Tunisian Foreign Minister Ahmed Ounaiss resigned today, according to the country's state news agency, a week after he became embroiled in a row over compliments he paid to his French opposite number.
Many Tunisians were angered when Ounaiss said he had always dreamed of meeting French Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, who is being accused by opponents in France of being too close to Tunisia's ousted administration.
The resignation is likely to cause new disruption to a coalition government which has already seen several ministers resign or be fired since it stepped in to fill the vacuum left by last month's overthrow of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.
Ounaiss had been in his post for less than three weeks.
Hundreds of workers at the Tunisian foreign ministry began a strike early last week in protest at the minister's praise of Alliot-Marie, which they said showed a lack of respect for the Tunisian revolution.
Weeks of protests in Tunisia, during which dozens of people were killed by police, forced Ben Ali to flee to Saudi Arabia after 23 years of authoritarian rule.
Some French lawmakers have called for Alliot-Marie to step down after she suggested during the protests that France could supply riot control know-how to Ben Ali's security forces.
It also emerged that she took two flights on a private plane owned by a Tunisian businessman during private visits to the former French colony
Agencies