WOMEN BAN: Tunisia demands immediate apology from UAE over Emirates airline action

The North African country of Tunisia is demanding an apology from the United Arab Emirates after some of its female nationals were banned from boarding their flights to Dubai on the Emirates airline carrier.

Tunisian Foreign Minister Khemaies Jhinaoui said it is important that the UAE issues a public apology because the ban was widely perceived as discrimination against Tunisian women.

Jhinaoui however revealed that his UAE counterpart, Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, had called him to offer a personal apology.

“I … [told the UAE foreign minister] that the perception is there because the move happened, and so there is no way that we can maintain business as usual,” he said.

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“We hoped there would be some sort of discussion, for our advice to be taken into account … but it is a complex situation that shocked us from the very beginning,” he said.

Two days after banning it female national from boarding their flight, Tunisia suspended Emirate airline flights to and from the North African country to register their displeasure at the action.

Salem Zeabi, the UAE ambassador to Tunisia, was called in to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday to “provide clarification on the measure banning” Tunisian women from flying to or transiting through the Gulf state’s territory.

Zeabi reportedly said the measure was “temporary and relating to security arrangements”.

Earlier on Sunday, Anwar Gargash, the UAE’s minister of state for foreign affairs, also cited security as the reason for the travel restriction.

“We have contacted our Tunisian brothers about security information that necessitated taking specific and circumstantial measures,” Gargash wrote on Twitter.

 

 

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