News / Brèves Back to previous selection / Retour à la sélection précédente British-Saudi Apparatus Throws Tunisia Into a Major Crisis; Conflict Arises Over Ansar al-Shariah Annual Congress 19 May 2013 (EIRNS)— Tunisia’s government announced on May 17 that it would not allow the Salafist group, Ansar al-Shariah, to hold its annual congress this weekend in the city of Kairouan, citing a threat to public order. Rached Ghannouchi, head of the moderate Islamist ruling party Ennahda, had warned of the coming ban earlier this week. Last year, 40,000 Salafists attended the event that featured martial arts displays and sword-wielding horsemen. One news reports indicates al-Shariah’s adherents, who have experience in jihad, could strike. Situated between the two countries, Libya and Algeria, replete with reckless armed militants and jihadis, fresh violence in Tunisia could get out of hand. "You are making a foolish mistake because faith cannot be defeated by any force in the world," said Seifallah Ben Hassine, the leader of Ansar al-Shariah, in an online statement. "I remind you that our youth that proved its heroism in the defense of Islam in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Bosnia, Iraq, Somalia and Syria will not hesitate to make sacrifices for the faith," Ben Hassine added. Al-Shariah allegedly gets money from the Saudis and Kuwaitis. Their Facebook page has a pantheon of three leaders: Osama bin Laden, al-Zarqawi (a Jordanian-Chechen) and Yosri bin Fakher Trigui (a.k.a. Abu Qudama al-Tunisi)— a Tunisian Salafi "hero." On the other hand, Rached Ghannouchi, head of Ennahda, has in-depth links with the British intelligence. He was in Britain for 22 years before he returned to Tunisia in early 2011 after Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia’s second President, 1987-2011, was forced to flee in January 2011 following a month-long uprising. In Britain, Ghannouchi was awarded the Chatham House Prize in 2012. Chatham House’s official name is the Royal Institute for International Affairs (RIIA). Meanwhile, reports indicate that in defiance of the government, over the weekend, Salafis have set up tents around lower-income suburbs of the capital, Tunis, and in conservative southern towns. When police attempted to dismantle the tents, they were met with stones and firebombs, and police responded with tear gas. [RMA]