forward with this up learning -- disciplinary proceedings against him. ♪ >> a reminder of our top stories. the rival science and yemen's 80 year war have agreed to a two months truce. both sides have agreed to allow fuel shipments into the port and select commercial flights operate from the capital. >> the truce, which has the possibility of renewal, coincides with the start of the holy month of ramadan. it opens the vault of the economic needs and creates a

opportunity to restart yemen's political process. this truce must be the first step to ending yemen's devastating more. >> british military intelligence as an attack on a russian fueled double will strain their armies already struggling logistics. ukraine denies a carried out the early morning russian attack in the russian city. the international committee of the red cross is helping people leave the besieged city and was forced to turn around. the team was also enabled to leave humanitarian aid because it did not have printer -- have permission from russia. the convoy had to turn back. the lineup for the world cup 2022 opening games are set. the draw to decide which teams will face each other took place and the host country of qatar. this will be the first time the competition has been hosted in the middle east. workers at an amazon facility in new york have voted to form the company's first union in the

u.s. it's a win for labor rights groups who have tried for years to form a union at america's second largest employer. the m 23 yemen group and the democratic republic of congo has declared a unilateral cease-fire after five days of clashes with the army. heavy fighting broke out on monday after the group attacked two army positions near the border with uganda and rwanda. eight: miners have been killed and injured eight others in southern serbia. the gas was released when a mind trap trapped workers underground. 20 others were injured. the incident is being investigated. those were the headlines. i will be back with more news and a half an hour. inside story is next year on al jazeera. please stay with us. ♪

>> tunisia's political crisis is deepening. the president has dissolve the parliament, accusing the suspended members of attempting acute. but they say, they are grabbing power illegally. so where does tunisia go from here? this is inside story. hello and welcome to the program. it's been nearly eight months since tunisia's president sat the prime minister, suspended parliament and granted himself rod executive powers. supporters welcome the moves is necessary to root out corruption. but his critics accused him of a coup. now, he says he's the target of an attempted coup.

he dissolve parliament after members defied him by voting online to repeal the decrees used to assume near total power. tunisia's constitution says an election must be held within three months. but a former constitutional law professor has rejected this. mp's, including the speaker and head of the largest political party have been summoned to be questioned by tunisia's antiterrorism police. >> the people in tunisia are holding onto the constitution. we reject the president's decision to dissolve the legislative council. it is a continuation of decisions taken on july the 25th, which were rejected and considered a coup. this is a continuation of the coup. >> here is the report from tunis. >> the president says there will be no fresh elections anytime soon. this, despite him dissolving parliament, and the constitution

saying he's just 90 days to hold new legislative elections. this follows from parliament holding a session on wednesday. it's the first time that they've met together since last july, when the president sacked the government and froze parliament, bringing in a time of what he called was exceptional measures necessary to save the country from imminent danger. parliament voted to end this time of exceptional matters. and he responded by dissolving parliament. a constitutional coup d'état, but a failed coup. since then, mp's have been summoned for questioning at tunisia's terrace police station. this includes the speaker of house some parliament, who leads the largest party in parliament. parliament, as of yet, has no arrests or charges that have been made. parliament is waiting for the results of today's question to

decide on when to hold another session. they want to ensure that enough parliamentarians are present to have a quorum, enough to pass votes on any motions proposed. >> we will go to our guest in a moment, but let's take a closer look at the political crisis. democratic transition in tunisia since the 2011 resolution has been tumultuous, and matters came to a head last year. in july 20 21, the president sacked the prime minister and froze the parliament. his opponents accused him of staging a coup. but he has argued he acted legally to rescue the country. during protests against him, he announced in september that he would rule by decree. this allowed him to appoint policy members and put aside parts of the constitution. in january of this year, he initiated an online consultation to draft a new constitution, but he hasn't involved any political or civil society groups.

let's go ahead and bring in our guest and tunis, we have a journalist. in cyprus, associate professor in the department of international relations at cyprus international university, and also in tunis, and also -- welcome to you all and thanks for joining us today on inside story. just how fragile is democracy in tunisia i think the decision by -- >> i think the decision by them is shaken and this is a big threat that we build a decade ago. today, people are frustrated because they are waiting for real measures, economic reforms. i think tunisia, yesterday, needs more economic plans and

economic measures than political decisions like dissolving the parliament. >> let me ask you, just how big a crisis is this right now? what's going on. and where does tunisia go from here? >> we are in a deep crisis here politically. politically speaking it is worse. and we decide to say this. the only person who has the culture of the executives and if it's directly. and so overrule or repeat any of the decrees issued by the president. this cannot be a real democracy. whether it will move to early or

severe or authoritarian, we still don't know what the signs are, but we will move through all of this. and speaking, especially with -- we are running through this. if there are no further steps taken, whether in terms of structural reforms, maybe for the reforms, there are ordinary forms, deeper forms. if we are not implementing or re-implementing the checks and balances of the system, metaphorically, we are heading towards dictatorship. ever since july of 2021, when he suspended prominent in sacked

the prime minister, the president has said that those actions and the subsequent actions are constitutional. that he has granted the power to take these actions. from your vantage point, are the actions that he has taken, including the last one of dissolving parliament, are those actions actually constitutional? >> there is a problem here. there is a tradition in tunisia, speaking about constitutional coup and political changes. and to some extent, setbacks from something authoritarian. so what happened to some extent is very often seen from different perspectives. from this perspective it is something and that the tick to

constitutional norms. and to what extent is this undemocratic or is it a coup? it depends because this is the debate. those who support the president and those who are also not very critical, they think that the revolution was betrayed, and what to do. the way the president operated as problematic, there's no doubt. and how to judge it or assess it from different perspective. it's very hard to defend it. from the evolutionary perspective, it's a big question mark. people should be thinking. also, the theorist of democratization, many of them thought that one has to abandon this paradigm about transition to democracy. they agree on the fact that it's a non-authoritarian autocratic

system. bo i think in these terms that we are getting somewhere? after saying that there is a transition and they had criteria, some are theoretical and they make sense. here we are, what is happening since? since 2010 for the president and those who are supporting him, it was a mess. so the parliament, and what is called parliamentary democracy, some people want to go back to that and mobilizing the masses in terms of what is called the citizens against the coup, and turkey, from the outside, it is said from the beginning and they are labeling it, defining it and categorizing it as a coup. on the other hand, some scholars and thinkers believe that their leaders of the counter coup and counter democracy are of the following. and at the same time problematic.

>> let me pick up on some of the points that you are making in a later question, because i want to ask, you heard him talk about the fact that there has been a lot of disagreement since last july about whether the actions of the president then were a coup or not. see had that happen. you had the allegations and that was a coup. that's from his opponent. now you have the president saying that he is the target of an attempted coup. what does the public thing? does the public think that the president engaged in a coup, does the president think that now there is an attempt of a coup against the president? what is their mindset on this? >> i think the public opinion is divided in tunisia between people who are with the president in describing his actions as an action of your arrears them to the country.

on the other hand, we have people who are against it. if you are my opinion and, i think he's manipulating the law today. for example when he use the article 72 of the constitution on wednesday, it's paradoxical because you can't use this article where you took the exceptional measures in july according to the article. for example, if you see this article 80, you can understand that you can't dissolve the parliament in the parliament must maintain in session until the next election. so it's a paradox. you can't use both articles, 80 and 72 at the same time, while he declared already a state of emergency. so i think that this paradox is really -- we are witnessing this

paradox in the tunisian sweep, who are today divided more than ever. with him at against the president. but mostly, the political parties are against him, and he's really facing a big opposition today. >> how specifically does the president want to remake the political system in tunisia? is it just that he wants a presidential system? does he want to grab more power? does he want to lessen the power of parliament and just expand executive powers? what is his vision going forward? >> i think his vision is -- because even some supporters are saying that it's to the contrary. first the idea or the main idea is known behind the politics.

the idea of democracy that there are elections on the locals and then they deal with the national partner. from the local region to the national land and national parliament. it is sad. but they are no more saying more about it. but what we have right now on the ground is that he is waiting to amend the constitution and the european framework to have a presidential regime will see authorization of the executive power, and more separated powers for this. but it's still unclear. yesterday it was august that he was willing to amend the

constitution and to move and go after the results are the publication and officially the results of the national consultation. more than 80% of tunisians are participants that were consistent. but here is not the issue. the issue that's on the ground of what we have now is the constitution's institutions, whether it is the parliament or the council. some of the space, what we have heard or seen, we believe in amending the ngo's. so maybe getting rid of the balance to this power in the

political organizations. what we are seeing on the ground is only 1% that is in control of almost everything. in the decision could be repeated. >> i remember when parliament was suspended in july of 2021, speaking to many tunisians, and the consensus was that the president's actions were very popular amongst the public because they were tired of the political infighting, of the squabbling, and they wanted to see things get done. i want to ask you how much support the president has now among the public? because, here we are almost a year later, the economy is worse off, things haven't generally improved, and there is still political stasis in the country. >> i think the problem, to some extent, to answer directly and

indirectly her question, is that there is a tradition of the political elite to go after each other, who is democrat, whose authoritarian, whose autocrat. whose following rules against the revolution. and there is a plot that is more of the system, and i don't know to what extent this gets masses behind one side or another, and it looks like the elite is very often more or less open to what happened in the streets, but at the same time, he is manipulating and says what about those who think in terms of progressive or radical. the coup is also not from outside, but both within the society and outside the society between economic elites. it is a fiasco today because different economic elites is also unhappy and probably has grievances.

but nevertheless to think in terms of binary and dichotomy, is this democracy, autocracy, authoritarian, but the dynamics within the tunisian racine -- regime as a whole, in connection with the forces interest, it's very complicated. i remember very well, one of the, among others, x ministers of tunisia, before the last president it was a presidential system. in the system since 2013 constitution. parliamentarian and you're going to orchestrate something hybrid, which is this and that. nevertheless, i admit it's very

hard to defend on the concrete and take on the grounds what is happening. but here we are to say something about this, one has to move to the level of pure politics. is it opportune to do this, and even if you want to do this i have to say, even the president said the connection of networking between the islamist and the tourist at the time is counterrevolutionary. where did the alliances start going in the wrong direction? now what is happening is really problematic. but is it constitutional crisis.

>> i don't mean to interrupt you, but we are starting to out of time. let me ask you, from your vantage point, what are the consequences for these mps who have been summoned, and depending on how this plays out, if you think that we might see some of these mps prosecuted? >> yes, we will see the mps be prosecuted, persecuted. this was an announcement by the president a few days ago. unfortunately, this image is not good for, as i told you, our democracy. and this is the real threat shaking the democracy. unfortunately, we are seeing that it is manipulated by the president, and i think that, as a journalist, we have to be

vigilant. not only is democracy threatens, but also freedom of press and freedom of expression is threatened more than ever today. >>'s parliament session that happened online where there was more than half the parliament members present, what kind of impact does that have on the president's grip on power? essentially, they have tried to overturn what he had done when it came to suspending parliament. does this show or justice indicate that the opposition, even though they've been really fractured in the past, perhaps our uniting more and feeling more confident to really forcefully oppose the president? does it weaken his grip on power at all? >> i think so far, no. but, what we have seen from the president was a reaction.

maybe a reaction by this department. and maybe what they were looking for. maybe they were looking for -- but especially on the international level, showing the control of all powers and a few months ago, it was a part of parliament, in two days before the decision he said that according to the constitution i can't answer parliament. but then in a very weird interpretation, he decided to say the state according to his point of view. i think maybe these are the

first results are to move through it and when he showing his nature according to them, that he is a dictator. >> just very quickly, if i could follow up with you, do you think there is any hope there could be dialogue between the president and parliament? >> so far i think it's almost near 0%. because, it -- but the national organization would play a role like the same organization and three other organizations. now it's clear that they have repositioned for parliament.

and i could support the solution. and then there are other national organizations and its between the organization and the opponent. it could be possible because of the current situation. >> i'm sorry to interrupt you, we have about a minute left and i just want to ask quickly, at a time in tunisia when the economy is in such bad shape, when many say it's headed towards disaster, there's a recession, food prices have driven up massively, how hard is it for tunisian citizens right now? >> it's really hard, the economic crisis already started in 2020. with that health crisis. today with the war in ukraine.

that's why, as i told you people are frustrated and disappointed because eight months after he took the measure in july 2021, people waited for economic plans, economic decisions, economic reforms, but nothing is done. so i think measures is intensifying the ukrainian crisis today. >> we have run out of time so we have to leave it there today. and thank you for watching. you can see the program again any time by visiting our website and for further discussion go to our facebook page at facebook.com/a.j. inside story. you can join the conversation on twitter. our handle is at a.j. inside story. for me and the whole team here, goodbye for now. ♪

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