The Tunisian presidency announced on Friday evening that President Kais Saied appointed the governor of the capital, Kamal al-Feki, as interior minister, instead of Taoufik Charafeddine, who was sacked from his post.
Charafeddine had announced hours earlier – in a press statement – that he had resigned from his post for family reasons, but the statement published by the official page of the Tunisian presidency explained that Saied issued an order to end his duties at the head of the Ministry of Interior.
"The Secretariat requires that I leave my post in the Ministry of Interior," the minister said before the presidential statement was issued, adding that the president understood his position.
Sharafeddine said he decided to resign to take care of his family after his wife died last year in a fire in his house caused by a gas leak.
The new interior minister, Kamel Feki, is a staunch supporter of President Kais Saied, who appointed him governor of Tunisia in late December 2021.
Prior to his appointment as governor of the capital, Feki was an official in the Tunisian Ministry of Finance and head of a union affiliated with the Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT).
Against the opposition
On several occasions, al-Feki has made anti-opposition positions, describing them in some statements as "immoral and weightless."
He also recently banned a demonstration by the opposition National Salvation Front on the grounds that some of its leaders were being detained on suspicion of "conspiring against state security," but the Interior Ministry allowed the demonstration to take place.
For his part, dismissed Interior Minister Tawfiq Sharafeddine was one of the pillars of President Kais Saied's 2019 election campaign, and since his reappointment to head the Interior Ministry in October 2021, he has played a key role alongside Saied.
The dismissed minister recently made statements in the city of Ben Guerdane (southeastern Tunisia) in which he attacked parties, unions and the media, which provoked internal reactions condemnation.
"Mercenary media men, businessmen sold the homeland, trade unionists sold the homeland, parties sold the homeland," he said at the time, adding that these "all allied against the Tunisian people, they are traitors."
Charafeddine took over the interior ministry in the government of former Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi, whom he dismissed in January 2021, at a time when relations between President Kais Saied and the prime minister deteriorated, and Saied reappointed Charafeddine after he dismissed Mechichi and took control of most of the powers in July 2021.