Tunisia no longer wants to be Fathi Bachagha's rear base

After letting Fathi Bachagha get organized from Tunis, President Kaïs Saïed reportedly informed the Libyan Prime Minister of his disagreement with his political and diplomatic activities on his territory.

Is this a way for Tunisia to demonstrate neutrality in the battle between the two Libyan Prime Ministers, Abdel Hamid Dbeibah and Fathi Bachagha ? The latter, appointed on March 3 by the Tobruk House of Representatives as prime minister, has regularly traveled to Tunisia to implement his political strategy. Bachagha's last visit to Tunis: April 17th. But after bringing together several military officials from the west, the Libyan Prime Minister was prevented from crossing the border in the other direction by forces loyal to Abdel Hamid Dbeibah.

And while he was expected to return to Tunis in recent days, the situation is complicated for Fathi Bachagha. Indeed, according to Africa Intelligence, the Prime Minister has been asked not to travel to Tunisia to do politics or international diplomacy there. On April 19, Bachagha would have been immediately sent back to Benghazi.

Information that Hafedh Kaddour, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Bachagha government, denied, assuring that no Tunisian request to leave the territory had been formulated. But it would seem that Kaïs Saïed no longer really agrees that his country should be the rear base of the Eastern Prime Minister.

Tunis aligns with Algiers

According to the French newspaper, the Tunisian president would indeed have approached Abdel Hamid Dbeibah in recent weeks. Kaïs Saïed seeks above all to please Algiers: Dbeibah had met Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune during the 6th summit of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF), in Qatar, during which an oil and gas agreement was signed between the Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC) and the Algerian Sonatrach.

However, Tunis being dependent on Algerian financial aid, Kaïs Saïed has every interest in not taking a stand for Bachagha and in remaining, at worst, neutral. Especially since Khalifa Haftar and Fathi Bachagha are now allies. A week ago, on the eve of Bachagha's arrival in Tunis, Abdelmadjid Tebboune received Abdel Hamid Dbeibah.

Kaïs Saïed would therefore have warned the Prime Minister designated by the parliament of eastern Libya that he should no longer do politics from Tunis. But this does not mean that Bachagha is banned from Tunisian territory. Indeed, says Africa Intelligence, the Libyan leader will still be able to stay in his suite at the Four Seasons in Gammarth, provided he does not bring together other political leaders there.

Besides Algiers, Abdel Hamid Dbeibah would himself have intervened with the Tunisian president to block the way to Bachagha, whom rumors were sending to Tripoli. Indeed, it was planned for the pro-Bachagha militias to pass through the Dehiba border post to reach the Libyan capital. Dbeibah then summoned the Tunisian ambassador to Tripoli, Lassaad Ajili. There is no doubt that the outgoing Prime Minister had put pressure on Tunis to prevent Kaïs Saïed from showing his support for his rival, Fathi Bachagha.