Category: National

The Tunisian navy has arrested more than 550 Tunisian and African migrants trying to sail to Europe in September, nearly three times more than last month, official data showed. Human traffickers increasingly use Tunisia as a launch pad for migrants heading for Europe as Libya’s coast guard, aided by armed groups, has tightened controls. Tunisia’s navy stopped boats with migrants departing from beaches in the south and north of the country, arresting 555 people in September, the data showed. In August only 170 people had been caught trying to depart…

The British Embassy in Tunisia announced the selection of five young Tunisians as this year’s Chevening scholars. The scholarships will allow them to pursue one-year postgraduate study in the UK from September 2017 in order to obtain a Master’s degree from a British university of their choice. Chevening scholars are distinguished by their leadership potential and their commitment to Tunisia’s development within their areas of expertise. Their study in the UK will provide them with the tools needed to make a difference in Tunisia once they return to their country.…

Tunisia is being encouraged to do more to tackle discrimination by a group of UN experts* who have welcomed the abolition of a ban on Muslim women marrying men who are not of the same faith. “Tunisia has now taken a further step towards achieving its constitutional guarantee of equality between women and men,” said the experts in response to the lifting of the ban on 13 September. Civil servants have been forbidden by administrative circular dating back to 1973 from registering any marriage between a Tunisian woman and a…

The opposing sides of a conflict in Libya have begun a series of negotiations in neighboring Tunisia to officially launch a new plan by the United Nations to end the six-year-old turmoil in the country. Reports said the meeting, which got closed to the press, began on Tuesday in Tunis after a speech by UN envoy Ghassan Salame, who urged the two sides to set aside their differences and complete their work in a timely fashion. “All Libyans are fed up. They are going from transition to transition with no…

TUNIS: The Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Tunisia, Mazin Abu Shanab, hailed the role played by the UAE in the humanitarian aid field and its support for refugees around the globe. While meeting with GCC journalists as part of UNHCR’s tour in North of Africa, Abu Shanab praised the significant role being played by the UAE to support refugees, especially its humanitarian efforts in Yemen. Nasir Abel Fernandes, UNHCR’s Senior Emergency Coordinator in Libya, said that the number of people in need of aid in…

The European Parliament’s Socialists and Democrats (S&D Group) is exploring ways to bring progressive centre-left forces in Tunisia into the fold in order to ensure a democratic transition ahead of the country’s first post-revolution municipality election. Tunisia was due to hold its first municipality election on 17 December, its first since the 2011 revolution which overthrew dictator President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. Since then, several democratic reforms have taken place including the adoption of a new constitution, while a coalition of civil society groups was awarded the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize.…

The threat of terrorism has forced Tunisia to double the budget of its military and security expenditures, Foreign Minister Khemais Jhinaoui told the United Nations General Assembly today, stressing that more international support was needed despite the Government’s efforts to stamp out the scourge. Indeed, the world’s “hotbeds” of terrorism are fueled by poverty and war, and linked to organized crime, refugee flows and large-scale violations of human rights, and he called for a comprehensive global response to the terrorist threat. On development, Mr. Jhinaoui said Tunisia has mainstreamed the…

Tunisia’s navy rescued 78 migrants including two girls after their vessel en route to Europe took on water off the coast of Chebba and was stranded for three days, the defense ministry said Friday. Human traffickers increasingly use Tunisia as a launch pad for migrants heading for Europe after Libya’s coast guard aided by armed groups tightened its controls. “Naval forces rescued 78 illegal Tunisian migrants 70 kilometers east of the coast of Chebba on board a boat that was damaged and leaking water,” the ministry said in statement, adding…

Khemaies Jhinaoui, Tunisia’s foreign minister, used his address to the UN General Assembly meeting in New York on Friday to give strong backing to the special envoy’s roadmap for Libya. Mr Jhinaoui said Tunis was co-ordinating closely with Egypt and Algeria as Libya’s neighbours to back Ghassan Salame’s drive to revise the Libya Political Agreement by mid-December. Mr Salame presented the plan to the UN on Wednesday and has set a goal of holding presidential and political elections in the divided North African state by next year. Tunis will host the…

The Dougga gas condensate field is located in the Sicily channel in the Gulf of Hammamet offshore Tunisia in a water depth of 328m. The field is 100% owned and operated by ADX Energy (ADX), which is currently carrying out a pre-feasibility study. The company plans to drill an appraisal well on the Tunisian fieldto establish its commerciality viability. Dougga field discovery The Dougga gas field was discovered in 1981 by the Dougga-1 discovery well drilled by Shell. The discovery well encountered a 500m hydrocarbon column under a thick regional seal…