Tunisia: Playing Tit-for-Tat with Libya

Officials in Tunisia were outraged. Some 23,000 of the country's workers were returning home from neighboring Libya bearing tales of forced detention, beatings and the seizure of possessions, including their passports. The unhappy caravan was the first wave of some 90,000 Tunisian workers in Libya affected by Libyan Strongman Muammar Gaddafi's decision earlier this month to expel foreign workers. Libya's economy has been hard hit by reduced earnings resulting from the oil glut.

Tunisia retaliated last week by ordering the expulsion of 253 Libyans, including 30 diplomats. It also closed Libyan consulates and cultural centers in Tunis and the seaport city of Sfax. As tension between the two countries grew, the Tunisian news agency reported that three Libyan aircraft had flown 30 miles into Tunisia. The pro-Western government of President Habib Bourguiba, which has already put its army on the alert, fired off a protest to Gaddafi over the violation of Tunisian air space. Tunisian Foreign Minister Beji Caid Essebsi gave a somber assessment of the situation, describing it as "a grave and direct threat to peace in the region."