Tunisia’s President risks ‘Assad-style’ end, warns US congressman

The heightening tension between Tunisia’s President and the country’s largest union has led to a US congressman warning that the President could meet a fate similar to that of Syria’s Basha al-Assad.

According to The New Arab, a South Carolina Republican, Joe Wilson, has weighed in on the hostile relations between President Kais Saied and the UGTT union in Tunisia. On August 28th, he criticised Saied for alleged corruption, economic mismanagement, suppression of freedoms, and turning Tunisia into “the laughing stock of the Middle East,” despite Tunisia being in North Africa.

“War Criminal Putin and Iran won’t save you [Kais Saied] from your people – don’t forget what happened to Assad!” He wrote in a post on X.

Wilson is a strong supporter of Israel, and was involved in shaping US policy towards Syria. In 2023, he introduced H.R. 3202, the “Assad Regime Anti-Normalization Act of 2023.” This extended the Caesar sanctions against the Syrian government until 2032. The Caesar Act was passed in 2019 by US President Donald Trump in his first term, and imposed these sanctions using evidence given by First Lieutenant Farid Al-Madhhan. Al-Madhhan was the head of the Forensic Evidence Department of the Military Police in Damascus, and the whistleblower of the Assad Regime. He fled Syria with 54,000 pictures of the Regime’s victims of torture and murder torture and murder in 2014. This was the evidence used to pass the Caesar Act.

The Assad Regime Anti-Normalization Act additionally prevented the US from recognising or dealing with Ba’athist Syria. After the fall of the Assad regime, Wilson visited Syria, before calling for the lifting of sanctions related to the economy, investment, and reconstruction.

Wilson’s statement was quickly condemned by several political actors in Tunisia, including critics of Saied. Many Tunisian MPs described his comments as “blatant interference,” accusing him of promoting a colonial mindset. They produced a joint statement regarding this, which stressed that Tunisia’s rights and democratic issues are a domestic matter. The statement also urged all political forces to defend national sovereignty.

The Popular Current, Tunisia Forward, and other political parties have denounced Wilson’s remarks as part of an intentional campaign to destabilise the country. 

Wilson later made another post on X that urged the Tunisian state to stop benefiting from US security funding. This totalled around $45 million in 2024. In July, he threatened to push for cuts in funding for Tunisia in an upcoming congressional legislation. 

He has opposed Saied for a long time, with his initial post in response to the current protests in Tunisia by the UGTT. The UGTT has been engaged in an escalating conflict with President Saied. Although the UGTT has criticised Saied for his exclusion of political dialogue, they have aligned on economic policies. The UGTT’s leader, Noureddine Taboubi, backed Saied’s decision regarding the President’s rejection of IMF conditions tied to Tunisia’s loan requests in 2024.

The New Arab, Maghrebi.org