The President of Tunisia, Kais Saied is now a serious target of ‘serious threats’, the interior ministry cried out on Friday, barely 11 months since the head seized power through a dramatic coup.
‘According to credible information and investigations still, underway, the president of the republic and the presidency as an institution are the target of serious threats,’ spokeswoman Fadhila Khelifi told journalists.
‘There is a plan by groups both at home and abroad to target the security of the president” and to “damage state security and create chaos’ in the North African country, she said.
She, however, declined to provide more details on the threats or their origin.
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Ahmed Nejib Chebbi, a prominent left-wing politician and key Saied opponent, cast doubt over the claims.
‘This is just to justify new arrests and to take revenge against his rivals,’ Chebbi told reporters.
‘The president is politically isolated and is trying to stir up public sympathy.’
Saied sacked the government and suspended parliament 11 months ago, later extending his powers over the judiciary and moving to change the constitution in a decisive blow to the only democracy to emerge from the Arab Spring uprisings.
Africa Today News, New York gathered that some Tunisians have welcomed his moves against a system seen as corrupt and unable to tackle the country’s deep social and economic issues.
But opponents, notably the Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party, have condemned his moves as a coup.
Tunisia’s main trade union confederation on Thursday intensified pressure on a President already facing a string of crises as the country went to a standstill.
Africa Today News, New York gathered that in the North Flights were cancelled, public transport brought to a halt, and government offices were closed in a nationwide strike.
The powerful UGTT confederation had brought up to three million public sector workers to strike, halting work at 159 state agencies and public companies which were aimed at demanding concessions on salaries and threatened reforms.