Tunisia declares state of emergency after terrorist attack

Tunisia Prime Minister Beji Caid Essebsi has declared a 30-day state of emergency, saying that the Islamist attack on a beach hotel that killed 38 foreigners eight days ago had left the country “in a state of war.”

Last week’s attack, three months after the deadly Islamist assault on the Bardo museum in Tunis, has shocked the North African country emerging into a democracy following its 2011 Arab Spring uprising.

Tunisia’s state of emergency gives its government more executive flexibility, and can be used to give the army and police more authority. It can also restrict certain rights such as those dealing with public assembly and detention, the right to strike, and even press freedom.  

“Due to the terrorism risk, and the regional context, and spread of terrorism, we have declared a state of emergency,” Essebsi said in a televised address.

“The continued threat we face leaves the country in a state of war, where we have to use all measures necessary.”

The Tunisian prime minister explained that coupled the terrorist attacks, the difficult economic situation faced by Tunisia since the 2011 revolution can be described as exceptional conditions, and that these warrant “exceptional measures.”

A Tunisian gunman, said to have been trained in a jihadist camp across the border in Libya, opened fire killing foreign tourists, mostly Britons, in the resort of Sousse on June 26.

“Tunisia faces a very serious danger and it should take any possible measures to maintain security and safety. As we see in other countries, if attacks like Sousse happen again, the country will collapse.”

The beach massacre struck a huge blow to Tunisia's tourism industry, prompting thousands of holidaymakers to leave and causing an estimated $500 million in losses for a sector that makes up seven percent of the economy.

Essebsi said Tunisia had clearly been targeted in the attacks because of the progress it was making in creating a democracy, with its new democratic constitution and “transparent and fair” parliamentary and presidential elections last year.

Authorities have moved to close down 80 mosques they said were operating illegally or spreading extremism which officials say helps recruit young Tunisians to Islamist militancy.

Tunisia last had a state of emergency during the 2011 uprising against autocrat Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. That revolt followed years of upheaval between secular and Islamist parties in one of the Arab world's most secular countries.

Essebsi also alluded to the threat to regional stability from the ongoing situation in Libya – Tunisia’s neighbour to the south on the other side of a 310-mile border – and to the presence of Islamic State and its aim of establishing a caliphate in the region.

More than 3,000 Tunisians have left to fight overseas in Iraq, Syria and Libya for Islamic State or other militant groups. Some have threatened to return home to carry out attacks in Tunisia.