Tunisia was the scene of a pitched battle last weekend between two rival tribes in the south of the country. The toll of this clash is heavy: two dead and dozens of injured. These repeated bouts of violence worry the press.
It all started with a land dispute between two large tribes in southern Tunisia over land. It was finally in a bloodbath that things ended on Sunday December 13th. On the border between the regions of Medenine and Kebili, two tribes clashed for hours with bladed weapons and shotguns for control of land. Two people died there, private radio Mosaïque FM announced, and more than 50 were injured.
Tensions were so high in the region that a curfew was imposed, police reinforcements were dispatched and Tunisian President Kaïs Saied visited the scene on Monday. “We are one country and one state. Tunisians must not kill each other ”, launched the Head of State to the citizens who had come to listen to him, before adding that“ if the situation requires the intervention of the military and security forces, we do not will not hesitate. We will not leave the situation as it is, ”reports independent business news.
Conflicts that we thought were over
For the newspaper La Presse, this is a symptom of a weakness of the state, and even of its absence in some regions. Dumbfounded, Tunisians “are rediscovering the tribal wars that they thought were over,” notes the daily.
These repeated bouts of violence are worrying these days in Tunisia. In June 2011, just a few months after the revolution, a similar brawl caused 12 deaths and around 100 injuries in Métlaoui, in southwestern Tunisia. In 2013, in Kebili, a man in his thirties was killed in a clash, which began when a tribe burned down a house of a rival tribe.
