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PARIS — The French foreign minister, Michele Alliot-Marie, was fired Sunday because of a Christmas vacation spent at a Tunisian resort while the country was caught up in a crescendo of violent protests that eventually toppled the authoritarian president.
She and her family also enjoyed two jaunts in a corporate jet owned by a wealthy Tunisian businessman connected to the corrupt family of now-exiled President Zine el-Abidine ben Ali.
Alliot-Marie’s lack of diplomatic judgment, compounded by falsehoods as she attempted to explain away the problem, embarrassed President Nicolas Sarkozy as he tries to recover from a slump in public support ahead of a re-election campaign in 2012.
