al-Qaeda Sees an Opportunity in Tunisia

[Valin]

Standpoint:

ALEXANDER MELEAGROU-HITCHENS
1/16/11

Following the unrest in Tunisia, al-Qaeda have released a message of solidarity with dissidents protesting against the regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.In a video dated 11 January 2011, the Commander of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Abu Musab Abdel Wadood, called on Tunisian dissidents to "send us your sons so that they receive military training" and return to help topple the government.

AQIM, which operates throughout North Africa, has become more active in recent months, and in September last year kidnapped seven people in Niger (five French, one from Madascar and one from Togo). Yesterday, it was also reported that AQIM killed two French hostages from a seperate kidnapping after an attempted rescue by French special forces.

However, as Michael Kaplow explains in Foreign Policy, Islamists - be they the more state-oriented and politically active Muslim Brotherhood or ultra-violent global jihadists of al-Qaeda - have little influence within Tunisia. He points out that, although the protesters are clearly seeking regime change, they 'have not directly challenged the reigning creed of state secularism.' There is no obvious or widespread desire to alter the very essence of the governing system, and as such, Islamists of any stripe are unlikely to find widespread support.

(Snip)

Taken on its own, this call could be (and often is) applied by al-Qaeda to any clash between citizens in a Muslim majority country and their secular, authoritarian government; in this instance the jihadists are unlikely to find many willing partners.

[Valin]

Army, regime gunmen battle in Tunisia

Jan. 16, 2011 at 3:53 PM

 

TUNIS, Tunisia, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- Tunisian army helicopter gunships Sunday battled gunmen loyal to the country's ousted president on the streets of Tunis, observers said.

Britain's The Telegraph newspaper said the gun battles raged between factions at the Presidential Palace, Central Bank and Interior Ministry, and the army's attempts to restore order two days after President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali fled the country was failing.

 

In the first popular uprising in the Arab world in 50 years, members of Ben Ali's presidential guards seized control of high-rise buildings in the center of Tunis for more than an hour before being flushed out by the gunships, the report said.

 

In renewed fighting, snipers opened fire on army positions along the city's main thoroughfare over an hour yesterday evening.

Earlier Sunday, the interim government said two top security officials for Ben Ali have been arrested.

 

(Snip)