Tunisia's former president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, toppled by a popular revolt in 2011, is ready to hand over his Swiss-held financial "assets" to the Tunisian state, his Lebanese lawyer said on Monday.

"My client is ready to hand over all his alleged assets and economic resources held in Switzerland to the Tunisian state," lawyer Akram Azoury said in a draft statement to the Swiss ambassador in Lebanon, a copy of which was sent to Agence France Presse.

The mother of Mohammed Bouazizi, the street vendor whose self-immolation sparked a mass uprising in Tunisia that touched off the Arab Spring, has been remanded in custody for insulting an official, the justice ministry said on Saturday.

Former Euro and Africa Cup of Nations winning coach Roger Lemerre was named coach of Algerian First Division side CS Constantine on Saturday, the local press announced.

The 71-year-old Frenchman - who guided France to the Euro 2000 title and then Tunisia to the 2004 Africa Cup of Nations trophy - signed a one year contract with the club, with the option of another year.

The head of Tunisia's ruling Islamist Ennahda told Agence France Presse on Friday his party's first congress would consider a government reshuffle and enlarging the government coalition.

"We are evaluating the performance of the government that has been in place for the past six months for information that could lead to a change of ministers or portfolios, even enlarging the coalition to include other parties," Rached Ghannouchi said on day two of the Ennahda party conference.

President Moncef Marzouki stressed Tunisia does not face the threat of Islamic extremism and is run by a partnership which includes center-leftist parties, in an interview with Agence France Presse.

Marzouki, who on July 17-19 visits France, where he previously lived in exile, said his mission was aimed at erasing tensions that arose during the 2011 revolution that swept away president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's regime.

The head of Tunisia's ruling Islamist party Ennahda called on Thursday for national consensus at the launch of its first congress at home in 24 years, held at a time of political and religious tensions.

"We want to convey a message from this congress, this congress of a union of the Tunisian people. We are a united people," Rached Ghannouchi told around 10,000 supporters.

Fifty-four migrants trying to reach Italy died of thirst when their inflatable boat ruptured in the Mediterranean, according to testimony from the sole survivor, the U.N. refugee agency said.

The rescued man, who drank sea water to survive, was spotted clinging to a jerry can and the remains of the stricken boat off the Tunisian coast on Monday night by fishermen who alerted the coast guard, the UNHCR said.

Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki on Sunday hailed the historic and largely peaceful elections in neighboring Libya, during a phone call to Libya's interim leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil.

Marzouki congratulated the president of the National Transitional Council "and all the Libyan people on the occasion of the elections that took place yesterday (Saturday) in an atmosphere that was mostly calm and saw a strong showing at the polling stations," his office said.

Tunisia on Thursday called for an urgent meeting of the Arab League and an international probe into the 2004 death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat over suggestions that he might have been poisoned.

"We call for an urgent meeting of Arab League foreign ministers and the creation of an international committee to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death" of Arafat, Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalem told private radio station Mosaique FM.

The independent Tunisian authority charged with reforming the media announced on Wednesday that it had shut down after failing to achieve its objective, accusing the Islamist-dominated government of censorship.

"The body does not see the point in continuing its work and announces that it has terminated its work," said Kamel Labidi, who heads the National Body for the Reform of Information and Communication (INRIC).