Tunisians paint a banner on July 30, 2013, in front of the Constituent Assembly headquarters against the country's Islamist government in Tunis. Nine soldiers killed by an armed group in Mount Chaambi, near the Algerian border. The soldiers were found on July 29. (SALAH HABIBI/AFP/Getty Images)[/caption]
The Tunisian army is currently fighting militants on the Algerian border in the governorate of Kasserine, and some suspect that the military operation in the Chaambi Mountains is being conducted in close collaboration with the militants' Algerian counterparts. In spite of this, the militants have inflicted considerable damage on the Tunisian army, the most recent being the killing and mutilation of eight soldiers in the northwestern region on July 29. This sent shockwaves through the country and sparked protests against Tunisia's Islamist-led government.
The perpetrators remain as elusive as ever. There is little agreement as to who these militants are and why they are fighting. The country is awash with both plausible and fanciful theories, from Sykes-Picot conspiracies to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion to the activities of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). All theories have their proponent and detractors.
Sitting in a café in Habib Bourguiba Avenue in Tunis, Ahmed, a senior member of Hizb Tahrir, a banned Islamist group, believes that Chaambi have all the tell-tale signs of a Ministry of Interior conspiracy. “It has always capitalized on the fear of terrorism,” says Ahmed, who has suffered the consequences of Islamist successes in Algeria in the 1990s and was thrown into prison several times. Ennahda activist Murad, on the other hand, disagrees and accuses the Left for the reverses in Chaambi, “yet again the Left is trying their best to make our movement synonymous with terrorism."
Tunisian media has focused its suspicions on its homegrown Salafists, namely Ansar Al-Sharia, citing as evidence a recent police raid on the home of one of its leaders, Abu Iyadh. The connection between the Salafists and Chaambi is tenuous and has not been accepted by many. Even Rachid Ghannouchi, leader of Ennahda and no friend of Abu Iyadh, has suggested that the militants are mere bandits with no connection to Ansar Al-Sharia.
In the corridors of power there is a feeling that the militants are linked to Algerian intelligence. A senior military source who wished to remain anonymous stated that there are definitely outside actors involved: “These outside actors are very likely to come from a segment of the Algerian intelligence community.” The assertion is supported by Jeremy Keenan, author of Dark Sahara, and former Algerian diplomat-turned-human rights activist Mohamed Zitoute. Both assert that Algerian intelligence is involved in the machinations of the porous border regions in southern Algeria.
The reason why Algerian intelligence is focusing on Chaambi could be that the ailing Algerian president, Abdulaziz Bouteflika, needs a successor. The crisis of leadership may have reignited the fear of Islamists taking charge among the political elite. There are already hints that Algerian Islamists are flexing their muscles. They recently declared their willingness to leave the coalition and strike out on their own. There is a realization among the ruling elite that Algeria is no longer immune to the Arab Spring, because it is surrounded by neighbors with Islamist parties dominating the political landscape. Algerian involvement in Chaambi could be a message to both Algerians and Tunisians that the Islamist threat is a clear and present danger to all and can have bloody consequences.
