The Tunisian Admiral Kamal Akrout Is Trying to 'Steal' Abir Moussi’s Supporters with His 'Style'!

Retired Tunisian Admiral Kamal Akrout, who previously served as the national security advisor of the late Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi, launched in May 2021 what he called a "call to the rescue.”

Akrout returned with his call to the Islamists of Tunisia after he stood in solidarity with the leader of the Free Destourian Party, Abir Moussi, with whom he had earlier disagreed.

 

Belonging to Abu Dhabi

In a message posted on his Facebook page, Akrout said that "it is time to rescue, and the duty calls on all of us, who refuse to continue the system of failure, mediocrity and political fraud from all sides of the country to gather forces."

Commenting on the statements of the Prime Minister, Hichem Mechichi, to the Qatari newspaper, “Lusail” on May 31, 2021, regarding facilitating investment licenses for Qataris in Tunisian territory, Rear Admiral Kamal Akrout considered that this statement threatens the future of Tunisian citizens and the right of future generations in their country.

On June 1, 2021, Akrout said in his blog: "They are selling heritage and land, the only wealth of Tunisians, without regard to the future generations."

He continued in the same post: "They ignore our food security and the rights of our future generations. The Ennahda Party and political Islam have always wanted to sell state lands, and Mechichi succeeded in that."

Akrout says that he left his position as the first national security advisor in Carthage and permanent secretary of the National Security Council, relinquished power and launched - with former senior officials and experts in the state - the "International Association for Foresight and Advanced Strategic and Security Studies", a think-tank for establishing dialogue through civil society.

Akrout attended the military school in Bizerte, before sailing with the navy.

He started his career as a teacher, then chose the training he started at the National Defense Institute in Tunis and then at the Staff School.

He consolidated his experience at the Naval Academy in Athens, then at the Hamburg War School and the School of International Security Affairs in Washington, DC.

The admiral has specialized in security, defense, cyber security and national security, and is the only officer in the Tunisian navy to have held the position of Director General of Military Security.

He was dismissed by former President Moncef Marzouki in 2013, and he was appointed as a military officer at the Tunisian Embassy in Abu Dhabi.

His exile ended in 2015 when President Beji Caid Essebsi, appointed him in charge of national defense issues to the presidency.

Akrout, who was previously only known in power circles, began arousing the interest of Tunisians in July 2019, during Essebsi's funeral.

He was still in office at the inauguration of President Kais Saied, and resigned on October 29, 2019.

The admiral announced the following day that his resignation from his duties as first national security advisor to the President of the Republic had been accepted, saying that he was "proud of what he presented to his country with all responsibility and sincerity," as he put it.

 

Spider's Home

After his post, specifically on May 26, 2021, the Emirati "Al-Ain" website published a report entitled "Admiral's cry”... a new initiative to "save Tunisia from the Brotherhood."

The site said: "The General's Cry", as described by pioneers on social networks, directly targets the besieged Ennahda movement with popular criticism in the midst of its direct conflict with President Kais Saeed, and the stifling political and economic crises in the country.

On the same day, the Islamist leader of the Ennahda movement, Rafik Abdessalem, posted on Facebook saying that the admiral was “a little-known military who wants to be a political leader at lightning speed.”

The Islamist leader, Rafik Abdessalem, explained that Admiral Akrout wanted to “lead the last quarter-hour revolution (ie a counter-revolution)."

He added that the admiral does not have wars, not even "victories or adventures of heroes.

Abdessalem went on to say that Akrout is waiting for "the opportunity to activate Chapter 80 of the constitution by Kais Said to be able to enter the Carthage Palace" and then announce the statement number one, according to the text of the post.

The Islamic leader concluded that “the button and the rice (the decision and the money) are in Abu Dhabi and the implementation is in Tunisia.” He said to the admiral: “The country is not desolate and empty, It has its people.”

The admiral considers that he has faced storms since the Tunisian revolution, and he said in an interview with the French magazine "Jeune Afrique" on June 3, 2021, that much of what has been accomplished since the revolution needs to be reviewed.

He called for a "public consultation based on an assessment of this contract".

Kamal Akrout directed his arrows at the Islamist Ennahda party, considered him one of the "main culprits" of the Tunisian recession, and admitted his closeness to some extent to the ideas of Abir Moussa.

The Tunisian military anticipates all the analyzes that may be issued in the wake of his statements, and said: "Some will try to reduce Kamal Akrout to a mere opponent, while others will want him to join their ranks."

He went on to say: "Others will try to discredit me by claiming that I am the man of the Emirates because I previously settled in Abu Dhabi," before stressing: "But all this will not stop me."

 

Feign Hostility

In April 2021, the head of the Constitutional Party, Abir Moussi, accused him of "trying to steal her supporters" after his name rose among the centrist progressive forces.

She said that Akroutt is in the process of contacting the structures of the "Free Constitutional Party", "within the framework of a scheme to dismantle the party, which is to get rid of the Free Constitutional Party in the political scene, and from Abir Moussi in Parliament."

For his part, Akrout denied Moussi's accusations of trying to remove her from the party, and said, in a radio interview on May 26, 2021: "What unites me with Abir is more than what separates us."

Moussi's response came, the evening of the same day, in a television statement, in which she said: "This is not true, and that she does not meet with anyone who has dealt with the Brotherhood.”

Akrout returned in his post on June 7, 2021, to confirm that he supports all "who are prohibited from peaceful demonstration", in reference to the supporters of the Free Constitutional Party who were prevented from sitting in front of the House of Representatives, according to the local "Business News" website.

He expressed his solidarity with the "freedom of peaceful demonstration and expression," denouncing the violation of the rules of democracy by depriving the people's deputy (Abir Moussi) of water and shelter," and went as far as considering it a "threat to public freedoms."

In a radio broadcast, the journalist, Borhane Bsaies, said that "retired admiral Kamal Akrout seeks to take advantage of the popular imagination related to the national army to enter political life."

He considered that "Akrout does not frighten political Islam as much as it frightens the head of the Free Constitutional Party, Abir Moussi."

He continued, "Moussi believes that Akrout will seek to gain part of her popular base, and she is more wary of him than Ennahda and its president Ghannouchi."