Former Tunisian Diplomats Outraged by Saied’s Reception of Separatists’ Chief

Former Tunisian diplomats denounced the reception of the leader of the “polisario” separatists by Tunisian President Kais Saied, calling it a “flagrant attack on diplomatic constants” and the privileged relations linking Tunisia to Morocco. These former diplomats spoke out against the hostile approach of the Tunisian president, which is detrimental to the stability of the Maghreb region. According to Tunisia’s Former Foreign Minister, Ahmed Wanis, the act of the Tunisian president is an “error that could have been avoided.” The responsibility of Tunisia during TICAD was not limited to its status as a host country, insofar as it belongs to the greater Maghreb region and shares a common past, present and future with the countries of the region, the former head of Tunisian diplomacy was quoted as saying by local media. “Tunisia was aware of the position of Japan, which explicitly refused the participation of the separatist entity,” as evidenced by various correspondences, he noted. The same is true for the former Tunisian diplomat, Elyes Kasri, who described the president’s act at TICAD 8 as a “miscalculation” leading to “further destabilization” of the Maghreb region. It is undeniable that the reception with great fanfare of the leader of the “polisario” militia separatists “was at best a miscalculation and at worst an additional destabilization of the Maghreb sub-region,” Kasri said in an op-ed published by “Kapitalis” news site. After the departure of the Japanese and African delegations, “we ended up, by miscalculation and a failure of diplomacy and protocol, in a serious escalation with Morocco that will accentuate the instability of the Maghreb region and exacerbate the international isolation of Tunisia,” he deplored.