Biden Should Call Tunisian Dictator’s Bluff
The US has gone along with Kais Saied’s power-grab for too long.
Don’t let him get away with it.
Photographer: Valeria Mongelli/BloombergRarely has an American president had his bluff called so swiftly and so summarily. Less than a week after gathering African leaders in Washington to reverse the perception that the US is ignoring the continent, Joe Biden gave a definitive demonstration of American neglect. In the process, he also exposed the hollowness of America’s democracy promotion pretensions.
The Biden administration’s reaction to the parliamentary election in Tunisia, the first African vote after the summit, amounts to a diplomatic shrug of the shoulders. After Tunisians showed up their dictator, Kais Saied, by staying home — turnout was less than 9% — State Department spokesman Ned Price declared the exercise had been “an essential initial step toward restoring the country’s democratic trajectory.”