Tunisian president names ally as new inside minister

Former Tunis governor Kamal Feki was given the put up, days after mass opposition protests came about within the nation.

Tunisian President Kais Saied has named Kamal Feki as his new inside minister, hours after Taoufik Charfeddine resigned from the put up amid a crackdown on distinguished opposition figures.

Saied issued two decrees on Friday, the primary eradicating Charfeddine and a second appointing Feki, the previous governor of Tunis, as head of the Ministry of Interior, the presidency stated in a press launch in a single day.

Feki, one among Saied’s staunchest supporters, refused to grant a protest allow to the opposition Salvation Front coalition, saying that its leaders had been concerned in plotting towards state safety. However, the Interior Ministry allowed them to protest.

A former lawyer, Charfeddine was a key determine within the election marketing campaign that propelled the beforehand little-known Saied to the presidency in 2019.

He was seen as one of many closest Tunisian officers to the president however had in latest months appeared much less often in public.

Speaking to reporters in feedback broadcast on native media, Charfeddine referred to the demise of his spouse final 12 months and his must take care of his kids.

Saied has taken rising management over safety forces since July 2021 when he dismissed the federal government of the nation’s former prime minister Hichem Mechichi. Saied shut down the parliament and moved to rule by decree earlier than writing a brand new structure that he handed final 12 months.

Charfeddine had additionally served as inside minister beneath Mechichi, who sacked him in January 2021 as relations between the president and prime minister broke down. Saied reappointed him after dismissing Mechichi and seizing most powers.

Crackdown

Over latest weeks, Tunisian authorities have arrested distinguished opposition figures who accuse Saied of a coup, charging them with conspiring towards state safety.

Police have additionally carried out a crackdown on African refugees missing residence permits, with rights teams accusing them of detaining a whole bunch and turning a blind eye to racist assaults.

Last month, Charfeddine was at Saied’s facet as Tunisia confronted a global outcry over a tirade by the president towards unlawful refugees from sub-Saharan Africa.

“There is no question of allowing anyone in an illegal situation to stay in Tunisia,” the president stated in one among his videotaped conferences with the minister.

“I will not allow the institutions of the state to be undermined or the demographic composition of Tunisia to be changed.”