from Tunis, said thousands of dissatisfied people have taken to the streets in recent days, demanding immediate action against unemployment and poor economic conditions.
“The government is saying that it does not have a quick fix and that it will take some time before it can meet the people’s demands. It is quite a delicate situation for a government that just few years ago was promising a better future.” Al-Jazeera reporter said.
Protests over unemployment in Tunisia, which started in the western Kasserine province, intensified and spread to other parts of the country on Thursday.
On Friday, President Beji Caid Essebsi said in a televised address that the government would put a program in place to try to ease the unemployment rate.
He also warned that members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group in neighboring Libya may use the unrest in Tunisia to sneak into the country.
France will provide $1.1bn over five years to help Tunisia deal with its transition to democracy, French President Francois Hollande said on Friday.
Al-Jazeera said the only option for the Tunisian government at the moment is to ask for more international support to prevent a further descent towards more instability
“This is exactly why President Essebsi yesterday was stressing the fact that groups like ISIL are seizing the opportunity to try to further destabilise Tunisia,” he said.
“But the problem that you have here in the country is that people are waiting for immediate decisions to be taken by the government.”