The regional dimension. A keystone of North Africa is again in crisis. On July 25, Tunisia’s President Kais Saied dismissed Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi, suspended the parliament and ended immunity or parliamentarians and officials, whom he threatened to put on trial for corruption. He also deployed troops in the capital. On one level, the move by Saied is a move against the Islamist Ennahda party, which holds the most seats in the parliament and is associated with the Muslim Brotherhood. The action by Saied and the military is therefore perceived, at a regional level, as a blow against Turkey, Qatar and Libya, whose governments are considered close to the Brotherhood. The buzz is that Egypt, the UAE and Saudi Arabia are all in behind Saied’s actions against Ennahda.
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