By Michel PicardPosted on 24-04-2019Modified on 24-04-2019 at 22:03

Intercepted on April 14 at the Tunisian border from Tripoli, a French convoy with diplomatic plates saw his cargo recorded by customs. The arsenal seized fueled all speculation.

French officials intercepted at the Tunisian-Libyan border: back on a soap opera that made a lot of ink.

On Thursday, April 4, Marshal Haftar ordered his army to enter Tripoli , triggering a deadly offensive in Libya. Western chancelleries on the spot were then prepared to be evacuated if the fighting continued. Thus, the following week, eleven European members of the EUBAM European assistance mission in Libya joined Tunisia by sea.

Four days later, on April 14, thirteen French people came to one of the two border posts in south-eastern Tunisia to go to Tunis.

These two operations were to remain discreet and were not known to the Libyan authorities. Revealed at the same time, they nevertheless fed the local media every day. In particular the French caravan, which had chosen the road to win Tunisia.

Who were these thirteen Frenchmen? Secret advisers to warlords? Information Agents? Security agents at the French Embassy in Tripoli? Since April 14, all versions have circulated.

Thirteen gendarmes of the embassy in Tripoli with a large military arsenal

According to our latest information, it would be thirteen gendarmes responsible for the protection of the ambassador of France in Tripoli. They were traveling in six 4x4 vehicles and would have waited more than 20 hours at the Ras Jedir station.

According to a source familiar with the matter, the Tunisian side, the ministries of Foreign Affairs and Interior had been warned by France of this move decided less than 48 hours ago.

But the reinforcement of border controls after Marshal Haftar's offensive imposed a complete inventory of the weapons and intelligence equipment transported by diplomatic plate vehicles. Several hundred grenades, helmets, bullet-proof vests, missile and rocket launcher launchers and communications equipment were seized. They were stored in the Tunisian customs warehouse.

Finally, it took a French diplomat to move from Tunis, 600 km away, to allow the passage of the thirteen French security personnel who, for their work in Libya, possessed diplomatic passports. These 13 French officials had to leave their weapons and equipment at the border crossing.

Armed groups " under diplomatic cover " for Tunisian Defense

The case could have stopped there, but the Tunisian Minister of Defense, which reliable source was not in the " chain of communication between Paris and Tunis ", seized the subject: he evoked an " attempt infiltration into the national territory of armed groups from Libya ", describing the intercepted French as" men under diplomatic cover ".

Only minister to have expressed his doubts about the French version of this series, Abdelkarim Zbidi has never denied his accusations and even repeated them.

In a pre-election internal context, the man, who feeds presidential ambitions in the vote scheduled for the autumn, seems to be positioning himself as a new providential man capable of defending the Tunisian interests at the highest level and the sovereignty of the country. This at a time when both neighbors are going through crises that could destabilize Tunisia.

His version quickly became viral, both on social networks and on Arabic news sites, fueling accusations of French military support to Marshal Haftar .

At the same time, a statement by the Tunisian Minister did not fail to react, even within the military working under his orders: " He wanted to pay the French, even sacrifice bilateral interests on the altar of his political projects, "RFI told one of them, adding that" the backlash could be brutal for the minister. "

The other members of the government have refrained from putting oil on the fire.

The Tunisian Minister of the Interior, visiting the border a few hours after the incident, did not comment on the case. He merely emphasized the effective reinforcement of border controls "in order to avoid the intrusion of terrorist elements fleeing the fighting ".

An imbroglio settled " according to diplomatic usages "

Monday, April 22, the Tunisian Minister of Foreign Affairs received the ambassadors of France in Tunisia and Libya. Calling for a ceasefire in Tripoli, Khemaies Jhinaoui intended to close this chapter of diplomatic tensions sparked by the interception of the French detachment.

The next day, Tuesday, April 23, RFI quoted a senior source in the Tunisian presidency saying that the thirteen French intercepted on April 14 would have been intelligence agents . Immediately, the Tunisian presidency has categorically denied this source, saying that the issue of the French diplomatic convoy " was settled in a legal framework and according to diplomatic practices. "

According to our information, the weapons and equipment seized will be repatriated to France under Tunisian supervision before the end of April. The arsenal sealed by customs correspond to the stock of surplus weapons at the French Embassy in Libya, according to a source familiar with the matter. This, because " it was out of the question, in view of the evolution of the situation, to evacuate the place by leaving it on the spot. "

After the UGTT union, which has been positioned this winter to defend the economic sovereignty of Tunisia against the IMF, it seems that national territorial sovereignty is becoming a campaign theme for the planned legislative and presidential elections. in six months.

    On the same subject

    Tunisia: French intercepted would be intelligence agents, Tunis denies

    Libya: accused by Tripoli of supporting Khalifa Haftar, France denies

    Libya: between France and Marshal Haftar, three years of mutual aid

    Tunisia, worried about the situation in Libya, secures its border

    Tunisia: confused European diplomats arrested at the Libyan border

    Libya: France denies "all hidden plan"

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