UAE-backed coup attempt in Tunisia foiled: report

A UAE-backed coup attempt to seize power in Tunisia and depose the country’s democratically-elected ruling Ennahda Party was foiled with the help of French, German and Algerian intelligence units, according to a report by French publication Mondafrique.

UAE intelligence services held a meeting with former Tunisian Minister of Interior Lotfi Ibrahim on May 29 in Tunisia’s Djerba Island after attending last month’s Libya conference in Paris.

According to the report, the concocted roadmap involved removing 91-year-old Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi from power citing poor health upon obtaining a doctor’s report, in a move that resembled the deposing of founding leader Habib Bourguiba following Tunisia’s independence.

According to the roadmap reached during the meeting, Tunisia’s former Zain Alabideen-era Defense Minister Kamel Morjane would replace Prime Minister Chahed after his sacking, however, it is said that this plan was rejected by Essebsi.

Tunisian Interior Minister Lotfi Ibrahim was sacked by Prime Minister Youssef Chahed after dozens of illegal immigrants died after their ship drowned in open waters near Kerkennah Island on June 3.

Ibrahim’s UAE-supported coup plan was foiled with the help of French, Algerian and German intelligence units.

The UAE, which had supplied the Fetullah Terror Organization (FETÖ) with three billion dollars prior to the July 15 coup attempt in Turkey, is responsible, under the tutelage of Israel, for meddling in several Muslim countries such as Somalia and Syria to incite chaos.