The fight against coronavirus: A new aspect of Libyan accord gov’t understandings with Tunisia’s Renaissance Party

Sarah Rashad

Despite what the Al-Wefaq Brotherhood government announced in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, at the beginning of this March, through its Economy Minister, Ali al-Issawi, that it had to reduce its budget for 2020 by a third, it confirmed that it sent a medical delegation to Tunisia to find out the medical needs, in the face of coronavirus.

The move is consistent with the importance that the accord government attaches to Tunisia in particular, as it represents a good opportunity, as a regional ally of the Tripoli government.

This highlights the growing Tunisian cooperation with the Al-Wefaq government, which is represented by the Al-Nahda movement that controls the parliament. Al-Nahda supports the Al-Wefaq government, due to the convergence of intellectual projects between them and their affiliation with the dynamic movement of Islam.

The wrath of the opposition

This has caused the anger of the Tunisian opposition, which has repeatedly called for non-alignment of Islamists in Libya, and this has been embodied in the warning of the Tunis Project movement, the presidency of the Republic of Tunisia against aligning behind the axis of Turkey and the government of reconciliation in Libya, and striking the country’s interests, against the background of Turkish Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Tunisia in December 2019.

The party said in a statement, “We believe that this visit and the meetings associated with it, suggest an official Tunisian alignment in favor of the axis Turkey-Libyan reconciliation government  which produced an agreement, which is the object of rejection by most Arab and European capitals.”

Exploitation of Turkish-Nahda alliance

The opposition Tunisian trade union activist, Qais bin Hamad, believes that official “Turkish-Tunisian” visits and understandings are not the only ones that translate the “Turkish-Nahda” exploitation of Tunisia, warning of cultural penetration, which Turkey is trying to implement, to pass to the heart of Tunisian society to control it.

In his remarks to the Reference, he touched on Turkish research centers affiliated to work on launching intellectual materials that promote the Turkish project inside Tunisia, including the “Sita Center”, which was founded in Tunisia in January 2014, by Rafik Abdel Salam, former Tunisian foreign minister, and one of the most prominent Brotherhood men.