Tunis Terror Attack.

Yesterday (18/3/15) gunmen burst into the Bardo museum in the Tunisian capital Tunis and killed 23 people - mainly foreign tourists. This attack took place pretty much as the UK Finance Minister was delivering his budget. So with the incident receiving very little coverage here in the UK I'm not really aware of the specifics. However I can talk about the more general situation in Tunisia.

At the very start of 2011 the Tunisian people overthrew their long-term, secular dictator Ben Ali. As with in near by Egypt their better level of organisation allowed Tunisia's Islamist parties to dominate the subsequent elections. However again as in Egypt the Tunisians quickly grew tired of the Islamists and voted them out in 2014 in favour of a secular government. Since losing power Tunisia's Islamists have become more militant although I should stress that up until yesterday this was limited to the security services intervening to prevent terror attacks rather then any attacks actually taking place.

The much more serious problem has occurred in neighbouring Libya where following the western overthrow of the Libyan government in late 2011 the west of the country has been over-run by Islamists militia - the Libya Dawn militia being the largest. These militias have not been content to operate in Libya alone and have frequently crossed the border into Tunisia. Mainly this has been done to recruit Tunisians to act as fighters in both Libya and in Syria and Iraq while smuggling weapons out of an oil into Tunisia in defiance of the international arms embargo on Libya.

Certainly since the emergence of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Libya the Tunisian government has been working to crack down on the flow of Islamists across it's border with Libya. As the attack was taking place at the Bardo museum the Tunisian Parliament which is in the building next door was debating new anti-Terror legislation which would specifically ban Tunisians travelling to "hot-beds of fighting" such as Libya.

I really do need to provide an update on the situation in Libya particularly in light of the recent peace negotiations and the wave tit-for-tat air-strikes and kidnappings they provoked. However while I appreciate there is a need for an inclusive government within Libya I think the international community could be doing more to make it clear to the Islamists in the west that this will entail them agreeing to rejoin the internationally recognised government of Libya that is currently located in Tobruk.

13:20 on 19/3/15 (UK date).