Ghannouchi: We waived authority to avoid a civil war 

The head of Ennahda Movement in Tunisia, Rached Ghannouchi, has said that his party waived its right to authority in 2013 to help Tunisia avoid a civil war, Arabi21 has reported. He noted that the opposition is relying on the people to end the “coup” of President Kais Saied.

“Tunisia was on the verge of a civil war after the ominous Egyptian coup, and the Constituent Assembly of Tunisia was suspended,” explained Ghannouchi at a party meeting in the northern city of Bizerte. “I met with the late Beji Caid Essebsi, the then President of the Nidaa Tounes Party, which was at odds with Ennahda. Nevertheless, we met in Paris and this meeting paved the way for the national dialogue that saved the country in 2013.”

The national dialogue failed, he said, when the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT) excluded Ennahda in a similar dialogue in January of the same year. When Ennahda was excluded, the UGTT’s dialogue did not succeed.

“Ennahda waived authority for the sake of the constitution and social peace. Although the past ten years, which they call the black decade were not years of economic prosperity, no shortage of oil and sugar was recorded [unlike today under Kais Saied].” The veteran politician asserted that economic progress needs political stability. “The solution to the current political crisis in Tunisia begins with toppling Saied’s ‘coup’.”

He pointed out that the National Salvation Front, of which Ennahda is the most prominent member, is working to resist the course that the Tunisian president is taking. The intention, said Ghannouchi, is to pave the way for the return of democracy to the country.

“The meeting of the opposition groups, the pressure of the economic situation on people and external developments are all factors that will put pressure on Kais Saied,” added Ghannouchi. “Likewise, foreign parties are now putting pressure on Saied to return to democracy and reopen parliament, but they have not yet reached the extent of describing what happened as a coup. There is also external interference that has taken away the country’s ability for independent decision-making.”

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