Tunisians excoriate provocative Nicholas Sarkozy

Visiting the Bardo Museum on Monday in Tunis as part of a visit to Tunisia, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy hit the sensitivity and pride of the Algerians. He spoke during a press briefing there of the geographical situation of Tunisia, which would not be foreign to the recent tragic events that have marked the country.

“Tunisia’s border with Algeria, with Libya is not new, you do not choose your location …”, said the former French head of state. “What will Algeria be in the future? From its development, its location?”, he added.

The little phrase shamelessly dropped by the leader of the French Republican party went very badly with the Algerians. Shocked or outraged, Internet users spoke of a real “drift” by the provocative and impolite Sarkozy.

Most Tunisians including several political leaders have dubbed Sarkory’s provocative statement as totally unacceptable stressing that the latter was seeking to create a rift in the exemplary relations of cooperation and brotherhood between Algeria and Tunisia.

For his part, Mr Rahabi Abdelaziz, former Algerian Minister of Culture and Communication was outraged.

“These are words that are totally  inappropriate from a former president who is known in the bilateral relations file not to have complied with many of his formal pledges vis-à-vis Algeria and especially to have launched this famous slogan on “repentance”, Rahabi  lambasted against Sarkozy’s provocative statement in a press interview Tuesday with a local media outlet.

Nicolas Sarkozy, President of Republicans (ex UMP, French right) and candidate for the primaries of the right wing party for the 2017 presidential elections, was visiting Tunisia after travelling to Morocco.

During his Tunisia trip, which was designed to restore his lame reputation and place himself as first opponent of the current French President, Francois Hollande in the next elections, Sarkozy has once again shown his lack of tact and diplomacy, attacking frontally Algeria.

At the press briefing, Sarkozy began by defending the French military intervention in Libya and continued by commenting on the geographical position of Tunisia considering it as “wedged”, as he put it, between Algeria and Libya.

Statements that strongly infuriated the Internet users, both South and North of the Mediterranean basin.

But for those who have short memories, some Internet users were quick to recall the total support extended by Sarkozy to former autocratic Tunisian president Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali during the popular uprising of 2010-2011 in Tunisia and Sarkozy’s deep involvement in the Libyan chaos and turmoil.