Tunisian Interior Minister, Tawfiq Charafeddine received the Chargé d’Affairs of Libya’s Embassy in Tunisia, Mustafa Gdara. He was accompanied by the Security Attaché and the Legal Advisor of the Embassy. The meeting reviewed the existing bilateral cooperation in areas of common interest.
Charafeddine affirmed the keenness of both sides to “upgrade these relations and push them to the highest levels, in order to embody the aspirations of the two peoples,” according to the statement.
Earlier this month, Al-Areej International Medical Services Company in Tunisia said that no new Libyan patients will be accepted. It added that current patients will be discharged from medical clinics in Tunisia, due to the accumulation of debts and non-payment by the Libyan Embassy.
The company is the exclusive agent contracted by Libya’s Ministry of Health for years, to treat Libyan patients in Tunisia. The company has monopolized treatments and “consistently humiliated Libyans who receive treatment,” according to the testimony of several patients.
The company imposed large increases in treatment prices, under the pretext that it provides its services on credit. The patients confirmed that “as soon as payments stop, the company will expel them and stop treatment until the money is deposited in its accounts.”
Notably, the former Tunisian Foreign Minister, Khemaies Jhinaoui said that Tunisia was absent from the Libyan crisis. He added that “Tunisia’s rule is unclear and weak.”
Jhinaoui confirmed that he “took many initiatives to end the Libyan crisis and activate the intra-Libyan solution to this crisis. This includes tripartite initiatives with neighbouring countries, namely Egypt and Algeria.”
The former FM indicated that “Tunisia’s influence is important in order to put an end to the crisis in Libya, but it remains insufficient. This requires coordination of efforts and standing with neighbouring countries and others, in order to impose a peaceful internal solution to this issue.”
He stressed that “the stability of Libya is part of the stability of Tunisia. The interest of Tunisia dictates that the way it deals with the file be bolder, and more active. It must take the initiative to impose an intra-Libyan solution to the crisis.”
