Tunisian authorities arrest 1,500 suspected Islamic Jihadists in crackdown intended to protect countrys young democracy In October 2014, Tunisian Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa said that approximately 1,500 suspected Islamist jihadists had been arrested over the course of the year, as part of a national security crackdown intended to protect the countrys young democracy. In an interview with Reuters News, Prime Minister Jomaa said, Since the beginning of this year, we have arrested about 1,500 terrorism suspects. They will face justice in the coming months, including 500 who will be tried this month.” Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa also indicated that those persons arrested included militants who had fought in Syrias civil war and presented a threat to the homeland. To this end, he said, The number of Tunisians fighting in Syria is estimated at about 3,000. A few hundred of them have returned to Tunisia and they have been tracked down and arrested. Meanwhile, given Tunisias location close to Libya, which was itself being taken over by Islamist militants and deteriorating into a failed state, the Tunisian authorities were anxious to prevent their country from slipping down such a dismal path. On this issue, Prime Minister Jomaa said, Tunisia is surrounded by Jihadist groups in the mountains who coordinate with the terrorists in Libya ... Libya is the main source of arms for jihadists in Tunisia. Likewise, with nearby Algeria increasingly confronting the threat posed by terrorists from al-Qaida in the Mahgreb, Tunisia was stepping up border controls with that country. These moves were collectively aimed at preserving Tunisias national security and protecting the democratic strides made in the previous three years. Yet those very democratic strides were apparently spurring the remaining Islamist extremist elements within the country to turn to Islamic State in the Levant (ISIL; also known as Islamic State in Iraq and Syria or ISIS). According to reports from the region, extremist fighters from Tunisia have constituted the largest single source country to the conflict ensuing in Iraq and Syria at the hands of ISIL. The fact of the matter was that although Tunisia has been home to the Arab world’s most educated and cosmopolitan citizenry, and even in the face of Tunisias impressive democratic strides, there remains a significant swath of the population with regressive Islamist inclinations. For Islamists angry about the new and broadly democratic Constitution in Tunisia, the ideology of and military gains by ISIL stands as a recruitment tool, while ISIL itself provides them with an outlet for their extremist zealotry. The socio-economic problems in Tunisia that gave rise to the Jasmine Revolution in 2011, continue to prevail three years later. For young and educated Tunisians frustrated by the pace of change, ISIL provided an avenue for action in their lives and the promise of something different (the actual texture of that barbaric difference notwithstanding). Meanwhile, Tunisia was preparing to hold parliamentary and presidential elections from October through December 2014. These elections were a crucial test for Tunisias young democracy, in the aftermath of the so-called Jasmine Revolution that ended the regime of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali during the 2011 Arab Spring. The countrys first democratic elections in 2011 brought to power an Islamist Ennhada government, which critics believed did little to stop extremists from assassinating two Tunisian opposition politicians in mid-2013. The shocked populace reacted with outrage and took the view that the Islamic Ennahda partys tacit facilitation of extremism was contrary to the objectives of the 2011 Jasmine Revolution. By late 2013, a caretaker government was formed under Prime Minister Jomaa and fresh elections were set to be held in 2014. With those elections in the offing, the Tunisian authorities were particularly committed to ensuring no extremist Islamist forces could negatively impede the path of democratization. As noted by the prime minister, Despite all the serious threats from jihadists, the elections will be a success and we have put in place security plans to counter any threat. To that end, the parliamentary contest went forward successfully on Oct. 26, 2014 and saw the secularists defeat the Islamists at the polls. It was historic victory for the secularists in Tunisias young democracy. Note that presidential elections were to be held later in the year. Written by Dr. Denise Coleman, Editor in Chief Political Intelligence Briefing, CountryWatch Copyright © 2014 CountryWatch Inc. Subscribers to CountryWatch can read more about Tunisia, as well as other significant developments around the world, in the Political Intelligence Wire at the Political Intelligence Zone at: pib.countrywatch/
Posted on: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 15:58:34 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015