US pushes Tunisia to return to “Democratic Path”

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Saturday urged Tunisia to return back to Democratic roots after Tunisian President Kais Saied sent the Prime Minister and his Parliament packing for failing to curb the COVID-19 outbreak and governing poorly. He invoked a national emergency on July 25 and removed Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi from office.

Tunisia is now under executive control and the Parliament has been frozen for 30 days, indefinitely in reality as no one knows when the executive branch will allow it to run.

The White House has released a statement saying NSA Jake Sullivan had an hour long discussion with the Tunisian President conveying President Biden’s support for the people of Tunisia and for strong Tunisian Democratic values and rule of law. In the statement, he also urged the Tunisian leaders to sort all issues and return back to Tunisia’s Democratic path.

“In an hour-long discussion, he conveyed President Biden’s strong support for the people of Tunisia and for Tunisian democracy based on fundamental rights, strong institutions, and a commitment to the rule of law. In this spirit, the call focused on the critical need for Tunisian leaders to outline a swift return to Tunisia’s democratic path. National Security Advisor Sullivan underscored that this will require rapidly forming a new government, led by a capable prime minister to stabilize Tunisia’s economy and confront the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as ensuring the timely return of the elected parliament.”

Since the call, the opposition lawmakers have been jailed in Tunisia and over 400 businessmen have been targeted in a crackdown. The Tunisian President has also shown interest to investigate the alleged illegal funding of political parties which experts fear would be exploited to detain adversaries and silence all opposition.

The people or opposition Political party Ennahdha’s supporters were protesting outside the Parliament against the President were soon involved in a clash with the President’s supporters and the police soon managed to disperse the crowd but the unrest may grow further if the Opposition parties call for protests against the President.

World leaders are calling for peace and are pushing the Tunisian political leaders towards dialogue and a mutual understanding, fearing another late 2010 style Revolution that gave birth to the Arab Spring.