News / North Africa

Tunisia sees cabinet reshuffle amid terror threats

Thursday, 07 January 2016 11:18 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 09 January 2016 12:48 PM ]

Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid (Photo by AP)

Tunisia’s Prime Minister Habib Essid has made major changes to his cabinet, appointing 12 new ministers as the country is grappling with terror threats and a weak economy.

He announced the cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday while no explanation was given for the move.

However, Essid had said late last year that he would name new ministers so as to boost the efficiency of his government.

The premier replaced the ministers of the interior, justice and foreign affairs, among others.

A state of emergency was declared in the African country after a bomb attack by Takfiri Daesh terrorists targeted presidential guards in the capital Tunis in November 2015, killing 12 people.

The bombing followed two previous deadly attacks, claimed by Daesh, on the Bardo National Museum in Tunis and on a hotel near the Mediterranean resort of Sousse. Fifty nine foreign tourists were killed in the assaults.

A wounded woman arrives on a stretcher at Charles Nicole Hospital following an attack carried out by gunmen at Tunis’ Bardo Museum on March 18, 2015. (Photo by AFP)

Foreign tourists now avoid traveling to Tunisia over fears of further militant attacks targeting foreigners, in a move that has dealt a heavy blow to Tunisia’s struggling economy at a time when it has an unemployment rate of over 15 percent.

Thousands of Tunisian nationals have joined the ranks of Takfiri terror groups in Libya, Iraq and Syria, according to the authorities, who claim the Sousse and Bardo assailants were armed and trained in Libya.

Tunisia has been plagued by violence since the 2011 uprising that ousted former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

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