“I don’t want blood to be spilled like in 1984”

June 23 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The President of Tunisia, Kais Saied, met this Thursday in Paris with the director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, to whom he has “made it clear” that the body’s provisions are “unacceptable”, in reference to the ‘riots of bread’ from 40 years ago.

“The provisions of the IMF to provide financial support to Tunisia are unacceptable because they would affect civil peace, which is priceless,” said Said, according to a statement from the Tunisian Presidency, in which he recalled “what happened at the end of 1983 and early 1984 when hundreds of martyrs fell after announcing the lifting of subsidies on cereals and their derivatives”.

The withdrawal of subsidies caused a rise in the price of cereals, which led to protests in which dozens of civilians died.

“I will not accept that not a single drop of blood is spilled,” he stressed, while criticizing foreign agents who “do not know the Tunisian reality” and that the country cannot “accept recipes that are like putting a match next to to highly explosive materials”, according to the Shems FM radio station.

Tunisia is stuck in the final negotiations with the IMF to obtain an essential loan for a future recovery. According to the Fitch rating agency, the Tunisian government will need financing worth 16 percent of GDP in 2023 (about 7.5 billion euros) and 14 percent in 2024 (about 7.3 billion euros) “well above the average of 9 percent registered between 2015 and 2019”.

Fitch has pointed out “the failure” of the Tunisian authorities, led by Saied, “when it comes to putting into practice the program agreed with the IMF”, compliance with which is essential to obtain financing and guarantee this loan of 1,900 million dollars (1,764 million euros), such as the cut in public spending.

It should not be forgotten the enormous political crisis that the country is also going through since Saied decided to arrogate the powers of Parliament in July 2021 in what his critics directly describe as a self-coup. Since then, his opponents have denounced constant political persecution while NGOs accuse the president of encouraging a campaign of xenophobic violence against sub-Saharan migrants who use the country as a springboard to reach Europe.