Kais Saied Pursues his Authoritarian Measures
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Political Observation - Kais Saied Pursues his Authoritarian Measures
President of the Tunisian republic Kais Saied announced few days ago that the Supreme Judicial Council was a thing of the past. This decision, which he announced from the headquarters of the interior ministry, was seconded by a host of measures such as closing down the Council’s building, placing security forces at its entrance and preventing its members from entering. Although such undertaking among others was expected by observers of the Tunisian political scene, its impact however was severe on domestic opponents of his constitutional coup, especially members of the Assembly of the People's Representatives who have been subjected to his arbitrary measures since 25 July 2021 and who have been hoping to widen the scope of opponents to the president via some activities and events such as establishing the “Citizens Against the Coup” front and staging street protests. In the protest, in Mohammed V Boulevard on 13 February, one of the deputies of the al-Karama coalition announced that those who supported the president in his coup from among security personnel, military officers or guards would be called to account, irrespective of whether parliament resumed its functions or not. Such scenario suggests that the US has been exerting pressure on President Kais Saied and intimidating the Francophone forces who are still dwelling in the pockets of the security and military institutions in North Africa. It also reflects a host of regional and international pledges to the Tunisian opposition forces to reinforce their containment of the mainstream public opinion amidst the endeavours to reproduce the political scene and marginalise the option of the” Islamists” and their role in it. President Kais Saied continues to execute such measures to which the US and her agents in Egypt, Algeria and the Emirates are not objecting. Other indications reflecting this scenario have come in the shape of an imminent visit to Tunisia by a European Parliament delegation to meet the speaker of the parliament whose competencies have been suspended for about seven months; such a move is politically viewed as direct support for the president’s opponents. Moreover, several reports have been published by some newspapers and research centres inciting the US administration and warning against the excessive measures of the Tunisian President such as the report compiled by the Washington Post’s Editor-in-Chief in which he said America should not remain idle towards what was occurring in Tunisia. He also mentioned that Joe Biden had pledged to support democracy in Tunisia when he was Obama’s vice-president and met former President Caid Essebsi and concluded with him several agreements such as considering Tunisia as a non-NATO partner.
President Kais Saied for his part is attempting to muster domestic support and appease the anxieties of the US regarding the infiltration of the Francophone forces within the presidential office by fulfilling the demands of some of his entourage who are at odds with each other, such as the tiff between the interior minister and his family with Kais Saied’s chief of staff Nadia Akasha, which ended in her dismissal according to the official communiqué, or her resignation as per her announcement on social media before leaving the country for France. Kais Saied is also attempting to strengthen his standpoints through some of his supporters in the judiciary and official circles, and the abolishment of the Judicial Council was carried out in this context. As for his foreign relations, he met with the French treasury chief following an unannounced visit to France, according to public sources, while Tunisia’s interior minister met the French ambassador and signed an agreement to restore the Franco-Tunisian security committee. This came after Kais Saied had launched a scathing attack on the G7 foreign ministers in response to their apprehensions vis-à-vis his decision to dissolve the Supreme Judicial Council. All these moves were designed to alleviate France’s security concerns, which constitute her major nightmare in North Africa, following her successive losses in Libya and Chad, as well as her decision to withdraw from Mali recently.
We deduce from the aforementioned that the sole foreign backer of President Kais Saied is France, despite America’s decision to contain him and direct him through her agents in Egypt and the UAE in order to control his movements and implicate him from time to time. However, each time he carries out a new undertaking, he widens the circle of his opponents and generates the conditions, especially in the midst of the economic crisis, astronomical price increase, lack of basic commodities and the dwindling of his popularity among the masses, for the imposing of fresh foreign dictates ahead of the negotiations with the IMF, whose provisions have always been harsh; this will compel him to carry out a host of painful reforms which will eventually pave the way for discarding him once he has been exhausted in serving the colonialists’ designs.
We have time and time again warned of the collaborating political milieu in the Muslims’ lands in our political observations on the situation in Tunisia, which, more than ten centuries ago, represented the platform of conquests towards Spain, Italy and East and Central Africa, and which deserves, together with her men, a political milieu emanating from the willpower of the masses that expresses the Aqeedah of this Ummah. It will also be befitting for such a milieu to abolish the current feuding political milieu which has been jostling to serve the Kafir West and enable it to plunder the riches of the land and disfigure the psyche of the servants with its corrupt materialistic culture, which is set to corrupt our children and future generations. Our Lord the Almighty has forbidden us from following all what those profligates are calling us for in terms of debauchery and decadence, referring our affairs to the rules of kufr and Taghut, and being loyal to the Kuffar. Allah the Almighty has commanded us to obey him, individuals and groups alike, and He has promised us the bliss of the two lives, provided we adhere to the righteous and straight path and we hold on to His Book and the Sunnah of His noble Messenger who was sent as a mercy to humankind.
“So let those who would go against His bidding beware, lest a trial befall them, or grievous suffering befall them.” [an-Nour-63]
15 Rajab 1443h
16 February 2022
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