The renewal of the state of emergency in Tunisia last week coupled with yet another pay raise for security forces, following their protests last January, have refocussed discussion about the reform of the security sector as Tunisia navigates its way through its political transition five years on from the 2011 uprising. The latest effort in this regard has been the splitting up of the ministry of interior into two portfolios, whereby one will be concerned with local community affairs, while the other would focus on security matters. While the move is welcome, experts such as Yezid Sayigh argue that it is not enough and a great deal remains to be done if the series of large budget injections, training, and equipment improvement allocated to the security sector were to yield the desired outcomes. Sayigh argues that the Islamist-Secular polarisation since 2011 has derailed the process of the security sector reform from the outset. Besides, the political tensions and rivalries have undermined the authority of even those career interior ministers who were appointed to lead the task, negating thereby the “faulty assumptions” that “insiders” know how to operate inside the “‘black box” of the ministry of interior. Furthermore, the lack of “sufficient unity of purpose, effective political coalition building and social consensus, or coherent reform policies” meant that “salary increases, looser legal controls … has only allowed [the security sector] to retrench and resist being made transparent and accountable.”
Sayigh recommends an institutional re-design of the security sector that would ensure its compliance with the rule of law, citizens’ rights, and public oversight by means of parliamentary committees and civil society organisations. It should, Sayigh insists, be made clear to security sector professionals that career improvement, hiring and promotion are “tied to improvements in performance and compliance with legal, political, and financial accountability.” There will always be trade-offs, Sayigh explains, but a firm stand by the government is necessary for “ending security sector impunity.”
Links for more information:
http://carnegie-mec.org/2016/02/05/bringing-tunisia-s-transition-to-its-security-sector
http://carnegie-mec.org/2016/02/05/ar-62592/itmr(Arabic version)
http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/middle-east-north-africa/north-africa/tunisia
http://www.crisisgroup.org/fr/regions/moyen-orient-afrique-du-nord/afrique-du-nord/Tunisia (French version)
