After two years Algeria-Tunisia border crossings reopen

Several cars and signs celebrating Tunisian-Algerian friendship marked the reopening Friday of land borders between the two countries, more than two years after they closed due to the Covid pandemic.

Authorities expect more than a million Algerian visitors, most of them tourists, to enter Tunisia during the summer months.

After two years of closure, due to Covid, nine border crossings between the two countries reopened at midnight on Thursday.

The decision to reopen the crossings was announced by Algeria’s President Abdelmajid Tebboune to his Tunisian counterpart Kais Saied, on July 5, during Algiers’ independence day celebrations.

The Melloula border post, near Tabarka where an AFP team was deployed, traditionally sees the most traffic, according to Tunisian national guard official Jamel Zrig.

In 2019 it saw between 15,000 and 16,000 daily arrivals and accounted for a quarter of incoming traffic from Algeria.

“Long live Algerian-Tunisian fraternity,” read a large banner at the border.

Visitors showed vaccination certificates and other Covid-related documents to customs officials in a building adorned with the inscription: “Welcome to our Algerian brothers, in their second country, Tunisia.”

Nearly three million Algerians travelled to Tunisia in 2019, equating to one-third of foreign visitors in a year which signaled a recovery in Tunisia’s tourism sector.

Algerians typically travel to Tunisia for tourism, visiting the popular seaside resorts of Annaba and Constantine, visiting family, or undertaking medical treatment.

Relations between the two North African countries have been historically warm since Algerian independence from French colonial rule in 1962.

Following the onset of the Covid pandemic border crossings between the two countries were closed on March 17, 2020, remaining open only for emergencies.