“Full consonance of views” on the situation in Tunisia was expressed in a phone call between the Foreign Minister, Luigi Di Maio and the French colleague, Yves Le Drian. According to what the Farnesina in a tweet, the two ministers “advocated the respect for the rule of law and the return to normal functioning of institutions to respond to the health, economic and social crisis“.
Di Maio and Le Drian therefore expressed “a common commitment to support stability”.
In Tunis Ennahda, objective of the institutional clash opened by the Tunisian president, Kais Saied, gives up calling the square and opens up to dialogue. The moderate Islamist party, however, ends up in the crosshairs of the judiciary, which is investigating it for illicit funding.
The scuffles of last Monday in front of the Parliament between Saied sympathizers and Ennahda supporters remained an isolated episode.
Moderate Islamists have toned down and their spokesperson, Sana Mersni, he reiterated his willingness to consider the crisis closed if they are called early parliamentary and presidential elections.
However, the intentions of Saied are not yet clear, who last Sunday assumed executive power, suspended the activity of Parliament for 30 days and dismissed the premier. Hichem Mechichi and the president of the hemicycle, Rached Ghannouchi, leader of Ennahda.
On Tuesday, Ghannouchi said he was ready to mobilize his faction but Saied’s threat to react with a “hail of bullets” to any riots seems to have been acknowledged.
The president has not yet appointed the new premier who should assist him in government activity but has continued to take out the officials he considers an obstacle. After the ministers of Justice and Defense, Saied has removed by decree about twenty high offices among which the attorney general Tawfiq al Ayouni, the general secretary of the government Walid al Dhahabi, the head of cabinet Al Muizz and numerous advisers of Mechichi stand out.
In Tunis, the situation appears calm. The curfew from 19 to 6, which should have expired today, has not yet been revoked. Army vehicles guard the central Avenue Bourghiba, overlooked by some of the main institutional buildings, ready to quell possible unrest.
The conciliatory attitude of Ennahda it gives a measure of how weak the party that was the main target of the demonstrations that preceded the president’s coup d’état last Sunday is perceived.
A return to the polls could reserve nasty surprises for the Islamists, who currently control about a quarter of the seats but are identified as the main culprits of the political paralysis that prevented the government from responding adequately to the Covid-19 epidemic, which has caused 18,000 deaths in a country of 11 million inhabitants, and its economic consequences, with the closure of tourist flows that caused unemployment to explode, especially among young people.
For this Saied, in addition to the support of the army, can also count on the support of the trade unions, which have channeled the anger of thousands of unemployed citizens.
In addition to popular discontent, Ennahda is now facing the investigation into illegal foreign funding opened by the Tunis court of first instance, which also involved Qalb Tounes, a lay ally in Parliament, and Ayich Tounes, a party founded in 2018 by the philanthropist Olfa Terras. The spokesman for the court, Mohsen Dali, assured that the investigations, which concern some contracts with “lobbies and pressure groups”, had been opened on 14 July and reiterated the independence of the judiciary.
Saida Ounissi, a parliamentarian from Ennahda, confirmed that the conclusion of the investigation was notified days ago but said that the news was released to stage a media trial.
Although Ennahda has formally severed the ancient ties with the Muslim Brothers, Ghannouchi has always remained very close to the great sponsors of this organization, namely the Turkey and Qatar.
The evacuation, last Monday, of the Tunisian branch of the Qatari television Al Jazeera appears, from this point of view, as more than a clue.
The activity of the investigators does not appear destined to stop here. Nabil Karoui, the television tycoon in charge of Qalb Tounes, has several proceedings open for financial crimes, some of which have cost him several times precautionary detentions.
In the past few hours, the home of Rached Kiari, a parliamentarian who is a member of the Islamist Karama movement who claims to be in possession of documents that would prove illicit funding received, in turn, by Saied. With the suspension of parliamentary immunity decided by the president, who said he was determined to eradicate the corruption that plagues Tunisian politics, the judges have a lot of room for maneuver.
Saied therefore appears to have an ally who could allow him to clean up his opponents without resorting to force.
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