Preparations were undertaken in anticipation of the holding of the Algerian-Tunisian Joint Commission at the beginning of next year to establish a global strategic partnership.
A few days before the holding of the legislative elections, the Tunisian authorities intensified their contacts at the highest level with its two neighboring countries, Algeria and Libya, immediately after hosting the Francophonie Summit in Djerba, within the framework of a broad internal boycott of an election considered to be decisive in reshaping the political system in Tunisia.
Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra paid a whirlwind visit to Tunisia on November 26, where he delivered a written message from President Abdelmajid Tebboune to his Tunisian counterpart, Kaïs Saïed.
Two days later, the Head of the Tunisian government, Najla Bouden, flew to Algeria where she was received by President Tebboune, as part of a one-day visit.
Two days later, Tunisia hosted the head of the Libyan Union government, Abdelhamid Dbeibeh, who had canceled, at the last minute and surprisingly, last April, a similar visit that was planned.
These multiple visits and these intensive trips, which followed one another for a week, raised media debates as to their aims and motivations, although the official declarations were in line with the official speeches.
– Elections in a “critical” phase
It is undeniable that there is Tunisian-Algerian concern about the political and security repercussions of the Tunisian legislative elections on the domestic and regional scene, against the backdrop of a broad boycott and Western criticism of President Kaïs Saïed’s management method and his political reforms.
Media and social networks have made the link between the two visits of Lamamra and Bouden on the one hand, and the opening by the Tunisian authorities of an investigation targeting 25 political, security, media and other personalities, Tunisian and foreign. , according to a leaked court document.
The charges against them consist, according to the document, of “forming a network with the aim of harming property and persons, conspiring against the internal security of the State, establishing contacts with agents of a foreign country, whose purpose is to harm the Tunisian state from a diplomatic point of view, to a scam and to harm the head of state”.
Internet users on social networks claim that this network, which works for France, was revealed by the Algerian authorities, without there being any confirmation or denial by Tunis or Algiers.
This explains, according to information conveyed by certain media, the reason for the two unannounced visits of the Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Head of the Tunisian Government.
It is clear that the two countries have established high-level security coordination. This was illustrated when Algeria extradited the former director of the Tunisian intelligence services, Lazhar Loungou, on July 21, after his attempt to flee to cross the common borders between the two countries.
Tunisia had also extradited, in July 2021, the activist Slimane Bouhafs to Algeria who accuses him of belonging to the separatist organization MAK and which is classified as a terrorist group.
The concomitance between the two visits combined with the leaked judicial document and the warm thanks expressed by the Head of the Tunisian government to Algeria for what this country “offers to Tunisia in these critical and delicate circumstances in the history of the country” are all indicators of high-level coordination between the two governments, in particular, in this sensitive phase that Tunisia is going through with the launch of the countdown to the holding of legislative elections.
– A global strategic partnership
Political and economic cooperation was long considered to be the locomotive of the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU), like what German-French cooperation represented in the development of the European Union (EU).
The orientation towards the acceleration of the strategic partnership between Tunisia and Algeria is among the factors that prompted the officials of the two countries to intensify and multiply their reciprocal visits.
This is what the Head of the Tunisian government had mentioned in Algiers when she spoke of the follow-up of the projects which have been set up within the framework of the Great Algerian-Tunisian Joint Commission, of the preparations undertaken in anticipation of the work of the next commission in Algiers to discuss the establishment of a comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.
This is Najla Bouden’s second visit to Algeria since his appointment as head of government in September 2021, just as this trip comes after a long meeting between Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed and his Algerian counterpart, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, following the work of the Arab Summit in Algiers last November.
Tebboune said at the time that Algeria is “anxious to continue to support and support Tunisia and its positions, just as it remains attached to the strategic partnership established between the two countries”.
The Great Algerian-Tunisian Mixed Commission will be held at the beginning of next year in Algiers and should be sanctioned by a series of agreements and projects, particularly with regard to the establishment of a free trade area between both countries, according to many observers.
– Libya: subject of a tripartite rapprochement
Despite certain differences in the position of Algeria and Tunisia with regard to the Libyan file, the fact remains that the audience granted by President Saïed to the Head of the Union government in Libya, Abdelhamid Dbeibeh, demonstrates that the positions of Tunis and Algiers converge more.
If Algeria has opted for the recognition and support of the government of Dbeibeh, Tunisia has tried to opt for neutrality, after hosting Fethi Bachagha, Head of Government designated by the Libyan Chamber of Deputies in Tobruk, for several weeks before he leaves Tunisian territory under ambiguous conditions.
Moreover, President Saïed’s relationship with the government of Dbeibeh was blurred, especially after the postponement of the latter’s visit to Tunisia last April, although he claimed that the postponement was motivated by policies.
However, the latter mentioned that the Libyan authorities had received a letter from Tunisian security parties, under which a group from Libya would come to Tunisia to assassinate President Kaïs Saïed, which he described as “false reports”.
Some Arab media believe that it was at the instigation of Algeria that Tunisia strengthened its ties with the government of Dbeibeh.
But Tunisia’s hosting of Dbeibeh could be seen as a bias against Bachagha and Egypt, which supports him and which hosts, at the same time, a meeting between Aguila Salah, president of the Libyan Chamber of Deputies in Tobruk, with Khaled Mechri, President of the High Council of State (legislative advisory).
This meeting could lead to the sharing of sovereign positions but also to the choice of a new government which will be opposed by Dbeibeh, Algeria and Tunisia which could adhere to this position.
Bouden is expected to pay a visit soon to Libya, according to a statement made by Dbeibeh to Tunisian media, which will consolidate the tripartite cooperation between Tunisia, Algeria and Libya, at the political,
