Ahmed Ounaies, also spelled Ahmed Ounaiss, (born 1935) is a Tunisian politician and diplomat who was Foreign Minister

Foreign minister

A Minister of Foreign Affairs, or foreign minister, is a cabinet minister who helps form the foreign policy of a sovereign state. The foreign minister is often regarded as the most senior ministerial position below that of the head of government . It is often granted to the deputy prime minister in...

 for two weeks in the transitional government established after the 2010–2011 Tunisian uprising. Public pressure forced him to resign a week after controversially praising French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 Minister

Minister (government)

A minister is a politician who holds significant public office in a national or regional government. Senior ministers are members of the cabinet....

 Michèle Alliot-Marie

Michèle Alliot-Marie

Michèle Jeanne Honorine Alliot-Marie, born 10 September 1946 and nicknamed MAM, is a French politician of the Union for a Popular Movement . A member of all but one right-wing governments of the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, she was the first woman in France to hold the portfolios of Defense , the...

, who openly supported Ben Ali

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali is a Tunisian political figure who was the second President of Tunisia from 1987 to 2011. Ben Ali was appointed Prime Minister in October 1987, and he assumed the Presidency on 7 November 1987 in a bloodless coup d'état that ousted President Habib Bourguiba, who was...

 and helped deliver tear gas to police forces. He was only in office for two weeks.

His predecessor who was Ben Ali's foreign minister — Kamel Morjane

Kamel Morjane

Kamel Morjane, also spelled Kemal Mourjan, is a Tunisian politician and diplomat who served as Tunisia's Minister of Defense from 2005 to 2010 and as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2010 to 2011.-Life and political career:...

 — had also resigned from his post. His successor — Mouldi Kefi

Mouldi Kefi

Mohamed Mouldi Kefi is the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tunisia and a retired diplomat. He is married and has four children....

 — was appointed on 21 February 2011.

Minister of Foreign Affairs

On January 29, after a week of protests in Egypt

2011 Egyptian revolution

The 2011 Egyptian revolution took place following a popular uprising that began on Tuesday, 25 January 2011 and is still continuing as of November 2011. The uprising was mainly a campaign of non-violent civil resistance, which featured a series of demonstrations, marches, acts of civil...

 he said Tunisia and Egypt are different and both must "chart their own course". He also emphasized that Tunisia in not going to involve itself in Egypt.

Controversy and resignation

In his trip to Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, he angered many Tunisians by stating he had always dreamed of meeting French Foreign Minister Alliot-Marie. He went on to praise her by stating she was "above all a friend of Tunisia". In Tunis

Tunis

Tunis is the capital of both the Tunisian Republic and the Tunis Governorate. It is Tunisia's largest city, with a population of 728,453 as of 2004; the greater metropolitan area holds some 2,412,500 inhabitants....

, about 300 employees of the foreign ministry staged a protest rally outside their workplace to demand that he step down after his comments. Hundreds more joined the protest.

After only two weeks as foreign minister, he resigned on 13 February 2011.