I’m terrorists’ number one target

Othman Belhaj Omar, leader of the Tunisian Baath movement Tunis – Azhar Jarboui The leader of the Baath movement in Tunisia, Othman Belhaj Omar, has revealed that he is number one on the country’s terrorist hit list. In an interview with Arab Today, the Baath Movement Secretary General said recent investigations into the terrorist group suspected of assassinating Tunisian opposition activists Chokri Belaid and Mohammed Brahmi showed that he was top of its list of assassination targets. Belhaj Omar  said he was given the news by lawyers working on the case of Mohammad Brahmi, shot dead on July 25, adding that he had also received a warning from Popular Front spokesman Hamma Hammami, who told him to be careful because of rising instability in Tunisia. Despite the apparent danger, Balhaj Omar said he has not asked for protection from the interior ministry, because he doesn’t have tangible evidence of the threat against him. Many pan-Arab political leaders in Tunisia, whether Baathist or Nasserite, are targets for terrorists, the socialist leader added. Belhaj Omar  said real protection from the threat would only come by dealing effectively with extremism and terrorism, and halting provocations to violence. In an attack on Tunisia’s ruling coalition, led by the Islamist Ennahda Party, Belhaj Omar stated that he rejects the interior ministry’s claim that religious extremists are behind political assassinations, saying extremists target those who “offend religion”, not politicians.   Apparently referring to the killings of Belaid and Brahmi, the pan-Arab politician called on the Tunisian government to reveal who ordered the assassinations. Turning to Tunisia’s current political crisis, Belhaj Omar, a member of the newly-formed National Salvation Front, said the Ennahda party has missed the chance for dialogue, and that the crisis will only be resolved by dissolving the government and the National Constituent Assembly (NCA).   “We will not talk to the government, we need to reach a consensus on the opposition demands to save the country,” he said, specifying these demands as dissolving the NCA and forming a neutral national salvation government, to prepare for coming elections. But Belhaj Omar insisted the Salvation Front does not believe in exclusion and does not intend to divide Tunisian society by clashing with Ennahda. Rather, the Front seeks to integrate the Islamist Party into Tunisian political life, he said, adding that Ennahda is a major political player and will keep its place in the Tunisian political area, be it in power or opposition. Commenting on foreign mediation efforts, particularly by Germany and France, to resolve Tunisia’s crisis, Belhaj Omar said many opposition members were aware of the dangers of this foreign interference and refuse to accept it. The Baath leader also criticised US and Germany for being, he claimed, the largest Western powers supporting the Muslim Brotherhood in Tunisia and the world. Belhaj Omar concluded by addressing his party’s relations with prominent opposition party Nidaa Tounis, which some accuse of being the new face of the Tunisian former regime. The Baath party has no reservations about Nidaa Tounis and its participation in the National Salvation Front, he said.