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Tunisia Extends 5-Year-Old State of Emergency

AFP

   TUNIS, TUNISIA - The Tunisian presidency on Friday announced a
   six-month extension of the country's state of emergency, in place since
   a 2015 attack on a presidential guard bus claimed by the Islamic State
   group.

   President Kais Saied "decided on the six-month extension of the
   nationwide state of emergency, from December 26, 2020, to June 23,
   2021," a statement said.

   The measure, extended continuously since late 2015, grants exceptional
   powers to the country's security forces.

   It allows measures to "ensure the control of the press" and for strikes
   and meetings that "create disorder" to be banned.

   Tunisia has seen political and social instability in recent weeks,
   along with protests in several regions.

   The country faced a rise in jihadist activity after its 2011
   revolution, with attacks killing dozens of security personnel,
   civilians and foreign tourists.

   The 2015 attack in the capital, Tunis, killed 12 presidential guards
   and came after two other deadly attacks claimed by IS that year: one at
   the capital's Bardo museum and another at the coastal resort of Sousse.

   On Thursday, a man of "extremist appearance" attempted to attack a
   police officer with a knife in Tunis while yelling "Allahu akbar" (God
   is greatest in Arabic), the interior ministry said in a statement.

   Last Sunday, officials said the decapitated body of a 20-year-old man
   had been found in the country's central Kasserine region in a probable
   "terrorist" attack.

   The mountainous central region is also a hideout for the Tunisian
   branch of jihadist group al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), known
   as Okba Ibn Nafaa.

   As well as the state of emergency, a nighttime curfew is in place in
   Tunisia to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, which has infected
   more than 126,000 people and killed more than 4,300 in the country,
   according to health ministry figures.