TUNISIA-SECURITY/EU EU ready to help Tunisia increase its security in the wake of recent attacks

Record ID: 146581

  • Title: TUNISIA-SECURITY/EU EU ready to help Tunisia increase its security in the wake of recent attacks
  • Date: 20th July 2015
  • Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (JULY 20, 2015) (REUTERS) SPAIN FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER JOSE MANUEL GARCIA-MARGALLO TALKING TO JOURNALISTS GARCIA-MARGALLO AND JOURNALISTS
  • Embargoed: 4th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Belgium
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA7UU6P7OKNLV5IK6XE5P2QUNI3
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: VIDEO CONTAINS PROFANITY AND GRAPHIC IMAGES IN SHOTS 17-18
    Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid met on Monday (July 20) with European Union foreign affairs ministers to discuss how to strengthen cooperation in order to increase the security of his country in the wake of the attack at a beach resort in Sousse last month.
    38 people were killed, including a majority of Britons, when a gunman attacked a beach hotel on June 26, 2015. German and Belgians were also among the dead. Islamic State militants claimed responsibility of the attack on the Imperial Marhaba resort hotel.
    In the wake of the attack, Tunisia declared a state of emergency, deployed about 3,000 armed policeman in hotels and beaches to strengthen protection for the tourists and closed dozens of mosques for inciting violence.
    Earlier this year, in March, two gunmen killed 21 foreign tourists, in an attack at the Bardo museum in the Tunisian capital Tunis.
    Upon arrival in Brussels, EU ministers said they were ready to give more political and economical support to Tunisia.
    "The EU is working up a substantial package of economic and political support for Tunisia to show that we stand with the Tunisian people as they resist this attempt by ISIL to undermine their new democracy and their economy and we will work with them including on further security and CT [counter-terrorism] cooperation," British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said.
    "As I have often said, I am convinced that we must do more bilaterally and as Europe as a whole to guarantee stability in Tunisia. It is also economic support of course -- young people in Tunisia need jobs -- but in my opinion after these attacks it also means security support in Tunisia," German Foreign Affairs Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said.
    Steinmeier also said support for security reforms could include the roll-out of a border security system with assistance to equip Tunisia's border and to train border security.
    Belgian Foreign Affairs Minister Didier Reynders said Arab countries need to dare to face up to the issue of extremism, while Spanish Foreign Affairs Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said only military action could help fight Islamic State.
    "Most Muslims want to live in peace here but one need to dare to raise the issue on how to fight these extremists within the Muslim world. You also have some [extremists] in other movements, including in the secular world but today you have some within Islam," Reynders said.
    "It's obvious that against Daesh [Islamic State] there is nothing but military action in Libya, Syria and Iraq. Experience has shown that dialogue or negotiations don't work with such a radical extremist group. What works is military action," Garcia-Margallo said.
    EU foreign ministers also backed Iran nuclear deal and were set to discuss how to restart the Middle East peace process.
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