Rachid Ammar Service leader colonel El Arbi Ghazali). Ammar was a member of the joint chiefs of staff and was received along with other members of the council by Ali at a ceremony during the summer of 2010. There, Ammar was promoted by Ben Ali from the rank of divisional general to that of corps general. On 25 June 2013, Ammar announced his retirement due to harsh criticisms. On 13 January 2011, Ammar refused to follow the orders of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, then president of Tunisia, to shoot protesters participating in the 2010–2011 Tunisian protests. He responded to the Presidential
Benjamin Bounkoulou line with the African Union's standards", and he called for the results to be respected. Shortly before the July 2009 presidential election, Bounkoulou stressed the importance of having a peaceful election and urged the people to behave in a responsible and civic manner so that the election would be an example to Africa and the world. He headed the African Union's observer mission for the October 2009 Tunisian election and expressed approval of the election, saying that voters were not pressured to vote for President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Seeking another term in the Senate in the October 2011