TUNIS – Tunisian Foreign Minister Ahmed Ounaiss has resigned, the state news agency reported on Sunday, a week after he became embroiled in a row over compliments he paid to his French opposite number. The resignation is likely to cause new disruption to a coalition government which has already seen several ministers resign or be fired since it stepped in to fill the vacuum left by last month’s overthrow of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.
Many Tunisians were angered when Ounaiss said he had always dreamed of meeting French Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, who is accused by opponents in France of being too close to Tunisia’s ousted administration. Ounaiss had been in his post for less than three weeks. The state-run TAP news agency cited a foreign ministry statement announcing that he had stepped down, but did not say why or who would replace him.
