Ben Ali, C’est Fini

The BBC has been reporting events from Tunisia live. This came across just a few moments ago:

1745: President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali has stepped down. Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi has taken over as interim president.

1736: Two sources close to the government confirm to the AFP news agency that President Ben Ali has left Tunisia.

1735: Air France has temporarily suspended all flights to Tunis due to the state of emergency and the closure of air space.

1733: Sources tell al-Jazeera TV that President Ben Ali has left the country and that the army is in control.

So the riots have successfully forced Ben Ali and his family from power. It remains to be seen if the rest of the regime survives, but it seems likely that without Ben Ali as the focus of public anger the interim government might be able to quiet things down. The “Tunisia scenario” looks remarkably like the overthrow of Bakiyev in Kyrgyzstan, and somewhat like Kyrgyzstan the Tunisian riots exploded out of a combination of resentment against corruption in the ruling family, rising prices, and authoritarian government. We can hope that Tunisia will not be wracked by the factional violence that plagued Kyrgyzstan after Bakiyev’s fall.