Not a coup, Tunisia president declares with nation on edge
- Tunisian president responds to coup critiques, also sacks defence minister
- Country thrust into its it worst constitutional crisis since 2011 uprising
Tunisia’s president said his suspension of parliament and firing of the prime minister were to restore order and retake the country from “thieves”, dismissing claims he orchestrated a coup in the Arab spring’s birthplace.
Kais Saied’s comments – a staunch defence of his moves a day earlier – came as he ordered a 7pm to 6am curfew through August 27 and barred public gatherings for more than three people. The combined steps have rattled the nation’s already brittle democracy and thrust it into what may be its worst constitutional crisis since the 2011 uprising ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Explaining his reasoning, Saied said Tunisia had shifted from single-party rule to a one-lobby governance, accusing coalition parties of dividing the spoils. He dubbed them “thieves” and said he acted after his “patience had run out”.
“I am baffled by those who speak of a coup. I studied and taught the law and I know what a coup means – violating legitimacy,” he said in a Monday meeting with Tunisian representatives, a video of which was posted on his Facebook page. “I applied the constitution since conditions” for taking the decisions “were met”, he said.
Saied took action late Sunday after masses of mainly young people demonstrated in the capital, Tunis, and other cities calling for the fall of the government and railing against hardships caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The new movement restrictions, for which no official reason was given, will likely be taken as an attempt to quell any potential unrest from those opposed to his steps, including supporters of the moderate Islamist Ennahda Party, the biggest bloc in parliament.
Tunisia’s President Kais Saied ousts government. Critics call it a coup
The stakes are huge for Tunisia, a rare Arab democracy whose 2011 uprising unseated the country’s long-serving president and sparked unprecedented upheaval in the Middle East. Politics have been bitterly contested in the country ever since, and the current tensions hint at broader regional shifts at play. Since coming to power in 2019, Saied has forged stronger ties with Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, states with zero tolerance for Islamists.
In measured remarks, Saied on Monday accused politicians of “stealing billions off the sweat of the Tunisian people”.
“I reassure Tunisians that the state is still standing, and there will be no room for violating rights and freedoms or equality,” he said. “I also urge them not to take to the streets. The most serious threat confronting states and societies is an implosion or internal fighting.”
The president, who under the constitution controls the armed forces, warned his opponents against taking up arms, threatening that if anyone “fires a single bullet, our forces will respond with a rain of bullets”.
On Monday afternoon, the presidency announced the dismissals of Defence Minister Ibrahim Bartaji and Hasna Ben Slimane, the acting justice minister.
The call for calm was echoed by the international community, including by key regional actors, the United Nations and the Arab League. US officials expressed concern about the situation, while saying there’s been no determination whether the situation is a “coup”.
“We are in touch at a senior level from both the White House and the State Department with Tunisian leaders to learn more about the situation, urge calm and support Tunisian efforts to move forward in line with democratic principles,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.
US urges Tunisia to protect ‘nascent democracy’ after president sacks government
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken “urged President Saied to maintain open dialogue with all political actors and the Tunisian people,” according to a statement Monday from spokesman Ned Price.
Russia said it was monitoring the situation, while Turkey, where the government supports Ennahda, called for “democratic legitimacy” to be restored.
The crisis follows months of deadlock between the president, the premier and Ennahdha chief Rached Ghannouchi, which has crippled the country’s Covid response, as deaths have surged to one of the world’s highest per capita rates.
More than 18,000 people have died of coronavirus in a nation of 12 million.
Police also shuttered the local bureau of Qatari-based Al Jazeera television, the network’s Tunis director Lotfi Hajji said, warning that “what is happening is very dangerous, it is proof that freedom of the press is threatened”.
Media organisation Reporters Without Borders condemned the move, while Amnesty International called it a “deeply worrying precedent signalling that human rights are in danger”.
Saied’s power-grab sparked jubilant rallies late Sunday by supporters who flooded the streets of Tunis, waving the national flag and sounding their car horns as fireworks lit up the sky.
Sunday’s drama began with mass protests against the government for its failures in tackling the pandemic.
A senior Ennahdha official, speaking on condition of anonymity, alleged that the protests and subsequent celebrations were choreographed by Saied.
After Saied’s announcement, one jubilant supporter, Nahla, hailed the president’s “courageous decisions”.
But one man in his forties looked on without enthusiasm.
“These fools are celebrating the birth of a new dictator,” he said.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
