Tunisians tell Egyptian protestors to hang on

TUNIS

"They've got to hang on. Any concession will only add to the obstinacy of that fox Mubarak," is one piece of advice Tunisian Abdel Kader is eager to share with Egyptian protestors fighting to topple their ruler.

A million enraged protestors flooded Cairo Friday after President Hosni Mubarak dashed hopes of stepping down in a widely anticipated television appearance, and Tunisians, who last month ousted their own head of state, are waiting for a tipping point.

"This is ... precisely the time to leave. Leaving is not a forte among Arab dictators whose absolute power ends up being distorted into a messianic incantation," wrote the privately-owned Le Temps daily in an editorial.

"The shockwave sparked by the Tunisian revolution will not stop."

Nation-wide protests in Tunisia erupted last month after a 26-year-old jobless graduate set himself on fire when police seized his fruit and vegetables stall he used to scrape a living.

His death came to symbolise everything that was wrong with the country from rampant unemployment, surging costs, a corrupt leadership and police brutality, and inspired the January 25 uprising by Egyptians sharing the same plight.

Tunisian politicians also encouraged Egyptians to continue their protest.

Meya Jeribi, spokesman for the opposition Progressive Democratic Party said: "The Egyptian people's determination to chase Mubarak needs to become a reality."

"The Arab people no longer want half-baked compromises," he added.

And yet, despite Ben Ali's departure, Tunis is struggling with the revolution's aftermath, as the leadership faces the gargantuan task of solving urgent social needs that threaten to derail a nascent democratic transition.

The Tunisians are "showing great maturity, but may descend back into the streets," warned a foreign diplomat.

Organised and spontaneous strikes are braking the economy and the new government's pledge to cut ties with the former regime has done little to appease resentment among the country's poorest, stoked by daily broadcasts of miserable and angry Tunisians by the newly-liberated media.

A woman was in critical condition after she set herself on fire Thursday after being unable to obtain medication for her cancer-stricken husband.

Earlier this week up to 500 jobless people massed outside the social affairs ministry, and a 26-year-old man was wounded by a stray bullet as a soldier fired warning shots to disperse the crowd.

The main labour union, a key player in the uprising last month, has urged the silver-haired cabinet of interim president Foued Mebazaa to start immediate talks as the young population is losing patience.

While the jobless rate is officially 14 per cent, the proportion of graduates out of work is double that.