The Carthage Eagles harried the visiting defence from the start, coming close to scoring four times before a foul on striker Ziad Jaziri by the Belarus goalkeeper in the 35th minute earned a penalty converted by Hamed Namouchi.

The 20,000-strong crowd only had to wait three minutes into the second half before striker Silva Dos Santos scored a second thanks to a precise pass from Riadh Bouazizi.

French coach Roger Lemerre brought off Jaziri and Dos Santos before Tunisia completed victory when Issam Jemaa took advantage of a defensive error in the last minute.

"I was pleasantly surprised by the liveliness of my players," Lemerre told reporters. "It was a good test to prepare for the World Cup."

The only sour note for the home team was the 88th-minute red card given to defender Karim Haggui for a second bookable offence.

Lemerre took Tunisia to the African Nations Cup for the first time in their history in 2004 and has said he hopes his team can reach the second round of the World Cup.

Success would help banish memories of his 2002 flop when in charge of world champions France.

Tunisia, the only North African representatives at the finals, will be making their fourth appearance after featuring in 1978, 1998 and 2002.

Tuesday's friendly was the first game of a mini-tournament pitting Tunisia against teams with styles similar to World Cup Group H opponents Saudi Arabia, Spain and Ukraine.

Tunisia next play Uruguay on June 2.