The Mediterranean migrants crisis was one of the main topics discussed by Tunisa's foreign minister Nabil Ammar and his French counterpart Catherine Colonna during their first meeting in Paris. In an interview with FRANCE 24, Nabil Ammar said that the two nations "share lots of views". He told Marc Perelman that stopping the migrants from crossing "cannot be the middle-term or long-term solution at all". "It is rather about fixing the people in their countries, creating wealth", he said.
Rached Ghannouchi, the leader of the Ennahda party and a prominent critic of Tunisian President Kais Saied, was sentenced to a year in prison in May. Amnesty International and a number of other human rights groups have denounced what they described as an aggressive crackdown on the opposition. Ammar said that he did not accept the NGOs' characterisation of events.
"We in Tunisia, we are only applying the law, Tunisan laws", he said.
