Editing Tunisian Armed Forces (section)

==History==
[[File:Artillerie beylicale.jpg|thumb|Tunisian artillery and gunners, circa 1900]]

The modern Tunisian army was formed in 1831 by [[Al-Husayn II ibn Mahmud]]. During the period of the [[French Protectorate of Tunisia|French Protectorate]] (1881–1956) Tunisians were recruited in significant numbers into the [[French Army]], serving as [[tirailleurs]] (infantry) and [[spahis]] (cavalry). These units saw active service in Europe during both World Wars, as well as in [[Indo-China]] prior to 1954. The only exclusively Tunisian military force permitted under French rule was the [[Beylical Guard]].<ref name=KeeganT>page 710 "World Armies", John Keegan, {{ISBN|0-333-17236-1}}</ref>

=== Following independence ===
On June 30, 1956, the Tunisian army was officially founded by decree,<ref name="decret56">{{cite journal|url=http://www.cnudst.rnrt.tn/jortsrc/1956/1956f/jo05256.pdf|language=fr|title=Décret du 30 join 1956 instituant l'armée tunisienne|journal=Journal Official Tunisien|date=29–30 June 1956|page=884|issue=52|access-date=26 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131227155443/http://www.cnudst.rnrt.tn/jortsrc/1956/1956f/jo05256.pdf|archive-date=27 December 2013|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref> in the form of a combined-arms regiment. The necessary equipment was made available to the young state from French stocks.<ref name="Kefi">{{in lang|fr}} [Ridha Kefi http://www.jeuneafrique.com/jeune_afrique/article_jeune_afrique.asp?art_cle=LIN13076leshaemrale0 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090130105115/http://www.jeuneafrique.com/jeune_afrique/article_jeune_afrique.asp?art_cle=LIN13076leshaemrale0 |date=30 January 2009 }} , "The army 's new clothes ", [[Jeune Afrique]], July 13, 1999]</ref> The new army initially comprised 25 Tunisian officers, 250 NCOs and 1,250 men transferred from French Army service, plus 850 former members of the Beylical Guard.<ref name=KeeganT /> Approximately 4,000 Tunisian soldiers continued in French Army service until 1958, when the majority transferred to the Tunisian Army, which reached a strength of over 6,000 that year.

Intakes of conscripts for military service, made mandatory in January 1957, plus the recall of reservists allowed the army to grow to twelve battalions numbering 20,000 men by 1961.<ref name="Kefi"/> Sixty per cent of those troops were deployed for border monitoring and defense duties.

Tunisian units first saw action in 1958 after French intrusions into the south in pursuit of [[National Liberation Army (Algeria)]] fighters. In 1960 Tunisian troops served with the United National Peacekeeping Force in the Congo. 1,020 troops from the Tunisian Armed Forces were amongst the first UN troops to arrive in the Congo, by 20 July 1960.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N60/171/85/PDF/N6017185.pdf?OpenElement|title=FIRST REPORT BY THE SECRETARY-GENERAL ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION S/4387 CF 14 JULY 1960 (S/4389)|last=United Nations (Official Documents System)|website=documents-dds-ny.un.org|date=18 July 1960|access-date=2016-12-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161230155833/https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N60/171/85/PDF/N6017185.pdf?OpenElement|archive-date=30 December 2016|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref> In 1961 [[Bizerte crisis|clashes]] occurred with French forces based at [[Bizerte]]. More than 600 men fell in battle against the French forces. The French evacuated the base after subsequent negotiations with the Tunisian Government.

The Tunisian Navy, founded in 1958, received its first ship in the fall of 1959.  The [[Tunisian Air Force|Air Force]] acquired its first combat aircraft in 1960 . While the Tunisian armed forces obtain equipment from several sources, the [[United States]] remains the largest single supplier.<ref name="Kefi"/> Officer and specialist training for Tunisian personnel was formerly undertaken in French and American military academies. Tunisian trainees are now gradually being assigned to newly established military schools within the country.
 
The January 10, 1957, a law prohibits any military officer to be a member of a group or a [[political party]].<ref name="Kefi"/> However, after 7 November 1987 when the former [[Prime Minister of Tunisia|Prime Minister]], General [[Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali]] took power senior officers such as [[Abdelhamid Escheikh]] and [[Mustapha Bouaziz]] took up ministerial appointments.

On 30 April 2002, at around 18.15, the direction of the Army - Brigadier General Abdelaziz Skik who led the Tunisian contingent to [[Cambodia]], two colonels - majors, three colonels, four majors, two lieutenants and a sergeant-major - disappeared in a helicopter crash near the town of [[Medjez el-Bab]].<ref>{{in lang|fr}}[http://www.jeuneafrique.com/jeune_afrique/article_jeune_afrique.asp?art_cle=LIN13053larmeliuedn0 Abdelaziz Barrouhi, "The army in mourning"], "[[Jeune Afrique]]", May 13, 2002  {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090130045500/http://www.jeuneafrique.com/jeune_afrique/article_jeune_afrique.asp?art_cle=LIN13053larmeliuedn0 |date=30 January 2009 }}</ref>

Tunisia has contributed military forces to [[United Nations]] peacekeeping missions, including an army company to the [[United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda]] (UNAMIR) during the [[Rwandan genocide]]. In his book ''Shake Hands with the Devil'', Canadian force commander [[Roméo Dallaire]] gave the Tunisian soldiers high credit for their skills and effort in the conflict and referred to them as his "ace in the hole".

During the [[2011 Libyan civil war]], Tunisian forces, mostly border guards, saw some limited action when fighting between Libyan rebels and loyalist soldiers spilled over the border.<ref>{{cite news |last=Amara |first=Tarek |url=https://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE73S00320110429?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel |title=Pro-Gaddafi forces clash with Tunisian military |work=Reuters |date=2011-04-29 |access-date=2013-12-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303235415/http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE73S00320110429?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel |archive-date=3 March 2016 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

===The military and politics===
The Library of Congress Country Study says:<blockquote>His exclusive power to promote military officers has been among the strongest components of Bourguiba's control over the armed forces. From independence, high-ranking officers—general staff and senior commanders in particular—have been carefully selected for their party loyalty more than for their professional experience and competence. This began in the late 1950s when the president dismissed those officers who had trained in the Middle East and who might therefore have been expected to sympathize with the militant Pan-Arab policies of Egypt's Nasser. The hand-picked senior officers, in turn, carefully screened all officers who were considered for positions of authority in line units to ensure that antiregime elements did not pose potential threats at any level of the military establishment.

As a result of these promotion policies, the Tunisian officer corps took on a very homogeneous character that only began to break down in the 1970s. Senior officers have been generally representative of Tunisia's economically and politically dominant families from the north, the coastal areas, and the major cities. Although military men have been kept from operating major business ventures or holding political office while in uniform, it has been common for family members to be prominent in business or in the Destourian political movement. Generally Western and Francophile in outlook, tied by kinship to the country's upper socioeconomic stratum, and personally familiar with leading figures in the PSD, high-ranking Tunisian officers must be classed as part of the national elite.</blockquote>In 2021, Tunisia boosted the role of military in their fight to curb the pandemic's spread. On Monday 5th, the [[President of Tunisia|Tunisian presidency]] announced that medical and paramedical university graduates of the last three years will be drafted by the army. The intent was to remedy to a shortage of medical staff in public and private hospitals because hundreds of unhappy health professionals have left the country in recent years. Among other decisions, a vaccination campaign will be waged by joint civilian-military teams  around the country under the supervision of the army.<ref name="thearabweekly.com">{{Cite web|title=Tunisia boosts role of military in fight to curb pandemic's soaring toll {{!}}|url=https://thearabweekly.com/tunisia-boosts-role-military-fight-curb-pandemics-soaring-toll|access-date=2021-07-09|website=AW|language=en}}</ref>