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Tunisia interior minister's resignation proves gov't is crumbling, opposition says

March 20, 2023 at 9:29 am

Former Tunisian Interior Minister Taoufik Charfeddine [Yassine Gaidi/Anadolu Agency]

One of the main pillars of the Tunisian regime has fallen as a result of increased pressure on  the government at home and abroad and its failures to date, the National Salvation front said on Saturday, following the sudden resignation of the interior minister.

Taoufik Charfeddine announced his resignation from the position on Friday evening with the approval of President Kais Saied, attributing his decision to: “Family and personal reasons… I have to take care of my son after the death of my wife [in June 2022].”

In response to the news, the Salvation Front said: “Taoufik Charfeddine represented the spearhead of the regime in the face of the escalation of voices opposing the coup and took responsibility for the employment of security services in the political conflict between the regime and its opponents, and his speeches and statements were characterised by sharp attacks on them to the point of accusing them of treason.”

This, it said, “prompted the European Parliament to hold him personally responsible for the deterioration of the situation of freedoms in the country and demand to cut cooperation with the ministries of justice and interior.”

The resounding fall of one of the pillars of the regime indicates that the coup is suffering from unrest and government instability, as well as the intensification of its internal and external isolation.

“The appointment of the governor of Tunisia to succeed Charfeddine at the head of the interior ministry indicates that the regime has not drawn any lesson from its failure and that it continues to run forward in the face of the raging political and social crises, continuing in the discourse of division and betrayal and in the emphasis on the suppression of freedoms,” it added.

The front concluded: “Charfeddine’s fall is an indication of the inadequacy of the policy of repression and the threat of it and the inevitable end of all tyrants.”

The presidency appointed Governor of Tunis, Kamal Feki, as Charfeddine’s successor.

READ: Tunisia interior minister resigns