Tunisia Minister of Interior Hichem Fourati arrived in Algiers to discuss with his Algerian counterpart Noureddine Bedoui challenges facing both countries regarding terrorism and transnational crimes.
Following the meeting, the two Ministers made several agreements in the field of combating terrorism, smuggling and all forms of crime, especially trans-border crimes.
Algerian Interior Minister indicated that Algeria and Tunisia face major challenges in light of regional threats related mainly to terrorism, the war on it and organized crime.
In the same context, both countries agreed to hold the meeting of the joint security committee, which was formed after the cooperation agreement between Algiers and Tunis on 17 March 2017.
They also agreed to hold a coordination meeting between officials of the civil protection institutions in the border areas before the summer in order to control ways of joint intervention to prevent and reduce forest fires, as well as strengthen relations between the National Diwan for Civil Defense in Tunisia and the Directorate General of Civil Defense in Algeria.
The two ministers also agreed to enhance cooperation between their countries at the border, in the implementation of the outcomes of the meeting hosted by Tunisia on 6 and 7 October last year.
In other news, Tunisian authorities banned Algerian Tahar Belabbes, leading figure of the “Movement of the Unemployed in Algeria”, from entering into Tunisian territory on two consecutive occasions this month: the first was on the 17th, and the second on Sunday, when he tried to enter Tunisia through Tunis Carthage International Airport.
In response, several Tunisian human rights organizations announced their support for Belabbes indicating that previous decisions prevented him from participating in a number of international human rights demonstrations. They expressed their solidarity with the Algerian civil activist and asked the Tunisian authorities to explain the reasons behind the ban.
In this regard, Jamal Musallam, head of the Tunisian League for the Defense of Human Rights, said in a radio statement that the reasons for preventing Algerian activist Belabbes from entering the country on two consecutive occasions “are still vague”, pointing out that the League has not yet received an answer from the Ministry of Interior regarding the matter.
Belabbes returned to Algeria after being prevented from entering Tunisia.
