Algeria temporarily resolves Tunisian border problems

Algeria

Published on Tuesday, 27 September 2016 Back to articles
beach-in-sousse-tunisia

This article is taken from our Algeria Politics & Security publication.

The Algerian government has finally decided on how it will act in regard to the Tunisian entry tax that has led to escalating border protests, especially during the summer when hundreds of thousands of Algerians travel to Tunisia for their holidays.

As we explained in some detail in Algeria Politics & Security - 19.08.16, the border trouble has been caused by Tunisia’s unilateral decision in October 2014 to impose a TND30 (US$13.70) tax on non-Tunisian registered vehicles entering Tunisia from Algeria. The official rate of exchange is DZD50 to the TND but press reports from the border said that DZD2,500 — rather than DZD1,500 — was being charged.

The August demonstrations at a number of Tunisian border posts, by hundreds of Algerians who thought they were being treated unfairly, finally brought the issue to national attention. Algerians have been demanding that the tax either be reciprocated or removed.

The sensible solution is for Tunisia to drop the tax because reciprocity will lead to thousands of Tunisians, especially businessmen, being adversely affected. This is because more and more Tunisians are sourcing their business from Algeria. Reciprocity could lead to thousands of Tunisians being made unemployed.

Algeria has now decided, having done nothing for two years, to opt for reciprocity. This is a bold decision, and one which will almost certainly lead to requests from Tunisia to modify it, or for Tunisia to drop the tax altogether.

The decision appears to have been made on 6 September by Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra. This was in response to questions from Lakhdar Benkhellaf MP of the Front de la Justice et du Développement (FJD) and Samira Dhouaifia MP of the Mouvement de la société pour la paix (MSP). The two MPs represent Constantine and Tebessa, respectively.

In his 6 September letter to the MPs, which was reproduced in the national media last week, Lamamra wrote: ‘Since Tunisia is a neighbouring country, with which we are linked by a special relationship, we decided to initiate measures to implement the principle of reciprocity, while keeping the door open to further discussions with the Tunisian authorities to cancel the tax.’

Lamamra’s letter, followed by Prime Minister Sellal’s official notification of the decision, has been very warmly welcomed throughout the eastern Algerian regions, and across the country as a whole. Standing up to Tunisia in this way has gone down well with the Algerian public.

The decision also seems to have gone down quite well with Tunisians, who, for the most part, saw the injustice of the tax and sympathise with their Algerian brethren. Now that Tunisians will be hurt by the Algeria’s reciprocal imposition of the tax, it is expected that a great deal of pressure will be placed on the Tunisian government by its own citizens to drop the tax altogether.

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