Why was the Tunisian ambassador to the UN recalled and removed from office?
Text by: Michel Picard Follow
The Tunisian ambassador to the UN has been recalled and removed from office. Diplomatic sources make the connection between the dismissal and the Palestinian draft resolution condemning the US peace plan for the Middle East. In Tunis, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs denies American pressure and says that it is "only professional considerations".
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Read moreFrom our correspondent in Tunis,
A recognized diplomat, Moncef Baati was retired when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked him last year to occupy the seat of ambassador to the UN during Tunisia's presence in the Security Council. He was to represent the Arab countries there for two years. According to some sources, Tunis is said to have yielded to American pressure on the Israeli-Palestinian question.
However, Tunisia's support "for the Palestinian liberation movement" is written in the preamble to the Tunisian Constitution. And the head of state, on the evening of his election last October, had spoken of "just causes", citing "first the Palestinian cause".
In November, after Israeli strikes on Gaza , students from all Tunisian schools observed a minute of silence, greeting the Tunisian and Palestinian flags in solidarity.
The Tunisian state, since 1948, does not recognize the state of Israel. If some sources say that the ambassador to the UN would have paid a high price to bring too much support to the Palestinians, other sources evoke internal struggles to push towards the exit of the members of the previous team.
In the fall, the new president Kaïs Saied regained control of Tunisian diplomacy. The minister at the time, Khemaies Jhinaoui, had left office. It was he who had called Moncef Baati to sit in New York.
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