The President of the Republic begins this Wednesday, December 15, a two-day visit to Tunisia. In two years of exercise, this will be only the second state visit carried out by Abdelmadjid Tebboune abroad.
Since his swearing-in on September 19, 2019, President Tebboune has traveled very little. He traveled to Germany on January 20, 2020, where he participated in the Berlin conference on Libya, then paid a state visit to Saudi Arabia a month later. Between the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021, he also made two medical stays in Germany where he was treated following a covid-19 infection.
Last November, he was due to participate in the Paris conference on Libya, but he declined the invitation of his French counterpart because of the crisis between the two countries arising from the controversial statements made on September 30 by Emmanuel Macron on Algeria, its leaders, and its history. Mr. Tebboune was represented at the conference by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Ramtane Lamamra.
This presidential visit to the neighboring country comes against a backdrop of renewed diplomatic activity in Algeria at the highest level. In recent weeks, two foreign heads of state have been welcomed in Algiers, Italian President Sergio Mattarella on November 6, then Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on December 5.
Mr. Tebboune’s trip to Tunisia was eagerly awaited. First, because Algerian and Tunisian heads of state almost always reserve one of their first outings abroad in the neighboring country.
The current Tunisian President, Kais Saied, has not deviated from the tradition by going to Algiers for his trip abroad in February 2020, four months after his election. His predecessors Moncef El Marzouki and Beji Cais Essbsi had done the same.
Without the episode of his illness, the Algerian president would not have waited two years to make his first visit to Tunis. Relations between the two countries are indeed excellent under Presidents Kais and Tebboune, elected two months apart.
Active solidarity
Algeria has displayed its solidarity and availability to help Tunisia in three trials that the latter went through during this period: the economic crisis, the covid-19 pandemic, and the current political crisis.
During Kais Saied’s visit in February 2020, Abdelmadjid Tebboune announced that Algeria will deposit $ 150 million in the Tunisian Central Bank (BCT), as a guarantee.
At the same time, facilitations were decided for the payment by Tunisia of its purchases of Algerian fuels and gas. On the eve of Mr. Tebboune’s trip to Tunis, another financial gesture was announced: Algeria granted a loan of 300 million dollars to its neighbor. The announcement is contained in the latest issue of the Official Journal of the Republic of Tunisia.
The covid crisis was also an opportunity for Algeria to demonstrate that solidarity with its neighbor was not an empty slogan. While the lack of oxygen suffocated Tunisian hospitals, several shipments of this vital material was transported from Algeria, which had also considered sharing with its neighbor the quotas of anti-covid vaccines ordered from global laboratories.
With regard to the internal political crisis engendered by the decisions taken on July 26 by President Saied, Algeria has been careful not to interfere in the affairs of its neighbor, to whom it has nevertheless repeatedly reiterated its support.
Since last summer, we have not counted the trips to Tunis of the head of Algerian diplomacy Ramtane Lamamra, who also goes there for consultations on regional issues, Tunisia being a non-permanent member of the Security Council of the UN.
Mr. Tebboune is expected to reaffirm Algeria’s support for Tunisia during his visit, which comes all the more so in the wake of a new charge by the G7 countries against the policy pursued by Kais Saied.
On December 10, the ambassadors in Tunis of the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Canada, Japan, Italy, and the European Union called in a joint statement to the “Respect for freedoms” in Tunisia and pleaded for “an inclusive and transparent political process” in this country.
