Tunisia Extends State of Emergency

The Tunisian presidency has announced that they are extending the country’s state of emergency by another month due to continued terrorist threats. It was an attack by armed men on a presidential guard bus that lead to the extension.

Tunisia has been under a state of emergency for the past 18 months, after it was first decreed by President Béji Caid Essebsi on November 24th 2015.
Three separate terrorist attacks took place in 2015, killing a total of 72 people.

The attacks took place at the famous Bardo Museum, where 22 people were killed; at a beach hotel in Sousse, where 38 people were killed; and in the capital of Tunis, where a bus carrying presidential guards was attacked, leaving 12 dead.

All of these attacks were claimed by ISIS.

President Béji Caid Essebsi said in a statement that he had consulted with the primer minister as well as the head of parliament, when deciding to prolong the state of emergency for at least another month.

The presidency also said that the extension of the state of emergency was partly due to the fact that there is still so much unrest in neighbouring Libya.

The presidency confirmed the possibility of continually extending the state of emergency until Libya forms a proper government.