Tunisia, France announce joint military cooperation to fight terror

Tunisian Defence Minister Farhat Horchani yesterday agreed with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian on future cooperation estimated to be worth €20 million regarding the fight on terror, Anadolu reported.

The cooperation will include aid in forming the second Tunisian military corps and in the field of military intelligence cooperation.

In a press conference, Horchani said: “There is a new cooperation regarding the formation of the Tunisian army through training, new equipment… and on the level of military intelligence between the two countries.”

“There is another kind of cooperation which is in the field of forming special forces and forming the second Tunisian military corps.”

Meanwhile, Le Drian said that Tunisian and French security are one issue. “Both of us were victims of terror attacks in 2015 and that was the reason for the cooperation,” Le Drian said.

He continued: “We signed a joint and mid-term cooperation roadmap. We allocated a sum of €20 million to support the special forces and the information department based on a decision by the French president.”

Le Drian paid a two-day visit to Tunis and met the Tunisian prime minister and other officials.

Regarding Daesh, Le Drian said that Russian strikes are “strange” as most of them did not target Daesh. He also noted that Bashar Al-Assad is the “starting point of chaos in Syria” and he cannot be part of any solution.