Tunisia: The Long Fight

1956: Tunisia achieves independence from France. Habib Bourguiba, architect of modern Tunisia, becomes prime minister. He becomes president a year later when the traditional ruler, Bey Lamine, is deposed and the monarchy abolished.

1975: Bourguiba, the "Supreme Fighter", becomes president-for-life.

1987: Prime minister Zine El Abidine Ben Ali declares himself president of Tunisia, stating Bourguiba's advancing age and state of health makes him incapable of governing.

1989: Ben Ali wins presidential elections, and is re-elected in 1994, making a clean sweep in presidential and parliamentary elections.

2000: Bourguiba, founding father of independent Tunisia, dies.

October 2009: Ben Ali wins a fifth term with 89.62 per cent of the vote in a presidential election. Ali rejects allegations the vote is unfair.

December 2010: Mohamed Bouazizi sets fire to himself in the central town of Sidi Bouzid, protesting at the confiscation by police of his fruit and vegetable cart, sparking violent protests. He later died. The incident is embraced by jobless graduates, unionists and human right activists, as anti-government protests later spread to other towns including the capital Tunis.

January 2011: Ben Ali flees to Saudi Arabia following a month of violent protests that claimed dozens of lives.