Tunisia summons US charge d’affaires

Tunisia has summoned US charge d’affaires Natasha Franceschi in protest at Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s criticism of Tunis’s draft constitutional referendum.

In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tunisia said Blinken’s remarks contradict the principles of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

Foreign Minister Othman Jerandi slammed the “unacceptable interference in internal national affairs” and expressed “amazement” at the US officials’ criticism, which he said did not “at all reflect the reality of the situation in Tunisia”.

A few hours earlier, Jerandi had met with President Kais Saied, who expressed his “rejection of any form of interference in the internal affairs of the country”.

This comes after voters in a referendum in the country overwhelmingly backed a new constitution giving Saied nearly total powers.

E.M