Tunisian president says there is 'no turning back'

Speaking in a video published by his office, President Saied rejected calls for talks over the crisis

Tunisia's President Kais Saied has not said when he will relinquish emergency powers. AP

Tunisia's President Kais Saied said on Thursday there was “no turning back” from his decision to freeze Parliament and assume executive power, moves his opponents have branded a coup.

Speaking in a video published by his office, Mr Saied also rejected calls for talks over the crisis, saying “there is no dialogue except with the honest” and that no dialogue was possible with “cancer cells".

The biggest party in the Tunisian Parliament, the Islamist Ennahda, which has been the most vocal opponent of Mr Saied's moves, had called for dialogue in a statement earlier on Thursday.

Some 11 days after his intervention, Mr Saied has not named a new prime minister, announced any steps to end the emergency or declared his longer-term intentions.

A powerful labour union as well as both the US and France have called on him to quickly appoint a new government. The union is preparing a road map to end the crisis that it says it will soon present to Mr Saied.

US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez and ranking member Jim Risch said on Thursday they were deeply concerned by the situation.

“President Saied must recommit to the democratic principles that underpin US-Tunisia relations and the military must observe its role in a constitutional democracy,” they said in a joint statement.

Ousted Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi appeared in public for the first time on Thursday since he was dismissed, shown in pictures published by an anti-corruption organisation that it said were taken at its office.