Tunisian president’s aide-de-camp has resigned due to “fundamental differences” Politics News

Nadia Akacha has been described as the closest and most trusted adviser to President Saied.

Tunisia’s chief of staff and a close adviser to the country’s president, Nadia Akacha, have resigned because of “fundamental differences of opinion” over the country’s interests, social media reported.

“I decided to resign two years later … I am facing fundamental differences of opinion [Tunisia’s] I believe it is in my best interest and to withdraw my duty, ”he wrote on his Facebook page on Monday without comment.

There was no immediate comment or official confirmation of the presidential palace’s resignation.

A political source told Reuters that Akacha did not agree with Saied’s decision to force six senior security officials, including a former intelligence chief, to retire.

Tunisian government officials, foreign diplomats and former presidential staff have described Saied as the closest and most trusted adviser, and with whom he has a path to almost all relations.

He has been on Saied’s side since taking office in 2019 he assumed governmental powers in late July, when opponents declared it an “unconstitutional coup”.

He has denied allegations of coups d’état and has promised to defend the rights and freedoms of the 2011 Tunisian revolution, which led to the Arab Spring uprisings throughout the region.

Several other senior advisers also resigned from Saied’s job and were not replaced.

Saied’s acquisition of broad powers has undermined Tunisia’s decade-long democratic system and hampered the search for an international bailout plan for public finances.

The President has already launched an online public consultation writing a new constitution he said they would put it to a referendum, but did not bring any major political or civil society actors to the process.

Although his actions seemed to have widespread support among Tunisians who were initially tired of economic stagnation and political paralysis, political leaders have shown growing opposition and have also warned civil society groups to return to authoritarianism.

Major Western lenders, meanwhile, say in private that Saied is unlikely to get the international support needed to finance the budget and debt settlement without a more inclusive political vision or an open deal on economic reforms.

Tunisia’s economy continues to be plagued by pandemics, and the government, appointed by Saied in September, has announced an unknown budget for 2022.