Tiny nation has rare stability

Tunisians with candles pray at the entrance of the national Bardo Museum where scores of people were killed after gunmen staged an attack. Photo / AP

Arab Spring pioneer slowly moving towards full democracy

The fact that there are still tourists to attack in Tunisia tells its own story.
Since it became the birthplace of the Arab Spring in 2011, the tiny north African nation has been the region's only country to enjoy anything approaching stability after the overthrow of its resident dictator.

While Syria, Yemen and neighbouring Libya are now in various stages of meltdown, and Egypt has retreated back into military rule, Tunisia has successfully staged not one but two sets of parliamentary elections, forged a constitution and slowly moved towards becoming a proper democracy.

But the process of rebuilding the country after years of iron rule under Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has not been the straightforward process that it once looked like being.

When Tunisians first revolted in January 2011 - after outrage over the death of a fruit vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi, who set himself on fire in despair at harassment by local officials over his lack of a trade permit - it seemed the Arab world was finally showing a new face.

The huge crowds who took to the boulevards of Tunis to protest were affluent, sophisticated and Western-leaning, and talked not of jihad or Western oppression, but of democracy and human rights of the sort practised in Europe.

As it turned out, Tunis' latte-sipping, Facebook-surfing middle classes were not the only ones who saw Ben Ali's fall as a chance for change. So too did Islamist parties of various hues of radicalism, whose religious agenda has earned them strong support and sometimes near-block votes in Tunisia's more conservative rural interior.

The secularists and Islamists have both now enjoyed their share of power in Parliament. But while most of the time they rub along together peacefully, secular politicians have been assassinated and harassed. Radical parties have been subjected to periodic bans and crackdowns, but continue to pose a threat.

The Ansar al-Sharia group, whose Libyan namesake is accused of murdering US diplomat Chris Stevens in Benghazi, has been a constant challenge to Tunisian authorities.

Two years ago, it was banned outright during a crackdown on extremism after the killing of two leftist political leaders. But a Government still establishing its authority after years of dictatorship has struggled to stamp it out altogether, not least because of the country's porous border with Libya, where Isis (Islamic State) militants now have a hold.

Significantly, the nation of 11 million has already contributed more jihadist fighters to the conflict in Syria and Iraq than any other country.