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The land border between Algeria and Tunisia was reopened on Friday after more than two years of closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Tunisian authorities expect to welcome more than a million Algerian visitors this summer, mostly tourists.
The reopening of the land border between the two countries, after more than two years of closure, went smoothly on Friday, July 15, near Tabarka, according to journalists from the AFP news agency on the Tunisian side.
The Tunisian authorities expect to welcome this summer more than a million Algerian visitors, mostly tourists, at the nine border crossings between the two countries reopened at midnight on Thursday.
The reopening of the land borders, closed due to the Covid-19 health crisis, was announced on July 5 by President Abdelmajid Tebboune to his Tunisian counterpart Kais Said.
The Melloula border post, near Tabarka (northwest), is the most important in Tunisian territory, according to Jamel Zrig, a national guard official, with 25% of Algerian entries through this border in 2019.
“Long live the Algerian-Tunisian brotherhood,” proclaimed a large banner in the border area.
“We are like one body”
The visitors had to check their Covid documents in a building crowned with the inscription: “Welcome to our Algerian brothers, in your second country, Tunisia”.
“I felt very good because we really wanted to do it. Yes, we are very happy,” Jana Galila, a retired Algerian tourist, told AFP.
Algerian Gharbi Larbiya, who is visiting his family in Tunisia, said he was also very happy. “We are brothers of the Tunisians. I cannot do without them, we are like one body.”
Other Algerians have chosen Tunisia because they couldn’t travel anywhere else. Like Zacharia Nechadi, who points out that “there are not many visas granted this year” by other countries and to take advantage of the fact that Tunisia “is close to Algeria and is very pleasant”.
In 2019, almost three million Algerians went to Tunisia, that is, a third of foreign visitors in this year marked by a strong recovery in tourism.
They had chosen the neighboring country to visit, seek medical treatment or reunite with family, while ties between the two states have traditionally been very close since the Algerian war against the French colonial power (1954-1962).
The main Algerian cities, such as Annaba or Constantine, are located not far from the Tunisian border.
Algerians especially appreciate the seaside resorts of Sousse and Hammamet (to the east), as well as the holy city of Kairouan (in the center), and they like to spend New Year’s holidays in Tunisia.
Land borders had been closed by Algeria on March 17, 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, remaining open only for emergencies.
*With AFP; adapted from its original French version
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