Tunis declares a state of emergency after massacre

PRESIDENT ESSEBSI: THE COUNTRY HAS BEEN PLACED IN A SPECIAL TYPE OF WAR Economic impact expected to exceed half-a-billion dollars.

Tunis

Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi on Saturday declared a state of emergency following last week’s beach massacre claimed by jihadists that he said had left Tunisia facing a “special type of war”.

In another firm response to the June 26 attack claimed by the Islamic State group that killed 38 foreign tourists, several officials were sacked, including the governor of the Sousse region where it took place.

The North African state, which has seen an exodus of tourists, has admitted its security services were unprepared for the seaside attack in Port el Kantaoui and that police were too slow to respond.

In a televised address to the nation, Essebsi said the state of emergency, effective from Saturday for a 30-day period, was decided on after consultations with the parliamentary speaker and prime minister.

The measure was adopted because of “the exceptional situation which the country is going through after the latest terrorist attack and the persistent threats which place the country in a special type of war”, he said.

A state of emergency, granting special powers to the police and army, was in force for three yearsy up until March 2014, 014, fol-folp lowing former Tunisian president Zine el Abidine Ben Ali’s removal in a 2011 revolution. Apart from barring strike

action, th the measure allows authorities to carry out raids on homes at any time of the day and to keep tabs on the media. The economic impact of the beach bloodbath, on top of the upheaval following the overthrow of Ben Ali, is likely to exceed half-a-billion dollars for 2015, according to tourism minister Selma Elloumi Rekik. –

Picture: AFP SOMBRE. The Union Jack flies at half-mast above Portcullis House beside the landmark Elizabeth Tower, more commonly known as Big Ben, in central London.

Picture: Reuters COMING HOME. The coffin of one of the victims, Ray Fisher, is carried from a Royal Air Force C-17 transport plane at RAF Brize Norton air base in Oxfordshire.

Picture: AFP POIGNANT. Members of the public look at tributes left in memory of victims of the Tunisia attacks, before observing a minute’s silence outside Walsall Town football club in central England.