Tunisia’s post-revolution political
alliance faced its deepest crisis yet Monday after the Islamist prime
minister ignored the president’s opposition to the extradition of a
former top Libyan official.
President Moncef Marzouki was furious
that Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali ordered the transfer to Libya of
Moamer Kadhafi’s last prime minister, Baghdadi al-Mahmudi, without his
consent.
Marzouki has always opposed the
extradition, arguing Libya’s new regime offered insufficient guarantees
of a fair trial, and was in southern Tunisia Sunday for an official
ceremony when Jebali ordered the move.
Marzouki, a veteran human rights activist, did not sign the extradition
order and found out about Mahmudi’s transfer through the media, his
adviser said.
The presidency “considers this decision
is illegal, all the more so because it has been done unilaterally and
without consulting the president of the republic,” a statement from
Marzouki’s office said.
“The extradition decision, signed by the
head of the Tunisian government, constitutes a clear violation of our
country’s international commitments and those towards the UN,” the
statement added.
The virulence of the humiliated
Marzouki’s statement revealed the uneasy nature of his alliance with
Jebali’s Ennahda (Renaissance) party, which won Tunisia’s post-uprising
polls in October 2011.
The Islamist movement won the most votes
in the election for the constituent assembly but had to form an
alliance with other leading parties.
A power-sharing deal handed the prime
minister’s job to Ennahda, the presidency to Marzouki’s Congress for the
Republic (CPR) and the post of parliament speaker to Mustapha Ben
Jaafar, who heads the leftist Ettakatol.
Marzouki has tried to retain control of
Tunisia’s foreign policy in recent months but the row over Mahmudi’s
extradition illustrated how little sway he really holds.
“Mr. Mahmudi’s extradition is a matter
pertaining to Tunisia’s foreign policy and this field is part of the
presidency’s prerogatives,” Marzouki’s statement said.
But Tunisia’s three-way power deal is
not an even split and Jebali, Tunisia’s real boss, had warned earlier
this month that Mahmudi’s fate was for the judiciary to decide and did
not require presidential approval.
Marzouki’s camp was in combative mood
Sunday and threatened to take the matter to the constitutent assembly,
the interim body tasked with preparing fresh polls and drafting a new
constitution.
But the political leaderships of Tunisia’s governing troika agreed to meet Monday in a bid to defuse the row.
“There was disagreement but it should
not be blown out of proportion,” Abdelwahab Maattar, an MP fropm
Marzouki’s party, told AFP.
“Is it really in our interest now,
considering the situation the country is in, to start a new crisis? The
president is legitimately furious but we need to take it on the chin and
preserve the troika.”
“Let’s not escalate the situation,”
Ennahda spokesman Nejib Gharbi. “I don’t think the troika’s future is at
risk. It’s a strategic alliance.”
Recent religious tensions in Tunisia
have also rattled the alliance, with Ennahda often accused of not taking
a tough enough line against Salafist groups pushing for a strict
implementation of sharia.
Political analyst Ahmed Manai predicted
that the affront to Marzouki would leave scars but also argued that the
alliance would survive the incident.
“The damage here is mainly to Mocef
Marzouki himself and his standing. He knows he owes Ennahda everything,
he knows that his political future depends on them and he cannot afford
to confront them,” he said.
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