Conference on migration, Saïed overcomes mistrust and takes on the role of “champion” of the humble- Corriere.it

Even on the most serious, and even painful topics, public meetings sometimes reserve aspects with a something theatrical not designed by the promoters. While at the microphone it was the turn of the President of the Libyan Presidential Council Mohamed Younis MemphisSunday around 2 pm at the Farnesina, in the small part of the courtroom visible to journalists connected to an internal TV, a man appeared behind the guest urging some waiters with trays of food to get out of the shot.

More than one, outside the international conference on migration and development wanted by Giorgia Melonihad noticed that the debate began at 13.30 and the broadcast programme, without mentioning a meal, provided for a break for coffee or tea only at 16.15.

But the twist came later, when a voice in Italian roughly translated the beginning of di’s speech like this Kais S
aïed, the president of Tunisia: «My gratitude to Giorgia Meloni because she did not hesitate to welcome this Tunisian initiative aimed at discussing, talking all together». Tunisian, not from Palazzo Chigi? A summary summary? Possible misunderstanding on a day in which the Libyan prime minister Mohammed Dbeibahnot a Scandinavian, described the heat in Rome as “atrocious”?

Beyond the copyright on the appointment, it is on what he is accused of by many that the Tunisian president has acquired a prominent role on the scene. Known for having stopped the activity of Parliament, a professor of Constitutional Law who suspended the Constitution in the only country that initially emerged more and no less democratic from the Arab springs of 2011, a supporter of the thesis according to which his land would be reached by non-Arab Africans for a “criminal conspiracy” aimed at an ethnic replacement, Saïed wanted for himself the role of defender of the humble. Of some.

“Where does all this money come from to buy arms?”, he asked the Conference commenting on world affairs. With the Prime Minister of Egypt Mostafa Madbouly, Saïed was one of the guests of governments viewed with the most mistrust in terms of human rights. «Migration in past centuries was from North to South and it was normal. It is about colonialism (…). For some decades now we have been seeing migration from South to North and is this migration not perhaps a result of the other that took place at the time of colonialism?», the Tunisian president asked in an inflexible tone.

Dark suit, bald, features of an enigmatic actor, Saïed recalled in his desire to displace the Libyan Muhammad al-Gaddafi, on the other hand sweaty and in Bedouin clothes, who one day at the Auditorium in Rome embarrassed an audience that expected words from him in defense of women’s rights with far less liberal arguments than expected. “Tunisia annulled slavery in 1847. We cannot accept being a country of passage into illegality,” said Saïed. Thus generally dodging the distrust towards him for the death of people rejected on his borders: “We will not have peace in the face of these corpses”.

The Political Diary newsletter

If you want to stay updated on political news, subscribe to the newsletter “Political Diary”. It is dedicated to Corriere della Sera subscribers and arrives twice a week at 12. Just click here.