Day: February 1, 2017

Rached Ghannouchi: certain parties are worried we may win

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According to an interview published by Middle East Eye, President of the Tunisian Ennahdha movement, Rached Ghannouchi said , in response to accusation of conducting parallel diplomatic missions ” that “this would be true if I were opposing official diplomatic policy. In my case, it is more like a form of popular diplomacy serving the country’s official diplomatic stance” , adding “if the president told me this was a problem, I’d stop. I’m in constant contact with him, so our efforts can only impact his policies positively”. As regards the allegations…

Municipal elections to be held between end of October and mid-November, after election law passed” says Sarsar

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“Municipal elections will be held between the end of October and mid-November,” said Independent Higher Authority for the Elections (ISIE) President Chafik Sarsar, Wednesday following the adoption of the law on elections and referendums. “These deadlines have been considered in light of possible appeals against this law within the next 7 days,” Sarsar tolf media. “In the event that appeals are filed, their review should take place within a maximum of 45 days,” he added. After examination of appeals, the law should be submitted to the President of the Republic…

Tunisian terror suspect ‘had already committed attack in Tunis’

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Tunisian man arrested in Hesse on Wednesday on suspicion of recruiting for Isis is also accused of involvement in the deadly 2015 attack on the Bardo Museum in Tunis, prosecutors said. Tunisian authorities issued an arrest warrant for the 36-year-old last year on suspicion of “participating in planning and carrying out” the attack, as well as a deadly jihadist assault on the border town of Ben Guerdane last March, the prosecutor’s office in the western state of Hesse said in a statement. Twenty-one people, mostly European tourists, were killed at…

Tunisia to investigate nationals fighting in war zones

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Tunisia’s parliament has voted to draw up a fact-finding committee tasked with investigating networks that allegedly recruit Tunisian youth for conflicts in the Middle East. In a Tuesday vote, 132 MPs voted in favor of the proposed committee while one voted against and another abstained. Earlier this month, Interior Minister Hedi Majdoub put the number of Tunisians currently fighting in various war zones at just shy of 3,000. In December, Majdoub stated that 3,970 Tunisian nationals had been barred from traveling to war zones in 2016 alone. The minister went…

Apocalypse, Not! Tales of Algeria’s impending implosion are, frankly, ridiculous

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In a recent piece for The Spectator magazine, the British author and journalist Stephen Pollard presented readers with the following scenario. Under the headline “How Algeria Could Destroy the EU,” Pollard argued that when Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika died, “Algeria [would] probably implode.” Pollard then continued: “The Islamists who have been kept at bay by [Bouteflika’s] iron hand will exploit the vacuum. And then Europe could be overwhelmed by another great wave of refugees from North Africa.” He offered estimates, claiming that “10 to 15 million” Algerians would try to…

‘EU trade agreement would destabilise foundations of democracy in Tunisia’

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Prominent experts from Germany and North Africa, including Tunisians, have warned European governments against imposing a new free trade agreement on Tunisia. Speaking at the launch of a new book on the topic, they claimed that the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA) being discussed between the EU and Tunisia will undermine the foundations of Tunisia’s fledgling democracy. According to Tunisian economist Sami Al-Awadi, who presented the book “Development Through Free Trade: The Neo-liberal Agenda of the European Union in North African Countries” at the launch seminar organised in…