Tunisian President Kais Saied spoke this Saturday, October 31 by telephone with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron about illegal migration, two days after an attack in Nice, the alleged perpetrator of which is a Tunisian.
Read also: Nice attack: a fourth man arrested, update on the investigation
Kais Saied and Emmanuel Macron spoke of "
bilateral relations
" as well as "
the terrorist acts that France has known and still suffers
", according to a press release from the Tunisian presidency.
During this call, the two heads of state also addressed "
the issue of clandestine migration and the solutions to be found together to face this phenomenon, which is worsening
".
On Thursday, three people were killed in the Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption basilica in Nice.
The alleged assailant, Brahim Issaoui, is a 21-year-old Tunisian who arrived illegally in Europe via the Italian island of Lampedusa on September 20, before joining France the day before the attack, according to a source close to the investigation.
Kais Saied also denounced "
all forms of violence and terrorism
", according to the presidential statement.
There
are
"
many people who use Islam to recruit other people with the aim not only to offend Islam but also to destroy relations between people and nations,
" he added.
Surveys in France and Tunisia
Tunisian head of government Hichem Mechichi on Saturday called on his interior and justice ministers to cooperate fully with the French authorities in the investigation and reiterated his “
total and absolute
”
condemnation
of this “
brutal and cowardly terrorist
operation
”.
Tunisia has also launched an investigation.
According to Mohsen Dali, the deputy attorney general at the Tunis court of first instance, the Tunisian authorities arrested two people on Friday after the publication of a video on social networks announcing "
the demand
" of the attack by an unknown organization.
This claim is not considered credible by experts in jihadist movements.
After a peak in departures from Tunisia in 2011, followed by a sharp drop, attempts at illegal emigration have increased again since 2017, the country being shaken by political instability and hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic which led to a soaring unemployment.
