Border security and terrorism in the meetings of the Interior Ministers of Tunisia and Algeria
High-level Tunisian-Algerian security meetings, chaired by the interior ministers of the two countries, on Monday and Tuesday, resulted in an agreement to develop security coordination in the areas of preventing terrorism, smuggling and illegal immigration, and eliminating their deep causes, including development problems in poor border provinces.
The Ministers of the Interior of Tunisia and Algeria at the institution issuing passports and biometric identity cards (the official website of the Tunisian Ministry of Interior)
During security working meetings, attended by security officials, governors and heads of border governorates in the two countries, Tunisian Interior Minister Kamal El-Feki and his Algerian counterpart Ibrahim Murad praised “the effectiveness of the partnership between Tunisia and Algeria in the fields of security, combating terrorism and organized crime, smuggling and illegal immigration.”
Meeting with the Prime Minister
During his meeting, on Tuesday, with the Tunisian Minister of the Interior, in the presence of his Algerian counterpart, Algerian Prime Minister Nadhir Arbawi expressed his country’s authorities’ support for security coordination at the highest level with Tunisia, in the areas of prevention of terrorism, extremism, organized crime and illegal immigration.
He also welcomed the recommendations issued by the “first session of the bilateral committee for the development and promotion of joint border areas,” which was attended by high-level security, administrative and political cadres from the two countries.
The Interior Ministers of Tunisia and Algeria present to Algerian Prime Minister Nadhir Arbawi the results of the joint bilateral security meeting (the official website of the Tunisian Ministry of Interior)
According to an official statement, the Algerian Prime Minister and the Tunisian and Algerian Interior Ministers noted, on this occasion, “the outcomes of the first session of this bilateral mechanism,” while emphasizing the common keenness to implement its outcomes and upgrade the level of bilateral cooperation. Especially in the common border areas, to establish an effective and lasting partnership between the two countries, as well as strengthening bilateral security cooperation, to serve the common interest, in accordance with the common vision of the leaders of the two countries.
Terrorism, passports and borders
Informed sources revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that Tunisian Interior Minister Kamal Al-Feki was accompanied by a number of Tunisian security cadres, including in particular the Director-General of the Border and Foreigners Police, the Director-General of Foreign Relations and International Cooperation in the Ministry of Interior, and the Tunisian ambassador to Algeria.
On this occasion, specialized security and political working sessions were held, in preparation for Tunisia’s adoption of new “biometric” passports and digital identity cards. The Tunisian security delegation visited the Directorate of Bonds and Secured Documents of the Algerian Ministry of Interior, which is concerned with the biometric passport file, the biometric identification card, and the biometric driving licenses.
He also announced a Tunisian-Algerian agreement to “exchange experiences and bilateral cooperation in the technical and technological fields, digitization, travel documents, and biometric identities.”
Explosives, metals and fingerprints
On the other hand, the Tunisian Ministry of the Interior revealed that the Interior Ministers of the two countries and the delegations accompanying them discussed, on the occasion, the use of modern security technologies in the areas of combating serious crimes, bombings and violence, including by making use of modern methods of fingerprint detection.
By the way, the two security delegations visited the National Institute of Forensic Evidence and Criminology of the National Gendarmerie in Algeria.
He announced that the goal is to help specialized security investigation teams “in providing scientific and technical evidence through modern technologies and expertise in many fields, such as laboratories for ballistic analysis, explosives, metal detection, and fingerprint identification.”
In the same context, the two delegations visited the “Command and Control Center of the Algiers State Security” with the aim of achieving “more security cooperation between the two countries.”
Security consultations at the highest level
In a related context, a bilateral working session was held between Tunisian Interior Minister Kamal El-Feki and his Algerian counterpart Ibrahim Murad, attended by senior security and political officials from both sides.
He announced after the meetings that “the first session of the bilateral committee for the development and promotion of the Tunisian-Algerian border regions” recommended raising security, development and political cooperation “to the level of the aspirations of the presidents of the two republics and the two brotherly peoples.”
One of the most prominent results of the meetings, which were attended by a number of governors and governors, was work to eliminate the deep causes of terrorism and irregular migration “by implementing development projects in the border states, supporting security cooperation, and facilitating the crossing of Tunisian and Algerian citizens in both directions.”
Presidents Kais Saied and Abdelmadjid Tebboune had previously discussed similar security files last year, including difficulties in the movement of tourists, capital and goods between the two countries, and issued orders to find solutions to the emerging problems.
Strategic cooperation
On the sidelines of these first-of-its-kind security-political meetings, with the participation of all governors and governors in the border regions, calls were issued for “strategic, security, developmental, economic, political cooperation” between Tunisia and Algeria.
These meetings coincided with Tunisian-Algerian consultations that took place in Rome, between Tunisian President Kais Saied and his Foreign Minister Nabil Ammar on the one hand, and Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf on the other hand, on the sidelines of their participation in the partnership summit between Italy and African countries, which the Italian Prime Minister called for, She pledged to allocate a budget exceeding 5.5 billion euros to support development in African countries and security coordination with their countries to eliminate irregular migration.
It is expected that the Interior Ministers of Tunisia and Algeria and a number of senior officials from both countries will participate on the eighth of February next year, in the annual demonstrations held in the Tunisian city of Saqia Sidi Youssef on the border with Algeria, which was bombed by the French occupation forces on this day of the year. In 1958, in protest against Tunisia’s hosting of Algerian nationalist fighters and their political leaders.
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2024-01-30 15:28:40