Tag: Tunisia

North Africa

Tunisia: one step forward, one step back

Tunisia's parliament voted to overturn a 1973 directive prohibiting marriage between a Muslim woman and a non-Muslim man—a victory for the country's transition to secular rule. But one day earlier, the parliament voted overwhelmingly to approve a controversial amnesty law pardoning thousands implicated in corruption and embezzlement under the former regime of Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali. The opposition bloc boycotted the vote, as protesters massed outside the parliament building, calling the step a move back toward dictatorship.

Watching the Shadows

Appeals court: military judge biased in 9-11 case

A federal appeals court in Washington DC ruled  that the military judge hearing the case against the 9-11 defendants should have recused himself for making comments that revealed his bias in the matter. The case against the accused conspirators is still pending nearly a decade after it opened, beset by a long string of controversies and irregularities.

North Africa

Tunisian revolutionaries betray Syrian revolution?

The democratic transition in Tunisia since the 2011 uprising has been the one real success story of the Arab Revolution—and the Tunisian revolution was also the first that served to spark the subsequent wave. So Tunisia’s pro-democracy forces have international responsibilities, seen as keepers of the flame. It is distressing to learn that the General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT), a pillar of the country’s pro-democracy movement, sent a delegation to Damascus to meet with dictator Bashar Assad and express solidarity with his “war against terrorism.”

North Africa

Thousands protest Tunisia corruption amnesty bill

Thousands of Tunisians marched to protest a bill that would grant amnesty to officials facing charges of corruption committed under the previous regime of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.

North Africa

More mysterious air-strikes in Libya

The latest in an ongoing wave of unclaimed air-strikes in Libya hit al-Jufra air base in the interior of the country, which is in the hands of local militia forces.

North Africa

Tunisian fellahin resist land-grab

The farmers and agricultural workers of Tunisia's Jemna oasis have issued an urgent call for solidarity in defense of their communal property​ against a government-backed land-grab.

North Africa

Algeria to build security wall on Libyan border

Algeria announced that it will join Tunisia in building a separation barrier along its border with Libya, in an effort to bar infiltration by ISIS militants and arms traffickers.

North Africa

ISIS attacks Tunisia in cross-border raid

In a surprise dawn raid, ISIS forces attacked Ben Guerdane, the first Tunisian city west of the border with Libya, in an apparent attempt to establish an "emirate" there.

North Africa

Britain prepares Libya intervention

The UK is preparing to send troops to Tunisia to help prevent ISIS fighters from entering the country from Libya—and has broached direct intervention in Libya itself.

North Africa

US warplanes strike ISIS targets in Libya

US warplanes hit an ISIS camp at Sabratha, about 70 kilometers west of Tripoli, killing at least 49—said to be mostly foreign fighters who were preparing an attack in Europe.