Beyond misunderstandings, rare and temporary, which can taint relations between Tunisia and Algeria, the two neighboring countries would be well advised to coordinate their actions more closely, particularly at the level of their common borders, to combat all forms of crime, including smuggling that affects their respective economies.
Following complaints expressed by Tunisian nationals claiming to have been mistreated by Algerian agents at the border crossings between the two countries, the President of the Algerian Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune was quick to react.
The Algerian press agency APS indeed reported on Friday, February 10, 2023, that Mr. Tebboune “enjoined not to hinder or hinder the movement, at the border posts, of Tunisian brothers wishing to enter Algeria or get out”.
End border smuggling
Beyond the versions relayed by the Tunisian media yesterday, taking up stories of Tunisians claiming to be humiliated and stripped of their purchases made in Algeria by Algerian customs officers at border posts, it seems that the Algerian authorities have implemented a measure dated several months and which prohibits the export by any means whatsoever of products subsidized by the Algerian State.
Sources in Algiers affirm that the behavior of the Algerian agents has nothing to do with the case of Amira Bouraoui, the Algerian activist prosecuted in her country and who was exfiltrated a few days ago to France, with her French passport, through Tunis-Carthage airport.
Reacting to these facts in a Facebook post, former ambassador Elyes Kasri put his finger on the wound by writing that “despite any ulterior motives that can be attributed to our Algerian neighbors who have begun to exercise control purchases made by Tunisian “tourists” on Algerian territory, we should rather salute their determination to put an end to smuggling between the two countries.” And to add, as if to remind the Tunisian authorities of the need to also defend, by similar measures, the interests of their countries:”For its part, a powerless Tunisia has suffered for decades, without finding the determination and the means to save its economy from parallel trade and smuggling towards Algeria, in addition to the parallel exchange practices in which many many neighbors not only Algerians.”
Protect the economies of both countries
We know, in fact, that products subsidized by the Tunisian state are illegally exported to Algeria by nationals of the two countries, thus feeding informal trade networks on both sides of the borders. This trafficking, which sometimes affects livestock, enriches smuggling networks but affects the economies of the two neighboring States, which would be well advised to take concerted measures and act together against these phenomena so as to prevent the implementation of unilateral measures give rise to misunderstandings and tendentious interpretations, as was the case yesterday with the affair of the Tunisian “tourists” stripped of their purchases by Algerian customs officers.
“A country that respects itself must be able to defend not only its territory but also its economy and the money of its taxpayers”, insists Elyes Kasri, quoting an American proverb that says that good fences make good neighbors ( ” Good fences make good neighbors” ).
