4. TUNISIA: CONFRONTING EXTREMISM Haim Malka1
4. TUNISIA: CONFRONTING EXTREMISM Haim Malka1 ihadi-salafi groups thrived in Tunisia after the government Jof Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali fell in January 2011. They swiftly took advantage of political uncertainty, ideological freedom, and porous borders to expand both their capabilities and area of operations. By the end of 2012 two strains of jihadi-salafism had emerged in the country. The first, which grew directly out of the revolutionary fervor and political openings of the Arab uprisings, prioritized and promoted religious outreach to mainstream audiences, often through social activism.2 Ansar al Shari‘a in Tunisia was the largest and most organized group taking this approach. The second strain followed al Qaeda’s tra- ditional method, with organized bands of underground fighters who emerged periodically to launch violent attacks against secu- rity forces and the government. This strain was represented by Tunisian jihadi-salafists calling themselves the Okba ibn Nafaa Brigade who established a base in Tunisia’s Chaambi Mountains 1. Sections of this chapter are drawn from two previously published papers: Haim Malka and William Lawrence, “Jihadi-Salafism’s Next Generation,” Center for Stra- tegic and International Studies, October 2013, http://csis.org/publication/jihadi- salafisms-next-generation; and Haim Malka, “The Struggle for Religious Identity in Tunisia and the Maghreb,” Center for Strategic and International Studies, May 2014, http://csis.org/publication/struggle-religious-identity-tunisia-and-maghreb. 2. For a detailed analysis of hybrid jihadi-salafism and efforts to combine extrem- ist ideology with social and political activism, see Malka and Lawrence, “Jihadi- Salafism’s Next Generation.” 92 Religious Radicalism after the Arab Uprisings 93 on the Tunisian-Algerian border and launched numerous at- tacks against security forces.3 The first model was primarily a political threat, while the second represented a security threat.
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