Discovery of a Tunisian terrorist cell – more questions than answers

I was surprised to read this morning about the discovery of a terrorist cell in Sfax, Tunisia’s second city, about 4 hours south of Tunis. However, having read the reports and the statement by Laarayedh, the interior minister, the reports we have now raise more questions than they answer.

First of all, the group appears to be part of the same group that attacked the police in Bir Ali Ben Khalifa (near Sfax). When that story came out a couple weeks ago, there were a lot of people that downplayed its significance.

Here are a few questions the Tunisian press should be pressing the government on include: why do you think this cell was connected to Al Qaeda? How many dangerous criminals were released in the amnesties of 2011/2012? where did this group’s financing come from? does the army have the resources to protect the Tuniso-Libyan border?

Instead, all we seem to know is the following:

Most of the French language press reported that they were Salafist extremists (or Beardos “barbus”, as they’re known here). Some reports even questioned whether it wasn’t a holdover of RCDists from the former regime. This kind of report from Businessnews was common. It raises the important point that under the Ben Ali regime, it was common to group Islamists and terrorists together, however it concludes with the statement:

Les citoyens tunisiens semblent aujourd’hui déchirés entre leurs libertés indispensables, fraîchement acquises, et un besoin vital de sécurité. Mais le climat d’insécurité qui règne aujourd’hui est-il réel ou s’agit-il simplement d’une psychose qui, à force d’événements amplifiés et remis au goût du jour, tente de déstabiliser le pays…

In English (my translation, italics mine)

 Tunisian citizens appear to be torn between their indispensable freedoms, newly acquired, and the need for security. But is the security climate that reins today real or does is consist simply of a psychosis, which because of recent trumped up events, attempts to destabilize the country?

The government itself downplayed it as well. The Prime Minister, Hamadi Jebali, said that the events didn’t pose a significant threat.

Basically, it was whitewashed. Now, however, the Interior Ministry is singing a different tune.

Yesterday’s reports confirm that it’s the same group of people from Sfax. Only this time, they’re not called barbus, but terrorists, and according to some, part of Al Qaeda. According to the press reports, the group’s aim was to set up an Islamic Caliphate in Tunisia, though their targets were not yet known.

There are a few interesting things about the French language press reports this morning:

1) Some reports make the link with Al Qaeda (http://www.lapresse.tn/14022012/45192/des-avancees-sur-le-plan-securitaire.html), “They have ties to Alqaeda, but we don’t know the nature of these ties” “Ces derniers sont en liaison avec Al Qaïda et on ignore encore quelle est la nature de cette liaison.”

Others say that they may be linked – through Libyan ties with Al Qaeda (Le Temps, “The network maintains relations with other terrorist cells in Libya, some of whom are close to Al Qaeda” “Le réseau entretient des rapports avec d’autres cellules terroristes installées en Libye dont certaines sont proches de l’organisation terroriste Al Qaida.” Tunisia Live‘s is less nuanced, its headline reads dramatically that “Tunisian Authorities Break Up Alleged Al Qaeda Terror Cell.”

None of the press reports I’ve read make any distinction between Al Qaeda or AQIM.

2)  All of the reports this morning state that the members were trained in Libya, but that the suspects are Tunisian. The articles talk about their education levels, and more importantly, they appear to have been in jail under Ben Ali and released as part of one of the amnesties last year.