Tunisia gaffes force Sarkozy to consider new foreign minister

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French Foreign Minister Michèle Alliot-Marie is expected to resign during the weekend after a series of gaffes over Tunisia which have tarnished President Nicolas Sarkozy's government, official sources said yesterday.

Defence Minister Alain Juppé, a veteran conservative who was both prime minister and foreign minister in the Nineties, will replace her, the sources said.

The switch comes as France is struggling to come to terms with a fast-spreading pro-democracy revolt across North African states, several of which are former French colonies. The French political elite has had close ties with their authoritarian rulers.

"This can't go on," one government source said after a furore over disclosures Alliot-Marie holidayed in Tunisia as protests raged there and accepted private plane rides from a Tunisian businessman close to ousted president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. "She has to go, and for it to be dignified, she has to stand down herself," the source said.

Alliot-Marie has been unable to visit the region since the fall of Ben Ali, and Tunisia's first post-revolution foreign minister was forced to resign after saying he had been honoured to meet her.

The government at first supported Alliot-Marie against a media outcry and opposition calls for her head, but polls showed the debacle was hurting Sarkozy's already rock-bottom ratings.

"Alliot-Marie's departure is a done deal," a second source said. "Juppé is down to take over straight away, with pressure coming from the president."

Sarkozy's office declined to comment. Alliot-Marie told French radio she "was not interested in rumours". The daily Le Monde quoted sources as saying she would be gone by next week. Her fall from grace has come as a surprise after a steady political career in which she became the first woman to head the defence and interior ministries.

Alliot-Marie, who was appointed foreign minister in November, was criticised for being slow to react to the Tunisian revolt and for suggesting only days before Ben Ali fell that France could offer Tunisia advice on crowd control.

She came under more fire when it emerged that in the midst of the crisis, she took a holiday in Tunisia with her parents and her partner, also a cabinet minister.

The opposition and media commentators accused her of lying in her successive explanations, and polls showed a majority of voters wanted her to resign.