Tunisian Foreign Minister Ahmed Ounaiss steps down

PanARMENIAN.Net - Tunisian Foreign Minister Ahmed Ounaiss has resigned, the state news agency reported on February 13, 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.

Hundreds of workers at the Tunisian foreign ministry began a strike early last week in protest at the minister's praise of Alliot-Marie, which they said showed a lack of respect for the Tunisian revolution, Reuters reported.

Weeks of protests in Tunisia, during which dozens of people were killed by police, forced Ben Ali to flee to Saudi Arabia after 23 years of authoritarian rule.