Families of 12 officers of the Tunisian Land Army who died in the military helicopter crash in 2002 are demanding that authorities reveal circumstances of the “mysterious incident.”
The incident occurred when the Tunisian military officers, including the army chief of staff Brigadier General Abdelaziz Skik, were on their way back to Tunisia from a surveillance mission in the Kef region near the Algerian border.
Several political parties and Tunisian media sources suspected foul play and accused the regime of former President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali of orchestrating the incident. But, the former security services evaded a discussion of this issue.
After the Tunisian Revolution which toppled Ben Ali’s regime, many questioned again the role of the former authorities in the incident, especially after the state-owned Channel 1 broadcast on April 19, 2011, a documentary in which it described the incident as a “liquidation operation led by Ben Ali.”
After the documentary aired, the Defense Ministry issued a statement denouncing reports that the incident was “planned”, and called on the media to investigate and verify information that undermines the credibility of the Tunisian army.
Suspicions increased after the officers changed the helicopter on their way back, which crashed the moment it took off from Medjez el-Bab city. Many questioned the reason for using a different helicopter.
Authorities launched an investigation which concluded that a mechanical failure might have caused the crash, without giving any further details. The results were announced by the then-Defense Minister, Dali Jazi.
The investigation comprised Tunisian and US military experts, knowing that the helicopter was US-made.
General Skik joined the Tunisian army in 1959. He held several high-ranking positions in the armed forces since 1994. He was appointed director of the National Defense Institute, then the general inspector of the armed forces in 1999, and chief of staff of the Land Army in 2001.
