History of modern Tunisia as the International Year of Youth. Starting in December 2010, Tunisian citizens began mass protesting against unemployment and Ben Ali's corruption. As mass protests grew, Ben Ali declared a state of emergency in the country, dissolved the government on 14 January 2011 and promised new legislative elections within six months. Later on that same day Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi went on state television to say he was assuming power in Tunisia and said that the President had left the country. Ben Ali fled the country on 14 January at 4:00 pm local time on a flight bound for Dubai and
Hatem Ben Salem Hatem Ben Salem Hatem Ben Salem is a Tunisian politician. He was the Minister of Education under former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Hatem Ben Salem was born on February 8, 1956. He received a PhD in Law from the University of Paris and the agrégation from the University of Tunis. From 1996 to 2000, he was the Tunisian Ambassador to Senegal, then Guinea, Gambia, Cap Vert, Turkey, and then to the United Nations in Geneva. He is a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London and the International Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg. He