Tunisia: president explains stance on normalisation to Algerian counterpart

A former Tunisian diplomat said on Tuesday that President Kais Saied has sent a message to his Algerian counterpart, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, explaining his stance on normalisation of ties with Israel, Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported on Wednesday.

The presidency in Tunis confirmed that Saied had dispatched Nabil Ammar as a special envoy to Tebboune without disclosing the content of his message.

Former diplomat Abdullah Al-Obeidi said that a large part of the message related to Saied’s stance on the normalisation of ties with Israel. Obeidi cited the Tunisian condolences sent to Morocco for the victims of the latest traffic accident and the visit of a UAE minister, believing that they might be related to normalisation efforts.

A couple days ago, the head of Algeria’s National Construction Movement, Abdelkader Bengrina, warned that the UAE is dragging Tunisia towards normalising ties with the occupation state. Bengrina, whose party is a member of the government coalition, said that the UAE has always been behind “sowing discord and division in the region,” including the differences between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and the exacerbation of the crisis in Yemen.

READ: Tebboune says Algeria is not a source of threats to anyone