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Tunisian President Kais Saied yesterday rejected financial support announced by the European Union in September, saying the amount is small and goes against a deal signed three months ago, Reuters reported. Saied’s move could undermine the “strategic partnership” from July that includes measures on combating human traffickers and tightening borders, and which came during a […]
Posts Tagged ‘Tunisia’
Tunisia intercepts 426 illegal migration attempts in 13 days
September 30th, 2023 
Awake Goy Tunisian authorities announced on Friday the blocking of 426 illegal migration attempts through maritime and ground terminals in 13 days, Anadolu Agency reported. On Facebook, the Administration of the National Guard Units posted a statement that the operations took place between 15 and 28 September. “Some 7,756 people were detained after crossing the borders, including […]
Tunisia: Conference participation of Israel professor sparks widespread controversy
September 30th, 2023 Awake Goy The President of Tunisia’s University of Sfax Abdel Wahed Al-Makni on Friday clarified the controversy surrounding the participation of an Israeli professor in a scientific conference it organised a year ago. Al-Makni explained that the professor’s participation in September 2022 was part of preparations for holding a symposium titled “Meetings of Francophone Sociology”, organised by […]
Posted in Middle East, News 
Tags: conference, israel, participation, Professor, sparks, Tunisia, widespread 
No Comments »Tunisia detains cartoonist over drawings mocking prime minister
September 22nd, 2023 Awake Goy Tunisia’s public prosecutor yesterday detained the cartoonist Tawfiq Omrane over drawings mocking the prime minister, Omrane’s lawyer said, Reuters reported. Omrane is well known for publishing satirical cartoons featuring President Kais Saied, who seized almost all powers two years ago after he shut down Tunisia’s elected parliament in a move that the opposition described as […]
UNESCO designates Djerba, Tunisia as World Heritage Site
September 19th, 2023 Awake Goy The UN cultural agency, UNESCO, on Monday, added Tunisia’s Djerba Island to its list of World Heritage Sites, Anadolu Agency reports. In a statement, the Tunisian Culture Ministry said the resort island was voted to the list during the 45th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. The Ministry said […]
Tunisia thwarts 23 attempts to cross into Europe, rescues 650
September 15th, 2023 Awake Goy Tunisian authorities have thwarted 23 attempts by irregular migrants to cross the Mediterranean into Europe and rescued about 652 people off the coast of Sfax in one night, Anadolu reported. The Tunisian National Guard said in a statement yesterday that the National Guard Marine District in Sfax thwarted 23 attempts to cross the maritime borders into Europe. […]
Tunisia: National Journalists Syndicate denounces Saied’s ‘systematic media restrictions’
September 9th, 2023 Awake Goy The National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists on Friday denounced the authorities’ grip on the public media sector and the adoption of a policy of “systematic restrictions” and suppression of freedoms in a country undergoing a severe political crisis. President of the syndicate Yassin Al-Jelassi announced in a press conference: “There are cases of systematic censorship […]
Posted in News Tags: denounces, journalists, national, saied, syndicate, systematic, Tunisia No Comments »Tunisia heat wave hits wine output
September 8th, 2023 Awake Goy Tunisia’s blisteringly hot summer has hit Tunisia’s small wine industry, damaging or destroying grapes and leaving farmers and vintners to fear for their future as climate change brings hotter, drier weather to North Africa, Reuters reports. Estimates of how far wine output has fallen vary, from a roughly 20 per cent drop, according to the […]
Tunisia: Islamist political prisoners held in harsh conditions
August 1st, 2023 Awake Goy Political prisoners from the major Islamic political party in Tunisia, Ennahda, are facing "harsh conditions" in prison, their lawyers revealed on Monday. They made their comments during a press conference held by the National Salvation Front. The Front provides the main opposition to President Kais Saied, and the legal defence team for political prisoner Sayed […]
Tunisia, Saudi Arabia sign $500m loan deal
July 22nd, 2023 Awake Goy The governments of Tunisia and Saudi Arabia signed a soft loan agreement worth $400 million and a financial grant of $100 million offered by Riyadh to help mitigate Tunis' budget deficit. This came at a time when Tunisia is facing a budget deficit crisis and a decline in foreign investments. The Tunisian radio reported that […]
Posted in Middle East, News, russia, saudi-arabia, ukraine Tags: arabia, s500m, Saudi, Tunisia No Comments »Tunisia: democracy activists criticise Italian involvement
July 17th, 2023 Awake Goy The general coordinator of the Swiss Initiative to Support Democracy in Tunisia has criticised President Kais Saied and his involvement with the Italian government led by right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. "Meloni is only focusing on migration and is pushing Saied to play the role of a regional policeman to protect the Italian and EU […]
At least 15 migrants found dead off Tunisia’s coast
July 15th, 2023 Awake Goy The International Organization for Migration says 1,895 people have died or gone missing en route from northern Africa across the central Mediterranean this year. At least 15 migrants have been found dead off Tunisia’s coast and on its border with Algeria this week, authorities said on Friday. The deaths come as sub-Saharan Africans face increasing […]
Tunisia president threatens social media activists
July 13th, 2023 Awake Goy Tunisian President Kais Saied has called for an end to the “indecent assault and targeting of state apparatus” on social media, warning that activists could face prosecution. This came during a meeting held on Tuesday with Minister of Communication Technologies, Nizar Ben Neji, the presidency said in a statement. Saied criticised “the use of social […]
Tunisia’s President Stands Up for His Independence, Defying Western Pressure
July 4th, 2023 Awake Goy Tunisia is a nice little Arab Mediterranean country located in the very north of Africa (I know this well, for I was the Russian ambassador to Tunisia in the late twentieth century). Except for considerable phosphate reserves, there are hardly any minerals. Since gaining its independence in 1956, Tunisia has placed a strong emphasis on […]
Posted in Middle East Tags: defying, independence, president, pressure, stands, Tunisia, western No Comments »What connects Algeria, Russia and Tunisia?
June 30th, 2023 Awake Goy Tunisian President Kais Saied followed his friend, the Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune's visit to Moscow, and the manner in which Russian President Vladimir Putin received him, which indicated much respect and appreciation. Saied has had a strong relationship with Tebboune from the beginning, and the number of visits he made to Algeria is the greatest […]
Ex-Tunisia president calls for civil resistance to stop country’s slide into abyss
May 25th, 2023 Awake Goy Former Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki called on the Tunisian people to engage in “civil resistance” to put an end to the “absurdity” engulfing the country and the “accelerating slide towards the abyss”. In a post on Facebook, Marzouki said a black decade in Tunisia’s history began in July 2021 and not in 2011 as the […]
Tunisia: civil society groups call for president to end interference in judiciary
May 24th, 2023 Awake Goy Thirty-seven Tunisian and international civil society organisations have called for an end to the executive authority’s interference in the judiciary. Such interference, they point out, includes President Kais Saied’s order to dismiss 57 judges last year. The call has been made in a joint statement signed by the organisations, including Human Rights Watch, the Tunisian […]
Posted in News Tags: civil, groups, interference, judiciary, president, society, Tunisia No Comments »EU awaiting details behind Tunisia’s arrest of Ghannouchi
April 18th, 2023 Awake Goy The European Union said today that it is waiting for the issuance of official information about the reasons for the arrest of the head of the Ennahda Movement, Rashid Al-Ghannouchi, in Tunisia. In a statement the spokesperson of the European Union for the Middle East and North Africa region, Luis Miguel Bueno, said: "We are following with […]
Syria Foreign Minister visits Tunisia
April 18th, 2023 Awake Goy Syrian Foreign Minister, Faisal Mekdad, has arrived in Tunisia for a three-day visit, the Tunisian Foreign Ministry said, Anadolu News Agency reports. The Ministry said in a Monday statement that the visit comes "within the framework of keenness to restore bilateral relations to their normal track." The visit will be the first by a Syrian […]
Posted in Middle East, News, saudi-arabia, Syria Tags: foreign, Minister, Syria, Tunisia, visits No Comments »Blinken: Tunisia faces the ‘unknown’ if it does not reach an agreement with the IMF
March 23rd, 2023 Awake Goy Washington: US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, warned on Wednesday that Tunisia urgently needs to reach an agreement with the International Monetary Fund, after the European Union expressed concern about the deteriorating political and economic situation in this country. "The most important thing they can do in Tunisia, from an economic point of view, is […]
