The Institute for Security Studies (ISS) published the article: Organized Crime Meets Terrorism in Tunisia.
By Jihane Ben Yahia and Isel Van Zyl
There are stories in Tunisia about how terrorism and crime intersect in different ways. This North African country, which has experienced multiple terrorist attacks since 2015, was the home country of some of the largest numbers of jihadist terrorists in Syria and Iraq from 2011 to 2016.
According to Tunisian civil society organizations working to prevent violent extremism, areas such as Beja (a city in northwestern Tunisia) and the Western Kram (a northern suburb of Tunis) are a known source of combatants who have either joined terrorist cells in Tunisia or left the country to join extremists abroad. These regions are also marked by high crime rates.
Addressing the task by expanding the scope of crime prevention could reduce the possibilities for intersection between terrorism and other types of crime. If we focus only on the prevention of violent extremism some people may be left behind.
