Tunisia’s Interior Ministry purging itself of Islamists, corrupt elements

Sara Rashad                       

Conflicts are raging on inside the Tunisian Interior Ministry, against the background of the exceptional measures taken by President Kais Saied on July 25.

Great struggle

The exceptional measures of the president have pitted the president and his camp against the Islamists and those who call themselves’ pro-democracy’ groups. The Islamist Ennahda movement is being joined in the battle against the president by corrupt elements of the Tunisian society.

Battles rage on inside the Interior Ministry between the same two sides: those backing the president and those backing Ennahda and corruption.

The leadership of the ministry initiated change in the Traffic Guard, the Coast Guard, and the Explosives and Monitoring departments.

Other departments of the National Guard in different parts of Tunisia also witnessed change.

Purge

The Ministry of the Interior sacked its general and central directors in the borders, foreigners, and training departments on October 24.

It also sacked the heads of regions, teams, and security centers.

According to ministry statements, the aforementioned measures aimed to purge the border and foreigners administrations of officials who had wreaked havoc in them.

These officials had allowed the issuance of passports for Tunisians who joined terrorist groups outside the country with support from the Muslim Brotherhood, the ministry said.

It added that it would bring these officials to trial for undermining the security of the Tunisian state.

Restructuring

Secretary-General of the Tunisian Republican Security Syndicate, Mohamed Ali al-Rezki, said the sacking of these officials aimed to send messages of assurance to the security forces and the Tunisian people.

This is especially so, he said, after the minister of the interior took upon himself the responsibility of bringing security back to the streets.

“The minister wants to unify efforts for Tunisia and preserve it,” al-Rezki said.