Tunisia: New Zone of Turbulence

By African Bulletin on May 23, 2011

Trapped between Algeria and Libya, Tunisia seems to have entered a new zone of turbulence facing a possible threat of “terrorist” activity on its territory.

The country is already struggling to cope with the spillover of the Libyan conflict in its southern border.
Alarming reports of arrests of AQIM members, and also exchange of fire in the North of Tunisia, with members strongly suspected to belong to al-Qaeda are adding more fears to the situation, some observers believe enough unstable to be a breeding ground for terrorist and mercenary activities. The proof is the involvement of some Tunisian Army brass in a television broadcast about security and the fight against terrorists. This event has never been seen before within the country, and anyone may wonder what lies behind all these events. Thus, emotion is intense, succeeded by fears and dismay after the death of four people – one colonel and a soldier of the Tunisian army and two Libyans, 200 kilometers far from the Algerian border. All were killed in a firefight with suspected elements of Al-Qaeda. The Tunisian authorities have also announced the arrest of an Algerian and a Libyan, suspected of belonging to AQIM, with possession of explosives. Moreover, rocket shells had fell, in the Tunisian territory during clashes between the rebels and the Kadhafi’s loyalists, by the South. All these events have led the Tunisian transition Prime Minister, Mr. Beji Caid Essebsi to recognize that the situation in his country is “stretched”, particularly because of the Libyan civil war. Situation that prompted also the Tunisian political scientist, Slah Zguidi to declare that “he is not scared by the posthumous Usama Ben Laden’s audio release, than he is from the highly and risky Libyan escalation”. It is suitable for AQIM and other  mercenary groups to transit  weapons across Tunisia, and it is becoming increasingly clear that the materialized hook, formed by the North East of Algeria, the West of Tunisia, Libya, Northern Chad, Niger, Mali and finally the North East of Mauritania is now so porous to the advantage of the terrorist and mercenary groups  to use and act by ” extra normal” means to spread fright by calculated doses depending on their tactical considerations and attended objectives, like  disorientation…