Tunisia extends emergency rule by two months

TUNIS — Tunisia announced on Tuesday that a state of emergency in force since a deadly attack on the presidential guard last November will be extended by two months.

A statement said that after consulting the premier and head of the national assembly, President Beji Caid Essebsi decided that the measure would be extended from July 21 for two months.

The law allows the authorities to ban strikes and meetings that might “provoke or maintain disorder”, to temporarily close theatres and bars, and to “take every measure to secure control of the press and all types of publications”.

The North African nation, birthplace of the Arab Spring, has suffered from a wave of extremist violence since the 2011 revolution that ousted longtime dictator Zine Al Abidine Ben Ali.

The Daesh terror group claimed brazen attacks last year on the National Bardo Museum in Tunis and a beach resort that killed 59 tourists.

After a suicide bombing in the capital in November which killed 12 members of the presidential guard and was claimed by Daesh, authorities declared the state of emergency and a curfew in the capital.

The curfew was later lifted, but the state of emergency has remained in place and is now being extended for the fifth time.

On March 7, dozens of extremists attacked security installations in the town of Ben Guerdane on the border with Libya.

Prime Minister Habib Essid congratulated the security forces after Tunisia experienced its first Ramadan since 2012 without jihadist attacks, at the same time urging vigilance against the “persistent terrorist threat”.