Taïeb Baccouche

Taïeb Baccouche (born 1 November 1944) is a Tunisian politician who has been Secretary-General of the Arab Maghreb Union since 2016. Previously he served in the government of Tunisia as Minister of Education in 2011, in the wake of the Tunisian Revolution,^[1] and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2015^[2][3][4] to 2016.

Taïeb Baccouche
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office 5 February 2015 – 6 January 2016
President	Beji Caid Essebsi
Prime Minister	Habib Essid
Preceded by	Mongi Hamdi
Succeeded by	Khemaies Jhinaoui
Minister of Education
In office 17 January 2011 – 24 December 2011
President	Foued Mebazaa (Acting)
Prime Minister	Mohamed Ghannouchi Béji Caïd Essebsi
Preceded by	Hatem Ben Salem
Succeeded by	Samir Dilou
Secretary General of UGTT
In office 19 February 1981 – 17 December 1984
Preceded by	Habib Achour
Succeeded by	Habib Achour
Personal details
Born	Taïeb Baccouche (1944-11-01) 1 November 1944 (age 79) Jemmal, Tunisia
Education	Licence in Arabic Degree in Old History and Archeology Degree in French Literature and Language PhD in Linguistics degree of Linguistics aggregation in Arabic Baccalaureate
Occupation	Linguist, Professor, Syndicalist, Human Rights
Notable work	Tunisian Linguistics' Atlas

Life and career

Born at Jemmal in 1944, Baccouche travelled to France in 1965 to study at the Sorbonne where he obtained a degree in Linguistics in 1966 and an aggregation in Arabic in 1968. After that, he returned to Tunis to teach at the University of Tunis. Baccouche was awarded a State Doctorate in Linguistics in 1980 from the University of Paris Sorbonne. He was General Secretary of the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT) from 1981 to 1984.^[5] He was President of the Tunisian Association of Linguistics from 1995 to 2002 and has been General Secretary of the Mediterranean Linguistics Meetings –RLM and President of the Human Rights Arab Institute since 1998.^[5]

After the Tunisian Revolution, he served in the government as Minister of Education from January 2011 to December 2011. Later, he was appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs in January 2015. After less than a year in that post, Khemaies Jhinaoui was appointed to succeed him in January 2016.^[6] Baccouche was then appointed as Secretary-General of the Arab Maghreb Union on 5 May 2016.^[7]

Honours

• Commandeur of the Order of the Republic of Tunisia (23 November 2011)

References

1. "Education Minister receives head of ICRC regional delegation". Agence Tunis Afrique Presse. 26 February 2011. Retrieved 6 March 2011.
2. Aloisio, Giulia (5 February 2015). "Tunisia Has Approved a New Coalition Government — But Not Everybody's Happy About It". Vice News. Archived from the original on 12 February 2015. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
3. Marks, Monica (3 February 2015). "Tunisia opts for an inclusive new government". The Washington Post. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
4. "Tunisia Announces New Government Line-Up Excluding Islamist Party". Latin American Herald Tribune. Archived from the original on 12 February 2015. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
5. "Biographie de M. Taieb Baccouche, ministre de l'Education". Business News. 8 March 2011. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
6. "Taieb Baccouche nominated as Secretary General of Arab Maghreb Union", Tunisia-tn.com, 23 February 2016.
7. "Taieb Baccouche appointed Secretary General of the Arab Maghreb Union", Tunisia-tn.com, 5 May 2016.