Tunisia arrests coup plotters as unity talks begin

TUNISIAN authorities yesterday denounced a plot against the state by backers of ousted strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, as talks on national unity got under way while heavy gunfire broke out here.

Officials arrested the general in charge of Ben Ali’s security apparatus, Ali Seriati, for plotting against the new leadership amid fears of a backlash by supporters of the deposed president.

Ben Ali’s nephew, Kais Ben Ali, was meanwhile arrested earlier yesterday along with 10 others in the central town of Msaken (the Ben Ali family’s ancestral home) overnight for “shooting at random” from police cars.