First Independent Mena Newspaper
Before the Soviet Union controlled the former republics of Central Asia, Sufi brotherhoods dominated the religious scene in Chechnya, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. However, the Soviet policy toward Islam drove these Sufi groups underground for fear of persecution. In the aftermath of the fall of the Soviet bloc, legions of radical Islamists filled the gap left […]
Tunisia’s president, Moncef Marzouki, has voiced concerns over insecurity in the region as he claims that Islamist militants linked to Al-Qaeda are moving towards North Africa from Southwest Asia. He blames their migration on the lack of policing of the Sahara desert by North African countries which heavily dominates the southern part of the region. […]
Head of Tunisia moderate Islamist Ennahda party, Rached Ghannouchi, has vowed to fight and stand up to the hardline salafists who showed lately their real face when they added oil to the fire in the deadly violence that rocked the country over anti-Islam film. “These people pose a threat not only to Ennahda but to […]
When fruit seller Mohammed Bouazizi set himself on fire in December 2010 and started the first of the series of “Arab Spring” revolutions, it was not just the decade-long dictatorship that he was protesting against but also the poor state of the Tunisian economy that had been for long unable to provide its people with […]