Tunisian president in Libya for talks with new unity gov't

TRIPOLI — Tunisian President Kais Saied on Wednesday visited neighbouring Libya, where a UN-backed unity government is seeking to restore stability after a decade of violence and division.

The first such visit since 2012, Saied's trip aims to show "Tunisia's support for the democratic process in Libya" and for greater "stability and prosperity", his office said.

Libya descended into chaos as  Muamar Qadhafi was toppled and killed in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 and an array of armed groups battled to fill the void.

The turmoil has also impacted Tunisia, sharply reducing cross-border trade and turning Libya into a launchpad for a series of bloody extremist attacks in Tunisia.

On Wednesday, Saied was welcomed at the airport by Mohamed Al Manfi, head of a new three-member presidency council, who hailed the visit as "historic".

The pair discussed reviving bilateral agreements and trade, strengthening investment and facilitating dealings between their central banks, according to a Tunisian presidency statement.

Saied later met Libya’s new interim Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, who was sworn in on Monday and is tasked with governing until December elections.

Discussions focused on reinforcing ties in a variety of areas, “in particular the economy, health, transport and education”, according to the Tunisian presidency.

Saied also called for “intensifying efforts” to discover the fate of Tunisian journalists Sofiene Chourabi and Nadhir Ktari, who went missing in 2014 in Libya’s Ajdabiya region.

Libya’s new transitional executive emerged from a complex UN-sponsored process launched in November in Tunis. Its members were selected in Geneva then confirmed by Libya’s parliament on March 10. 

Saied, who has made few official trips since his election in October 2019, only announced his visit on Tuesday, the day the new government was formally launched. 

He was joined by Foreign Minister Othman Jerandi and top Saied adviser Nadia Akacha. 

The presidency later announced on Twitter that he had arrived back in Tunisia.

Before 2011, oil-rich Libya was a major customer for Tunisian farm produce and building materials as well as migrant labour.

But repeated border closures over conflict and more recently the coronavirus pandemic have battered Tunisia’s crucial informal economy.

Extremist repatriated 

Libya also became a fertile ground for extremist groups including the Daesh terror group, with many Tunisians joining its ranks.

Rights groups said on Wednesday that Tunisia had repatriated at least 16 women and children accused of links to jihadist fighters imprisoned in Libya.

The issue of such repatriations is hotly debated in Tunisia, after several bloody attacks carried out at home by Tunisians trained in Libya.

Activists urged Saied to plead for the release of others still in Libyan detention.

Campaign group the Rescue Association of Tunisians Trapped Abroad says around 20 Tunisian children and 15 women remain in detention in Libya.

Libya was in recent years split between a Government of National Accord in Tripoli, and an eastern-based administration, backed by strongman Khalifa Haftar.

The two sides reached a ceasefire in October.

While the GNA has been backed by Turkey and Qatar, Haftar has received support from the United Arab Emirates, Russia and Egypt, in spite of a long-running arms embargo.

Thousands of foreign fighters and mercenaries remain in the country. 

Senior European officials said Wednesday that the European Union, which runs a military mission in the Mediterranean policing the UN embargo, is set to extend its mission for two years to the end of March 2023. 

Tunisia’s successive governments have carefully avoided taking sides, while opposing all foreign interference in Libya.