Tunisia fires UN envoy over draft response to US peace plan

  • 2020-02-08 15:26:23
Tunisia fired his ambassador to the United Nations after accusing him of not consulting the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on key issues, which diplomatic sources said included the controversial Middle East peace plan of US President Donal Trump. "The Tunisian ambassador to the United Nations has been fired for purely professional reasons with regard to his weak performance and lack of coordination with the ministry on important issues discussed at the UN," said a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Diplomatic sources believe that Ambassador Moncef Baati, who has held a seat on the UN Security Council since the beginning of the year, had gone beyond what President Kais Saied wanted in his criticisms of Trump's peace plan. Saied, a strange politician who took office in November after a surprise electoral victory, was worried that Baati's expressions of support for the Palestinians were at risk of damaging Tunisia's relations with the United States, sources said. "It was quite shocking to hear that. I don't know all the details, the reason behind this," Ambassador Marc Pecsteen of Buytswerve of Belgium, who occupies the rotating presidency of the Security Council, said about the dismissal. "He was a very good colleague and I am very sorry to see him leave." Another diplomat and member of the Security Council, who did not wish to be identified, said that Baati was "the right person,quot; to negotiate a resolution sought by the Palestinians. The rapid withdrawal of Baati to Tunisia meant that an information session was lost behind closed doors before the Security Council on Thursday by the architect of the American plan, Trump's adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner. The US plan proposes to allow Israel to annex all its illegal settlements, as well as the strategic Jordan Valley. The Palestinian Authority (PA) government wants an independent state in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East of Jerusalem – territories seized by Israel in the 1967 war. After the briefing, Kushner blamed the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, for an increase in violence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories since the plan was announced on January 28. Abbas "asks for days of anger in response and said even before seeing the plan," Kushner told reporters in New York. Abbas will appear at the UN next week to oppose the plan and demand adherence to international law. The Palestinian leadership hopes to press for a Security Council resolution that condemns Trump's plan, but almost any text will be vetoed by the United States. A veteran diplomat, Baati retired last year when asked to return to active duty and represent Tunisia at the UN.

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