Analysts say they are as much in the dark about the outcome as they were for the Presidential election earlier this month that that produced two outsiders to contest a run off in a fortnight.

The big parties are taking the hind seat in Tunisia’s fifth democratic parliamentary election.

The field has been torn wide open by independent candidates who are enjoying an unprecedented wave of popularity.

The only certainty is that the elections will produce a new political Tunisia.

Authorities are straining every sinew to ensure  the parliamentary poll goes as peacefully as the first round of the presidential election in a country that has had more than its share of terrorist violence.

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At least five other heads of government will join deliberations on Africa’s two most troubling issues.

It’s in his capacity as rotating chair of the African Union that Egypt’s President Abdelfattah El Sisi has called the summits.

AU commission chair Moussa Faki will be there along with the Presidents of Chad, Djibouti, Rwanda, DRC and Somalia.

Five more African countries are sending foreign ministers or special advisers.

On Sudan they’ll consider how best to back stability and peace following the coup ousting Omar Al Bashir easier this month.

With rebel-led fighting around Tripoli, the African leaders will seek ways of dealing with the Libyan crisis and eradicate the terrorism fueling the conflict.

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The matter is bound to front and centre of their attention when they resume working in the New Year.

Aviation’s heavy hitters are on holiday, like most South Africans.

Officials left in charge are disinclined to go on the record about the closure of Gatwick airport and the failure so far of authorities to apprehend  the drone pilots.

Terrorism has initially been discounted but it’s something the authorities have not encountered.

This is something IATA will be discussing in Geneva early in the New Year and doubtless something that will be on the urgent agenda of South Africa’s Civil Aviation Authority.

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Troops are on the streets as shops have closed in what’s being called the ghost town protest in the Anglophone part of the country.

Cameroon, like Canada, is one a few countries to recognize both English and French as official languages.

However the Anglophone minority, who comprise less than a fifth of the 24-million population maintain they’re being downgraded to second-class citizens.

English-speaking teachers and lawyers are demanding the removal of French-speaking officials from schools and courts.

They’re also demanding the release of scores of people facing charges of terrorism and secession for taking part in the protests.

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Essid, who’d been in power for a year and a half, was expected the result after several ruling coalition MPs withdrew their support.

ends intro

Habib Essid ’s the sixth prime minister to fall since the 2011 Arab Spring brought democracy to Tunisia.

Negotiations to find his replacement start today.

Corruption, security, unemployment and growth are the yardstick he will be measured on.

Tunisia’s vital tourism industry been by lacerated

by two high-profile attacks in Tunisia, killing 59 foreign tourists last year.

The country has been in a state of emergency since November 2015, when a suicide bombing  claimed by ISIL, killed 12 presidential guards in central Tunis.

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