Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Christine Petré
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Political chaos in Libya as unity government enters Tripoli
It has been an eventful week in Libyan politics; within days the country has gone from having two rival governments to three, with the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) moving into Tripoli. Soon thereafter, it was back to two as the Tripoli-based National Salvation Government (NSG) declared that...
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Daesh pushes at building base in southern Tunisia
The mounting fears that Daesh’s growth in Libya will spill over on to Tunisia are rising as a group of militants belonging to the group crossed the border in an attempt to cease the southern Tunisian city of Ben Gardane yesterday morning. The attack started just after 5am in...
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Tunisia’s armed forces are no longer neglected, but will they take power?
Unlike many Middle East and North African states, the Tunisian military has for political purposes been neglected since the country’s independence in 1957. However, the 2011 revolution has brought a change of political strategy. Middle East Monitor spoke to researcher Sharan Grewal about the country’s armed forces pre- and...
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Little to celebrate, say Libyan youth on the anniversary of the revolution
Five years ago today the Arab Spring demonstrations spread to Libya, prompting a NATO-led intervention that would put an end to the 42-year rule of then leader Muammar Gaddafi. How do Libya’s youth feel about events since that day? What do they think about the revolution’s anniversary, the General...
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Tunisia struggles to cope with radicalised youth
The Tunisian parliament has voted in favour of changes to a law which will ensure that detainees have a right to an attorney. The legislative revision comes at a time when an increasing crackdown on terrorism has resulted in rising reports of youth arrests accompanied by police brutality, as...
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A conversation about Tunisia today with Harvard Professor Malika Zeghal
According to Malika Zeghal, “In Tunisia today the main issue is not about Islam, or about Sharia law, but about how every Tunisian can find a job.” The Professor in Contemporary Islamic Thought and Life at Harvard University explained this while discussing Tunisia’s current challenges and its democratic success...
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Tunisian revolutionary leader mobilises ahead of 14 January anniversary
Controversial revolutionary Imed Dghij claims that his primary goals for Tunisia are equality and dignity, which is why he aims to increase pressure on the government ahead of the January anniversary of the revolution to make sure that the uprising wasn’t in vain. Dghij was a teacher before becoming...
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Sidi Bouzid 5 years since Tunisian revolution
As Tunisia celebrates five years since the beginning of the revolution, its birthplace continues to be a symbol of the country’s hardship. On 17 December a few hundred of Sidi Bouzid’s around 120 000 citizens, young and old, men and women, gathered by the stone sculptured vegetable stall, the...
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Is Libya on the brink of a humanitarian crisis?
As the conflict and violence in Libya persists, the situation on the ground is deteriorating. Libyan citizens continue to struggle with price increases for basic commodities, while at the same time many experience delays in state salary payments. “Six months ago you could buy 15 bread rolls for 1...
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MENA defence spending is rising but is security increasing?
In addition to highlighting the poor oversight of armed forces in the Middle East, including secret defence budgets and lack of legitimacy and transparency, a recent report from British watchdog Transparency International raises questions about how unchecked spending and illicit arms transfers contribute to conflict, and links corruption to...
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Daesh has its eyes on Libyan oil
As the Libyan branch of Daesh/ISIS is attacking one of Libya’s – and Africa’s – largest oil reserves and key oilfields, questions have arisen about the group’s capabilities. The militant extremists recently attacked Al-Sidra, one of Libya’s main ports for exporting oil, killing one of the security guards; one...
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Drawing a bridge for the masses in Lebanon
Rising above Hamra Street, in the downtown commercial centre of Beirut, is the city’s biggest mural portraying national hero Sabah covering a five floor property. The Lebanese singer was active for six decades, a woman who broke many taboos (she married seven times) and became a symbol of an...
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‘Tunisia needs justice and transparency, not forgiveness for a corrupt elite’
“No to despotism and reconciliation with corruption!” chanted demonstrators in the heart of the capital of Tunisia last weekend. Many demonstrators held signs with similar messages or waved pictures of secular politicians Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahimi, assassinated in 2013. Hundreds marched through the city, to be met by...
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‘If the alternatives were better, there would be no support for ISIS’
During his long career focusing on counter-terrorism, former British diplomat Richard Barrett has worked on countering the appeal of terrorism. He has identified a sense of personal or community injustice as a recurrent factor which draws people to terrorism. Even though he acknowledges that it would be unrealistic to...
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Shadi Hamid on the Muslim Brotherhood
Shadi Hamid, author of “Temptations of Power: Islamists and Illiberal Democracy in a New Middle East” talks to Middle East Monitor’s Christine Petré about the state of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the radicalisation of its youth. What would you say are the main differences between the leadership...
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Is banning Hizb ut-Tahrir such a good idea, Tunisia?
As part of the Tunisian government’s recent security clampdown it has suggested banning the Islamist political party Hizb ut-Tahrir. However, the decision may be counterproductive, analysts argue. In the aftermath of the bloodiest terrorist attack in Tunisian history, when a gunman killed 38 people at a beach resort in...
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Tunisia’s counter-terrorism jungle
As Tunisia steps up its counter-terrorism measures, including increasing security measures, some students and teachers are also calling for a more open debate and discussion around the issue. Despite its democratic success, the small Mediterranean country is the biggest per capita jihadist contributor to the Iraq and Syria conflict,...
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Three generations of Tunisian jihadists
In “Beneath the black flag: Tunisia’s Salafists” Tunisian journalist and analyst Hedi Yahmed examines the Tunisian jihadi phenomenon. Middle East Monitor’s Christine Petré speaks to the author about his book, why there are so many Tunisian jihadists and what the Tunisian state should do now. For the book you...
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Tunisia and the Islamic State PR-machine
Since the terrorist attack targeting the Bardo Museum there has been an increase in media reports claiming that Tunisia is becoming the next Islamic State (IS) conquest. Judging from some of the coverage you’d be excused for believing that the radical movement was already setting up camps in the...
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Journey from repression to the Tunisian parliament
From female Islamist activist fighting under repression to a parliamentarian standing up for women’s rights, Middle East Monitor speaks to Yamina Zoghlami. “The fight for women’s rights continues,” explains Zoghlami, a middle-aged parliamentarian, when we sit down for tea at the Bardo parliament in the capital Tunis. In 1985,...
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Libya, a priority for Tunisian foreign policy?
The Bardo attack indicates that Tunisia will not be able to remain immune to Libya’s ongoing conflict where two rival governments fight for power and the Islamic State is gaining ground. This neighbouring country continues to be a delicate issue for the Tunisian government. The Islamic State (ISIS) has...
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Many questions remain after Bardo Museum attack
On the morning of 18 March, Yassine Labidi woke up in his middle-class home in Kech el Ghaba, a suburb of Tunis. Like every other morning he had breakfast at home and then left for work before 10 o’clock. But this was not a normal Wednesday. After one hour...
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Will Tunisians stand united in fight against terrorism?
As Tunisia experienced its worst terrorist attack in years Tunisians remain determined to stand united against any terrorism threat. However, exactly how united is the Tunisian population? It was at mid-day on Wednesday that two gunmen killed 21 people in a hostage situation at the country’s famous Bardo museum,...
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How Ansar al-Sharia grew in post-revolutionary Tunisia
In Tunisia’s post-revolutionary political vacuum with increased freedom of religion and speech, in combination with weak security, the radical Salafist group Ansar al-Sharia could grow in influence without interference. A growth that has left an ongoing battle in parts of the country. “Ansar al-Sharia is rejected here,” explains Mahmoud,...
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Journalism under threat in Libya
For the past two years journalists in Libya have faced attacks, kidnappings, even murder; all crimes have been committed by different armed groups with impunity, as Human Rights Watch (HRW) reveals in a recent report wherein the watchdog raises concerns about the country’s deteriorating media landscape. On 26 May...
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Are de-radicalisation programmes the future?
Forensic psychologist John Horgan argues that we are “genuinely unprepared” for the Islamic State. The author of “The Psychology of Terrorism”, who has just returned to the US from Pakistan where he conducted research on children and radicalisation, believes that ISIS is “one step ahead”. Speaking to me during...
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Is there a Nidaa-Ennahda coalition on the horizon?
With the finalisation of the presidential vote and preliminary result pointing to Essebsi as Tunisia’s next president, the political coalition awaits to be formed. Could there be an Ennahda-Nidaa Tounes coalition on the horizon? In Tunisia’s second parliamentary elections since the country’s revolution, which overthrew former president Zine El...
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Tunisia’s presidential climate heats up
As Tunisia’s presidential runoff draws ever closer, the political campaigning has stepped up a gear, and has been full of smearing, aggressive rhetoric, media gossip and political lobbying. Opposition has divided the country in what seems set to become a tight race. As neither of the running presidential candidates...
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Politics aside, youth connect over security and economy issues
As Tunisia’s first free Presidential election is nearing young Tunisians share their thoughts on political strategy and their hopes for the future. Tunisia, considered a democratic success story, is the only Arab Spring country, which has succeeded in maintaining a relatively peaceful democratic transition since the revolution three years...
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Nidaa Tounes and the spectre of autocratic rule
As Tunisia managed to counter both predictions of low voter turnout (an estimated 60 percent of the eligible voters came to the polls) and ensure a safe and secure voting process most people hailed the successful election procedure, which was deemed as free, fair and transparent by international observers....
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Young, female Ennahda politician wants to ‘cure’ Tunisia through dialogue and respect
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW “I am a proud feminist,” says young Ennahda candidate Sayida Ounissi, who wants to be the voice of Tunisian youth. She tells MEMO about what it’s like being a young, veiled politician and Islamist party feminist and why dialogue will “cure” the Tunisian society. As October 26,...
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In Tripoli, ordinary life must go on
As militia groups continue fighting over what is left of fragmented Libya, life in the country’s capital Tripoli struggles on, “There is this constant uneasiness here,” Khadija, a young former political science student, tells Middle East Monitor over Skype from the coastal city. The Libyan capital has seen weeks...
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One man’s fight for Tunisian security reform
“Radical change is necessary,” says the determined blogger Azyz Amami, who is devoting his life to the reform of the former regimes’ security sector legacy, one of Tunisia’s biggest obstacles to a successful and comprehensive democratic transition. The self-immolation of vendor Mohammed Bouazizi after he was harassed by a...
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A glimpse into Egypt’s Al-Qanatar women’s prison
On 14 August 2013 Omaima Halawa, her brother and two sisters, were caught in the bloody confrontations between security forces and Muslim Brotherhood protesters at Rabaa square. The siblings were arrested, but whilst Omaima and her sisters spent three months at Al-Qanatar female prison before they were released, their...
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Education, key to saving lost Syrian generation in Turkey
Ahmed is seven years old. One month ago a rocket hit his home in Aleppo and Ahmed lost all family members but his father. He also lost his two arms. Two months earlier, Mohamed, also seven, also in Aleppo, too lost his family in a rocket attack, but Mohamed...
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Egypt’s freedom of expression: The End
“We live in the most glorious time of democracy and I cut out the tongue of anyone who says otherwise,” Bassem Youssef said, summing up Egypt’s current freedom of expression environment shortly after his political satire talk-show was cancelled, another harsh blow for the country’s democratic transition. According to...
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Blogger’s arrest reveals remaining flaws of Tunisian justice system
The arrest of blogger Azyz Amami and photographer Sabri Ben Mlouka for the possession and use of marijuana in accordance with Tunisia’s notorious Law 52, a legacy of former President Ben Ali, has sparked debate about the law’s judicial practice. On the evening of May 12, blogger Azyz Amami...
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Despite Bouteflika win, new generations cry enough
On Thursday the Algerian people went to the polls to cast their vote in the country’s presidential elections. As expected, preliminary results indicate that President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is heading towards a fourth term in office. However, despite the few surprises, some indications suggest that Algerians may slowly begin to...