Tunisia’s Ennahda accused of delivering arms to Tripoli militias

Sara Rashad

Tunisia has a tough time as National Libyan Army Commander Khalifa Haftar intensifies his campaign against the militias and terrorist groups controlling Libyan capital Tripoli.

Tunisian parliament member, Lamia Mlayeh, revealed recently that a Qatari military plane had landed in

Djerba-Zarzis International Airport in southeastern Tunisia a week ago, bringing in military equipment and arms to deliver to the Libyan militias across the border.

She added on Facebook that she had contacted concerned authorities in Tunisia to verify information about the plane.

The Tunisian authorities, she said, told her that the plane had landed at the Tunisian airport for technical reasons.

Mlayeh called on the Tunisian Foreign Ministry to take a neutral stand toward developments in Libya and avoid taking sides with any of the fighting parties in the neighboring state.

There is, meanwhile, worry in Tunisia amid accusations to the Ennahda Movement, a Tunisian ideological offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood movement, of facilitating the landing of the Qatari plane at the Tunisian airport with the aim of offering backing to extremist groups in Libya.

The Tunisian Customs Administration refuted reports that the Qatari plane had carried arms. Nonetheless, there are debates in Tunisia on the issue, especially with Ennahda being at the center of accusations that it offers support to terrorism.

On the day of the plane landing, Beji Caid Essebsi met in Tunis with the first deputy head of the Libyan Presidential Council, which is backed by the militias controlling Tripoli, Ahmed Meitig. Essebsi met the head of the Tripoli-based State Council Khaled al-Mershri on the following day.

These meetings, some Tunisian observers said, are indicating that Tunisia had chosen to take sides with Tripoli.

Tunisian hotels had, meanwhile, refused to host a conference on developments in Libya, which would have been organized by politicians affiliated with the government of eastern Libya, according to an official from the eastern Libya interim government.

The same official considered this to be an indication that Tunisia does not want to take a neutral position regarding Libya.

Tunisian officials accuse Ennahda of putting pressure on the Tunisian government to adopt a position of support to the Libyan National Accord Government which is based in Tripoli.

Tunisian activist Kais Ben-ahmed accused the movement of having more loyalty the so-called Islamist project than to the Tunisian state.

He said the movement cares the least about the interests of the Tunisian state.

“The fact is that Tunisia stands to lose if it backs the National Accord Government,” Ben-ahmed told al-Bawaba News.

He said this was not the first time Ennahda delivered arms to terrorist groups in Libya. The movement did this, he said, in 2011, claiming it was delivering arms to Libyan revolutionaries.

Qatar has not officially commented on all these debates yet. The opposition site QatariLeaks” published information about the same issue.

The site said the arrival of the military plane to Tunisia was sponsored by Qatar, Turkey and Ennahda.

Libyan researcher Mohamed al-Zubaidi said the arrival of the Qatari plane in Tunisia was indication that the terrorist groups controlling Tripoli find it hard to stand their own ground against the campaign of the Libyan National Army.

He expected the army to succeed in accomplishing its mission of eradicating these groups.