Lazhar El-Zidi is a Tunisian resistance fighter who participated in the armed struggle in 1952 against France’s colonization.
El-Zidi spent more than two years of his life traveling from one mountain to the other and between the border areas of Tunisia and Algeria. He recently gave the Tunisian security forces tips on how to deal with terrorists hiding in the mountains, which he has written extensively about in a book on the period he spent in the al-Shaanbi Mountains called “al-Thaer al-Sagheer” (The Young Revolutionary).
Lazhar El-Zidi is a Tunisian resistance fighter who participated in the armed struggle in 1952 against France’s colonization.
El-Zidi spent more than two years of his life traveling from one mountain to the other and between the border areas of Tunisia and Algeria. He recently gave the Tunisian security forces tips on how to deal with terrorists hiding in the mountains, which he has written extensively about in a book on the period he spent in the al-Shaanbi Mountains called “al-Thaer al-Sagheer” (The Young Revolutionary).
Lazhar El-Zidi, how did you join the Mujahidin (“revolutionary”)?
I was born into a poor family and I lived a life of destitution. Like many other people in Tunisia, our land was taken away from us. In 1955, a French occupier seized the land of our ancestors, prevented them from irrigating it and so each farmer started to farm small pieces of land other than his own.
One day, my mother gave me a meal to take to my father who was farming a land next to the French occupier’s land. I was seven years old and the way to the field was long. I decided to take a short cut by passing through the French occupier’s land. When I did so, one of the French Gendarmerie stopped me and slapped me.
I fell on the ground and the food I was carrying with me got mixed with dust and dirt. He then pulled my ear and pressed it until it started to bleed. After that, he let me go and he shouted at me saying that if he sees me again taking this path he will break my head and feet. He insulted me and cursed my father. I carried the empty food pot and went to my father who listened to my story and became very angry. After wiping my tears, my father said, ‘This is the true image of the colonizers. They take our land and they do not even allow us to pass through it.’
How did that experience affect your childhood?
I grew up having lots of passion about resistance and I always hoped to fight the Gendarmerie who slapped me and deprived my father from his meal. I started to join the elders and ask them about our ancestors and what the French colonizers did to our land.
In 1952, specifically in the month of March, I heard that there were armed men who came to the Tunisian mountains to fight the French army. They were called the Mujahidin or the revolutionaries. The colonizer used to call them bandits. They were fighting the colonizers in every place on Tunisian soil. It was then that I decided to join them.
How did you reach those who were hiding in the mountains?
In the beginning, I collected information about them and I was told that they wore green uniforms and athletic light shoes. I bought green clothes and similar shoes and went to the head of the division (a regional branch of the ruling party). I obtained the Tunisian Liberal Constitutional Party’s card, which all freedom fighters obtained because the party led by Habib Bourguiba, who was at that time in French prisons, adopted the revolution.
I headed towards the mountain and spent several days searching and asking the people who lived there until I was able to reach the Mujahidin.
What were some of the major attacks you launched against the French?
We were in a mountain in al-Dahmani district and we spent some days there. Our leader ordered us to go to Makthar Mountain in the Siliana province. Then he gave us orders to attack a military convoy. We fired our guns at the convoy and the soldiers left their vehicles and the exchange of fire started and lasted for nearly one hour. We were able to kill and injure many soldiers and one of our members was wounded. We withdrew to the el-Sirj Mountain then to the Barqo Mountain in Siliana province. We stayed there for 20 days until our comrade joined us and then we went to Kasserine, where we stayed hiding in the Sabiba mountains for almost one month.
This means that you are very well acquainted with the al-Shaanbi Mountains?
I am a descendent of the Awlad Bu Zaid family in the central west. Our land is located between two mountains, the al-Shaanbi and Sammama in Kasserine province. The Bu Zaid hometown is located in a valley connected with Wadi al-Hatab starting at the Algerian borders in the Tabsa area and which passes through Foussana in Kasserine.
In the 1950’s I spent a year and a half with the Mujahiddin, hiding in the al-Shaanbi Mountains. At that time, our leader was the famous freedom fighter known as “Lasaad Sassi”.
After the death of eight soldiers in the al-Shaanbi Mountains last July you gave security forces advice. Can you elaborate?
I drew their attention to the need to strengthen the role of informants. In the past, we used these informants to guide us and to monitor the moves of the enemy. Terrorists may succeed in hiding from the authorities but they can’t hide from people because they need water and food and they will need to ask people about some information.
Tunisian informants in the city and in the French army were supplying freedom fighters in the mountains with information about the colonizers. This made it easy for us to move and to hide away from the enemy. Even those who are very close to us didn’t know anything about our movements and our next destination.
The Interior Ministry has recently revealed several facts about the terrorists. Do you think that they are still hiding in the al-Shaanbi Mountains?
I am very much convinced that they are still hiding in the mountains. In the past, we stayed one and a half years moving from one mountain to the other. The French authority, with its entire military might and ammunition, was not able to find our hiding places and to arrest us because of the places we used to hide in were very difficult to be reached and because we were moving from one mountain to the other.
There are many hiding places in the al-Shaanbi Mountains and there are many paths as well. Fighters can hide between one rock and the other and in caves and no one would be able to find them.
According to my knowledge of the nature of terrorists, I can say that they are moving from one mountain to another at night and that they are taking the difficult routes such as coulees and forests.
However, I am sure that they need water and food and that there are places where they are getting these needs met. These places are located in inhibited areas and this is why people should be careful and should call the security men or the army in case they get any piece of information about the terrorists.
Ansar al-Sharia has been categorized as a terrorist organization. Do you consider it as such?
It is a terrorist organization because it is killing the Tunisian people, i.e., its members are killing the sons of their own country. I don’t accept and I can’t understand why a Tunisian citizen would slaughter the son of his country. They are trying to implant fear and horror in the hearts of the Tunisian people and army.
In the past, there were no communication means but today terrorists have modern means of communication and they have informants to guide them and to tell them about the bombarded areas.
A threatened person should be very careful. I am sure that they have friends in Kasserine and that they are bribing them with money to help them.
Today, it no longer matters how many terrorists the Tunisian army kills because the terrorists’ organization will send new terrorists to compensate for the losses. When one terrorist is killed, two or three new terrorists come to replace them and to follow their footsteps in order to have their plans implemented.
Some say that there are foreign terrorists fighting in the al-Shaanbi Mountains. Is this the same as the old days of the colonial period?
In the past, there were only Tunisians and Algerians. Today, there are fighters coming from Chad, Libya, Mali and Algeria, participating in terrorist acts in the al-Shaanbi Mountains. It is not only our sons that are present there. There are many foreigners from many countries and the aim of the attacks they are launching is to terrorize the people and the Tunisian army.
What the terrorists are doing today in the al-Shaanbi Mountains and their hiding techniques are very similar to what we used to do in the past but today the nature of the enemy is different. We were confronting the French colonizer who took away our land and freedom. However, the terrorists are hiding in the mountains to fight the sons of their country.
Did the current or previous Tunisian authorities acknowledge your struggle and sacrifices?
When we handed in the weapons, the colonizers were surprised to see that those who terrorized them over a period of many months were young men. The oldest fighter was Abdul-Hakim and he was only 25 years old. We entered Kasserine City and the people were very happy to see us.
Tunisia was going through a very difficult phase. People were needy and poor but we did not want money or thankfulness. However, the ruling party at that time took care of us. We receive an income of about 160 dinars (less than 80 Euros). It is true that this amount is very little and does not pay back freedom fighters, but we didn’t want to get any privileges for our sacrifices.
The question that should be answered by the Tunisian government is: What did it do to fighters who took up arms in mountains?
The number of those fighters, according to the party members’ cards at that time, is estimated at 3250 freedom fighters. Those who are still alive are less than one thousand. The government should have taken care of them and of their families and it should have explored their living conditions. It was supposed to honour the sons of the martyrs but unfortunately, there are some people who want the memory of these people to fade away and they do not want any mention of them in the country’s history.
