As EU officials discussed conditionalities to attach to aid for Tunisia on Sept. 25, the Tunisian government canceled an EU mission which was planned to discuss the implementation of the July memorandum this weekend in Tunis.
At the same time, Tunisian Foreign Minister Nabil Ammar was in Moscow, signing a deal for food in exchange for textile products and tourism.
According to Brussels sources, Tunisian President Kais Saied was irritated by French President Emmanuel Macron’s proposal to send “European experts” to help control borders, as well as the EU discussing help for Tunisia to create a Search and Rescue Area (SAR), which was not part of the July memorandum.
Meanwhile, human smugglers have concentrated 5,000 persons in El Amra, close to the Tunisian port of Sfax, waiting for calm sea conditions in order to ship them to Lampedusa, Il Giornale war envoy Fausto Biloslavo reported from Tunisia. The smugglers offer a “low cost” trip on makeshift boats, for €400-600. This makes a turnout of €2.5 million for just one mass “shipment.” The smugglers cartel is powerful and can be defeated only by hitting their finances, Biloslavo suggested.
Also, “we [should] be careful that all those conditions attached by Americans and Europeans to make loans in the end, don’t push [President] Saied to throw himself in the Russians’ arms. Not accidentally, his foreign minister was in Moscow just now.”
