A friend of mine recently wrote to me telling me that he’s in Germany for this month’s beer fest.  “Must be nice…” I thought to myself.  Then I read an article in the Al-Ahram Weekly entitled:  What happens on 23 October?  …and that’s when I realized that while he’s in a beer fest…I am in a drama fest.  

The article asks the question every Expat in Tunisia wants to know:  “What will happen in October?”

Then they go into some of the different possibilities:  “Will the troika government leave power? Will the constituent assembly be dissolved? Could there even be civil conflict if no consensus can be reached, or will the troika government continue in office indefinitely?”

They even offer a prediction:  “All, some or none of this could happen.” 

Not enough you say…don’t worry…there’s more…

According to the article, a member of Al-Nahada (the main party in power) stated: “23 October will be a normal day, just like 22 October. The Tunisian people can celebrate the first anniversary of holding their first-ever democratic elections and then go back to work on 24 October.”

Sounds good to me…but then there’s this: Beji Caid Al-Sebsi, the main opposition leader, “has declared that the troika is over and it must leave power by the October deadline.”  

We can also throw in the not so optimistic statement of Al-Tayib Al-Bakush, secretary-general of the Call of Tunisia Party, who supposedly stated that there could be “civil war” if the troika does not leave power.

Security Irony

So while my buddy is enjoying the largest beer festival in the world…I’ll be here …witnessing history.  And just like he prepared himself to enjoy the festivities over there … we’ll be doing the same for the drama over here.  

Here’s to the hope that there’ll be more excitement & news coverage in Germany than in Tunisia.