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Tunisia's problems grow worse while Kais Saied avoids public

When President Kais Saied reappeared recently after a two-week absence, he addressed a country whose political, economic and immigration woes grow steadily more intractable.

Tunisia
Supporters of Tunisia's National Salvation Front and leaders of political parties chant slogans against the country's President Kais Saied during a demonstration in front of the Tunis Courthouse to demand the release of political prisoners, on March 30, 2023. — SOFIENE HAMDAOUI/AFP via Getty Images

On April 4, after a nearly two-week public absence, Tunisian President Kais Saied reappeared on screen. Speaking in a hoarse voice and with a pallid face, he cursed his opponents who had questioned his absence in a country that now largely relies on a one-man power.

Tens of those dissidents are being investigated for supposed “contacts with foreign diplomats,” and many have been detained, after a number of judges were dismissed and the courts increasingly came under presidential influence.  

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