Tunisia President rejects foreign interference following US concerns

The President of Tunisia rejected “foreign interference and harm to the country’s sovereignty” on Thursday following the United States concerns over a recent wave of arrests of his critics.

“We are able to diagnose our problems,” President Kais Saied said, adding whoever wants to help Tunisians should “return our looted money and drop the accumulated debts.”

Meanwhile, the United States on Wednesday said it was “deeply concerned” by the reported arrests of political figures, business leaders and journalists in Tunisia.

In recent days, Tunisian police have detained leading figures from opposition or critics of Saied, including prominent politicians, an influential businessman, the head of Tunisia’s main independent news outlet.

Saied on Wednesday accused some of those detained of being responsible for price increases and food shortages in the north African country, and of wanting to fuel a social crisis.

The opposition has said the arrests aim to silence dissent, empower a slide towards autocracy and cover up Saied’s failure to manage the worsening social and economic crisis.

The arrests have raised fears of a wider crackdown on dissent and prompted the U.N. Human Rights Office to call for the immediate release of detainees.