Tunisia Coronavirus: 1st Arab Country to Re-open Borders

Tunisia announced on Monday that it will re-open its maritime, land and air borders on June 27th, in the hope of saving the tourism industry after controlling the pandemic of the novel coronavirus which causes the COVID-19 disease.

The Tunisian government also stated that it will allow movement between cities again, starting on Thursday, according to Sky News Arabia.

Tunisia recorded 1,070 cases of coronavirus and 48 deaths, while two people are receiving treatment in hospital.

The government expects its economy to shrink by up to 4.3 percent this year, the largest economic downturn since independence in 1956.

The important tourism sector could lose 1.4 billion dollars and 400,000 jobs this year due to the pandemic.

Tunisia Suffers Political Crisis

In another regard, the Tunisian General Labor Union, the largest trade union organization in the country, said that it will tackle all attempts to use Tunisian territory as a starting point for Turkish, American or other foreign interference in Libya, considering that this would be a direct occupation.

The UGTT affirmed in a statement, on Sunday evening, that it is ready to use all its forces and all forms of pressure to prevent dragging Tunisia into “a quagmire of axes,” adding that it calls on the authorities at all levels and competences to abide by the position of refusing to line up and distance the country from being involved in destroying Libya and killing its people.

[caption id="attachment_129666" align="aligncenter" width="600"] The Tunisian General Labor Union Logo[/caption]

It’s noteworthy that the Speaker of House of Representatives and the leader of the Renaissance movement, Rached Ghannouchi, has sparked controversy against the background of his interference in the Libyan crisis in favor of the Turkish-backed Government of the National Accord (GNA), and his attempt to implicate the country in lining up behind the Turkish-Qatari axis and the quagmire of political Islam.

It is expected that Ghannouchi will be subjected to an accountability session on June 3rd, in order to expose the reasons for his interference in the Libyan crisis, on the grounds of affiliation to the Muslim Brotherhood group.