Tunisia tries to defuse airline spat with U.A.E.

TUNIS, TUNISIA— Tunisia tried to smooth out emerging tensions with the United Arab Emirates on Monday after Emirates airline barred Tunisian women from boarding its flights and the North African country responded by suspending the Dubai-based carrier’s operations in the air and on the ground.

The spokesperson for the Tunisian presidency dismissed any notion of a “diplomatic crisis” between the two countries, expressing Tunisia’s “understanding” of a decision made by the U.A.E. government to “protect its territory and its airlines.”

After the Emirates’ decision caused an outcry in Tunisia, the presidential spokesperson had to speak publicly on a radio station to explain that the ban targeting Tunisian women followed alleged serious threats of attacks.

The spokesperson, Saïda Garrach, said the U.A.E.’s authorities explained that they made the decision following “serious security information” about alleged plans for attacks by Tunisian women, or women with Tunisian passports, from “tense hotbeds” in Syria and Iraq.

U.A.E. Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash tweeted that the ban was temporary and due to security reasons.

In a later written statement, Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi “called for overcoming these problems as soon as possible to preserve the relations of brotherhood and cooperation between the two peoples of Tunisia and U.A.E.”