Almost a year since the Arab Spring started in Tunisia, the north African nation on Tuesday swore in veteran opposition rights activist Moncef Marzouki as its first elected president. The 66-year-old French trained doctor, who was forced into exile for a decade by former strongman Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, had tears in his eyes when he solemnly promised to be the "president of all Tunisians".
"I have the great honour of becoming the first president of the first free republic of the Arab world," Marzouki, wearing a traditional camel-coloured tunic over his jacket, told AFP after his inauguration. His first task will be to name Hamadi Jebali - the number two of the moderate Islamist Ennahda party which won October elections - as prime minister of a new government to be unveiled on Wednesday, he told reporters. Most ministerial posts are expected to go to Ennahda, according to political sources.
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