Intel Update for this Friday, May 6th…
Intel: Tunisian police have fired tear gas at protesters who say the country’s caretaker government has failed to live up to their aspirations. In a video posted late Wednesday on the social networking site Facebook, former Cabinet minister Farhat Rajhi predicted “there will be a coup d’etat” if the Islamist party Ennahda wins Tunisia’s elections in July.
Source: Voice of America News, Thursday May 5th, 2011.
Intel: Libyan mortar rounds land near Tunisian border town. More than a dozen mortar rounds fired from Libya landed near the Tunisian border town of Dehiba on Thursday, a Tunisian security source said, as Libyan government troops fought rebels in the Western Mountains.
Source: Reuters, Thursday May 5th, 2011.
Intel: Protests in the cities of Sfax, Kairouan and Sousse, witnesses told Reuters, with demonstrators chanting “Government out!”.
Source: Alernet, Thursday May 5th, 2011.
Historical Perspective:
In neighboring Algeria in 1992, the military-backed government scrapped a legislative election that a radical Islamist party was set to win. According to independent estimates, 200,000 people were killed in the chaos that ensued. (Reporting by Tarek Amara in DJERBA, Tunisia, Lamine Chikhi in Algiers and Souhail Karam in Rabat; writing by Matt Robinson; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)-Alernet.
Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.
