TUNISIA has once again had to deny allegations of agreeing to host a US military base in the country, reviving speculations over the depth of US-Tunisian relations. Citing Italian media, a report on the London-based Arabic newspaper Al Arab on Wednesday claimed that Tunisia had already begun to receive US surveillance systems in preparation to establish a new US military station in the northwestern coastal city of Haouaria. The base would eventually operate as a substitute for the Naval Radio Transmitter Facility Niscemi (NRTF Niscemi), a US navy telecommunications station based in Niscemi, Italy, according to the newspaper. NRTF Niscemi's operations have been repeatedly interrupted since 2012 after becoming the target of protests and a legal battle with local residents who resisted the installation of MUOS, a US.satellite system, in fear of environmental and health damages due to radio waves. Developed by US Department of Defense, MUOS provides real time communication with soldiers anywhere in the world and enables remote drone piloting — the kind of intelligence network the US wants in its Mideast counterterrorism effort. Italian media also reported that Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi discussed transferring the surveillance equipment to Haouaria during his visit to Washington in May. Tunisia rejected all of those allegations. In a statement, the spokesman of the Tunisian presidency, Moez Sinaoui, told radio station MosaiqueFM that “Tunisia's doctrine since independence has been to reject any establishment of a foreign military base in the country.” Despite multiple attempts made by Al Arabiya News, the Tunisian authorities were not available to comment further. Location The claims followed a recent Wall Street Journal report citing a senior Obama Administration official as saying that the US is currently in talks with North African countries about establishing a drone base on their soil to contain the expansion of Daesh (the so-called IS) group in war-stricken Libya. The report did not identify specific location and said it “would give permission to position drones there along with a limited number of US military personnel.” Dr. Stephen Biddle, an adjunct senior fellow for defense policy at the Council for Foreign Relations, told Al Arabiya News: “Drones have a limited ability to defeat militant groups, but they can suppress them and reduce their virulence.” “A US drone campaign against Daesh in Libya might thus diminish its ability to plan attacks against US or other allied countries, as well as weakening them as contestants for power in Libya itself — even if such a limited campaign cannot defeat Daesh outright,” said Biddle. But Maj. James Brindle, a Pentagon spokesman, told Al Arabiya News a potential US station in North Africa “would be for surveillance, not kinetic” and would be “a sovereign host government facility to which the US is granted access.” The spokesman refused to reveal specific ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) assets or locations. “We work closely with our African partners to counter violent extremism, address security challenges and promote regional stability, and will continue to do so,” Brindle stated, while also pointing that “no final decisions have been made.” “These discussions are nascent and exploratory,” he added. Despite the secrecy around the potential ISR location, the news struck a nerve in Algeria prompting its press to immediately single out Tunisia as being the center of this base-location-search. Algerian reaction Algeria, which considers any US presence in North Africa a provocation to its sovereignty, then went on to threaten to cut diplomatic ties with Tunisia if agreed to host the American base. “Tunisia has to choose between a US military base or relations with Algeria, especially that Algeria spent decades fighting terrorism and resisting foreign pressures to set up military bases on its soil or borders,” Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra was reported as saying in a letter addressed to Essebsi, according to Algerian newspaper Al Hiwar. Tunisia's position in the center of all these reports serve as proof for the country's deep involvement with the US, a top security expert told Arabiya News. “I don't think the US press, the Italian press, the Algerian official news agency and diplomatic sources, as well as a number of Tunisian analysts can all be wrong. There is no smoke without a fire,” said Dr. Mazen Cherif, a security expert and head of the Tunisian Center for Global Security Studies. The expert revealed his center had obtained information confirming a second U.S. base - separate from the alleged surveillance site in Houaria — is in the works in the south of the country near the Tunisian-Libyan border. ‘Catastrophic' results While logistical support from the US is important, hosting a military base would bear “catastrophic” results for Tunisia, said Cherif. “Tunisia is the world's top exporter of terrorists… Hosting the US base would only invite more militancy in Tunisia,” said Cherif. “The current situation in the region does not allow Tunisia to handle a US base,” he said, in reference to neighboring war-strife Libya. “The decision-makers are delusional about the impact of such a decision on Tunisia, thinking that the Tunisian army is incapable of curbing terrorism and that the only solution is for 'Mama America' to set up a base and kill them [terrorists],” he said. — Al Arabiya News
