* Moderate Islamist-led government cracks down on Salafists
* Rupture raises risk of fuelling armed radicals in N.Africa
* Main Salafist group rejects state, shuns elections
* Secular Tunisians fear for freedom, stability
By Tarek Amara
TUNIS, May 23 (Reuters) – For the first time since the Arab
Spring uprisings of 2011, relations between mainstream Islamists
in government and radical Salafist Muslim activists have reached
breaking point, sparking deadly clashes in two Tunisian cities.
The rupture between the Ennahda party, the Tunisian arm of
the Muslim Brotherhood which governs in coalition with secular
parties, and the Ansar al-Sharia movement could have
ramifications across north Africa, potentially fuelling armed
insurrection in Tunisia and neighbouring Algeria.
Clashes between police and Ansar supporters on Sunday in
which one person was killed and dozens wounded highlighted the
rise of fundamentalist Salafist groups in the nascent North
African democracy, empowered by a new atmosphere of freedom.
The violence erupted after the government banned an annual
preaching rally in the central city of Kairouan, a historic
centre of Islamic learning, and other towns. A young man was
killed in the Ettadamen district of the capital Tunis.
“It seems like Ennahda have finally put their foot down, but
that shouldn’t be applauded because over the last two years they
have tolerated the growth of Salafism and done nothing about
it,” said Aaron Zelin, an expert on Tunisia at the Washington
Institute for Near East Policy.
“There is likely to be more confrontation in the short to
medium term. There could be a cycle of low-level conflict, but
neither side has an interest in it becoming larger-scale.”
While many Salafists were jailed under the authoritarian
rule of former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, they have
benefited from the freedom created by the revolution that
toppled him in January 2011.
Ansar al-Sharia is the most radical Islamist group to emerge
in what was long one of the most secular Arab countries. It
poses a test to the authority of the moderate Islamist-led
government and to the stability of Tunisia, a country of 11
million.
Zelin estimated that the movement, which is not officially
registered, has at least 20,000 activists and is gaining support
fast among young people disenchanted with Ennahda’s failure to
anchor Islamic sharia law in the constitution, and alienated by
unemployment and lack of economic opportunity.
Ansar’s spokesman, Saif Eddine Rais, said last week the
group had “tens of thousands” of supporters. Easy to recognise
in their bright orange vests, its followers engage in
proselytising and charity work, providing food, medicines and
community support in areas where the state is often absent.
The clashes were not the first bout of fighting between
Salafists and police. However this time, the government showed
its determination to crack down on the radicals as it deployed
mass force to prevent the public meeting.
The standoff came as the army pursued dozens of suspected
al Qaeda-linked militants near the western border with Algeria.
The government accuses Ansar al-Sharia of links to al Qaeda,
although the Salafists dispute this.
“Salafists have felt targeted and this has only added to
their frustration,” said Alaya Allani, a specialist on Islamist
groups. “These events are slowing (Tunisia’s) democratic
transition and delaying the recovery from an economic crisis.”
A smaller, more moderate Salafist party, Hezb Ettahrir, had
condemned the violence.
AL QAEDA LINKS?
Tunisia was the first country to stage an “Arab Spring”
uprising, inspiring similar revolutions in Egypt and Libya. It
has since sought to ease economic and financial problems.
The Salafists, who model their lifestyle on the Prophet
Mohammad and his companions, seek a broader role for religion in
public life, alarming a secular elite which fears this could
undermine individual freedoms, women’s rights and democracy.
In a sign they do not recognise the state, protesters on
Sunday burned Tunisian flags and in some places replaced them
with a black banner in support of Al Qaeda. Chants included “The
rule of the tyrant must fall” and “Join the Muslim army”.
Ansar al-Sharia, whose fugitive leader Saifallah Benahssine
– also known as Abu Iyadh – is a former al Qaeda fighter in
Afghanistan, is seeking to establish an Islamic state in Tunisia
and says democracy is blasphemous.
At a news conference ahead of the planned rally, spokesman
Rais said: “Now we have institutions, the structure and we are
preparing ourselves to apply the law of God in Tunisia. We will
only take part in elections if only Islamists can participate.”
Rais was arrested in Kairouan on Sunday and Ansar al-Sharia
has called for protests on Friday to demand his release,
possibly setting up another round of clashes.
In September, thousands of Salafists attacked the U.S.
embassy. Four people were killed in the disturbances, which
began as a protest over a film that mocked the Prophet Mohammed.
Benahssine has been in hiding since then.
Salafists have also attacked cinemas and wine vendors,
picketed secular cultural events and universities, and burned
Sufi Muslim shrines. But so far there have been few arrests
despite pressure from the United States and former colonial
power France.
Police also blame a Salafist who is on the run for the
assassination of secular opposition politician Chokri Belaid on
Feb. 6, which provoked the biggest street protests in Tunisia
since the overthrow of Ben Ali.
The latest crackdown came after the army said 10 Tunisian
soldiers were wounded near the Algerian border in mine
explosions in the Jebel Chaambi mountain region where Islamist
militants are said to be setting up a training camp.
In the past few months, police have found large caches of
weapons in Tunis and other cities and arrested 16 militants who
they said were seeking to establish an Islamic state.
Prime Minister Ali Larayedh said on Saturday Ansar
al-Sharia was linked to terrorism, although the authorities have
produced no proof. The same day, the regional arm of al Qaeda
issued a statement urging the group to defy the crackdown.
Many Tunisians say they fear for their peace and civil
liberties if radical groups become too powerful.
“The revolution gave Salafists freedom and they want to
impose their way by force,” said Alia Sassi, 24, who works in a
travel agency. “There is a real fear jihadis will pass onto
bombings. We want to live in peace, we don’t want our country to
become a new Afghanistan.”
Ennahda faces a balancing act. If it arrests more Salafists
and forces Ansar al-Sharia underground, it could drive more
young Tunisians towards violence, harming the economy and
alienating its own more conservative wing.
Ennahda’s veteran moderate leader Rachid Ghannouchi left the
door ajar last week, saying: “I am always for dialogue with the
Salafists if they don’t carry arms and want to talk, but there
can be no dialogue now with terrorists who are carrying arms in
Jebel Chaambi.”
ALGERIA WORRIED
Diplomats say neighbouring Algeria, which fought a
decade-long civil war with Islamists in the 1990s in which more
than 150,000 people died, is deeply concerned and has reinforced
army units at the Tunisian border.
“Algeria is clearly very worried and feels almost a siege
mentality,” Zelin said, noting that the overthrow of Muammar
Gaddafi in Libya in 2011 and French military intervention
against al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamist rebels in Mali this year
had increased the flow of weapons and fighters onto its soil.
Paradoxically, Egypt’s Salafists have taken the opposite
direction to their Tunisian counterparts.
All the main radical Islamist movements, including those
involved in armed struggle in the 1990s and the assassination of
former President Anwar Sadat, have renounced violence and joined
the political system, and none has lent support to al Qaeda
militants operating in the lawless Sinai peninsula.
Indeed, the largest Egyptian Salafist group, the Nour party,
is seeking to project itself as more democratic and open than
the ruling Muslim Brotherhood.
(Additional reporting by Myra MacDonald in Algiers and Paul
Taylor in Paris; Editing by Paul Taylor)
