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		</div><p><a href="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/looting-and-disorder-engulf-tunisia.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full" title="Soldiers stand guard next to their tank in the centre of Tunis (AP)" src="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/min-looting-and-disorder-engulf-tunisia.jpg" alt="Soldiers stand guard next to their tank in the centre of Tunis (AP)"/></a></p>
<p>Looting, deadly prison riots and street chaos have engulfed Tunisia the day after mass protests forced its strongman to flee.</p>
<p>A new interim president was sworn in, promising to create a unity government that could include the long-ignored opposition.</p>
<p>It was the second change of power in this North African nation in less than 24 hours.</p>
<p>Saturday night appeared calmer than the previous night, which saw looters empty shops and torch the capital&#8217;s main train station as well as some shops. As military helicopters patrolled overhead, residents in some neighbourhoods armed themselves with sticks and clubs, forming impromptu militias to protect their homes.</p>
<p>The death toll mounted. At least 42 people were killed on Saturday in a prison fire in one resort town and the director of another prison in another tourist haven let 1,000 inmates flee after soldiers shot five dead amid a rebellion. Those deaths came on top of scores of others after a month of protests in which police often fired upon demonstrators.</p>
<p>After 23 years of autocratic rule, President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali abruptly fled the country on Friday for Saudi Arabia following mass street protests over corruption, a lack of jobs and clampdowns on civil liberties. The leadership changes then came at a dizzying speed.</p>
<p>Mr Ben Ali&#8217;s long-time ally, prime minister Mohammed Ghannouchi, stepped in briefly with a vague assumption of power that left open the possibility that Mr Ben Ali could return. But on Saturday, the head of the Constitutional Council declared the president&#8217;s departure permanent and gave Fouad Mebazaa, leader of the lower house of parliament, 60 days to organise new elections. Hours later, Mr Mebazaa was sworn in.</p>
<p>In his first televised address, the interim president asked the prime minister to form a &#8220;national unity government in the country&#8217;s best interests&#8221; in which all political parties will be consulted &#8220;without exception nor exclusion&#8221;.</p>
<p>The move was one of reconciliation, but it was not clear how far the 77-year-old Mr Mebazaa, who has been part of Tunisia&#8217;s ruling class for decades, would truly go to work with the opposition.</p>
<p>It was also unclear who would emerge as the country&#8217;s top political leaders, since Mr Ben Ali utterly dominated politics, placing allies in power and sending opponents into jail or exile.</p>
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