Tunisia union rejects any formal dialogue over political reforms

Tunisia's powerful UGTT labour union rejected on Friday any formal dialogue over political reforms that marginalise political and social forces in the country and include "ready-made decisions", after President Kais Saied said the general trends towards a new constitution were clear.

Saied, who seized control of the government last July and later dissolved parliament in a move his opponents called a coup, has said he would appoint a committee in the coming days to draft a new constitution and establish a "new republic".

He has said that discussions over the reforms would include four major Tunisian organisations: the UGTT, the country's lawyers union, the Federation of Industry and Trade and the Tunisian League of Human Rights; and that he would exclude the opposition parties, whom he has described as "traitors".

(Reuters)