Museum Attack: a Threat to Tunisia's Nascent Democracy?
The deadly attack on Tunisia's National Bardo Museum highlights security shortcomings in the birthplace of the Arab Spring which touts itself as regional example of post-revolutionary democracy.
Since Wednesday's assault claimed by the Islamic State group killed 21 people, 20 of them foreign tourists, there has been concern about what the political fallout will be.
Here are some key questions and answers:
- Is democratic transition threatened in Tunisia?
President Beji Caid Essebsi, 88, was quick to shoot that idea down, saying the day after the attack: "The process of implementing a democratic system is underway, well anchored. We will never move backwards."
The coalition government, led by Essebsi's Nidaa Tounes party and including moderate Islamists Ennahda, has weathered the shock. The two parties appear to be on the same wave length, although Ennahda has been accused in the past of being soft towards the radical Salafist movement when it headed the first post-revolution cabinet from 2011 to 2014.
Senior Tunisia analyst for the Crisis Group think-tank, Michael Bechir Ayari, said he believes that, in the short-term, "Tunisia remains open for business and its political transition remains hopeful."
"Political responses to the attack have proved the resilience of Tunisia’s achievement -- reflected in the compromise last year between Islamist and anti-Islamist factions on forming the new government," he said.
- Can security and democracy be reconciled?
There is an apparent consensus that authorities must secure the country without being tempted to undermine the democratic gains of the revolution.
However, politicians have been criticized having delayed the adoption of a new strategy to combat jihadists movements, namely parliament's failure to adopt an anti-terrorist law.
"Over the coming weeks, the main challenge for Tunisia’s political establishment is to avoid the temptation to revert to the old norm of authoritarian governance, which in the past has proved incapable of maintaining long-term stability," says Ayari.
"At the same time, Tunisia has to strengthen the legitimacy and efficiency of the judiciary and security forces if the state is to successfully overcome its economic and security challenges."
Authorities have named the two gunmen killed by security forces at the museum as Yassine Abidi and Hatem Khachnaoui and said they were known to the police.
Secretary of State for Security Rafik Chelly has said they were members of "dormant cells... and we know they were capable of carrying out operations". But authorities had not arrested them for lack of proof.
- Ennahda, a threat or stroke of luck?
Ennahda advocates a modern vision of Islam and, unlike many Islamist parties in the Arab world, it does not consider that sharia law should be the source of legislation.
The party also considers democracy as the most appropriate model of governance for Tunisia.
In 2014 Tunisia adopted a progressive constitution after two years of acrimonious debate and deep divisions and mistrust between Ennahda, then in power, and the largely secular opposition.
The opposition accused Ennahda of ties with radical militants but Ennahda espoused the new charter, which the international community hailed as a model to be followed by other Arab countries.
After the attack on the Bardo, the party vowed that "this criminal attack will not break the will of our people nor will it undermine our revolution and our democracy".
It said the Tunisian people "who overcame dictatorship" under dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who was ousted by the 2011 revolt, "will defeat terrorism".
Source: Agence France Presse
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