Tunisia is building a wall along its border with Libya to prevent the infiltration of extremists following a beach front attack that killed 38 tourists.
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The Tunisian government has said that the gunman who carried out the attack in the Sousse resort last month was trained in Libya.
On June 26, a gunman, later identified as Seifeddine Rezgui, walked down a beach by the Spanish-owned five-star Riu Imperial Marhaba hotel and killed 40 tourists with an automatic rifle.
A month-long state of emergency was declared on July 4th. The Islamic State branch in Libya claimed responsibility for both attacks.
An alleged accomplice of Rezgui is also understood to have fled into Libya and is believed to be trying to escape to Europe in a migrant boat across the Mediterranean. The victims were mostly tourists, vacationing in Sousse.
The Tunisian Army would build the wall, Essid said, which would come complete with a variety of surveillance cameras meant to keep a watchful eye.
Declaring the urgent reinstatement of 30 days of security measures that were lifted in March a year ago, Beji Caid Essebsi said terrorists pose an existential threat to the North African nation.
The state of emergency will deepen a pre-existing crackdown on suspected militants, temporarily allowing the government to restrict rights to public assembly, order house raids or arrests, and take control of media outlets.
In the coming weeks officials are expected to pass a counter-terrorism bill that has been in parliament since early 2014.
Tunisia has exported more fighters to wars in Syria and Iraq than any other country, and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or Isil, has often featured Tunisian nationals in its propaganda material.
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Although those measures were relaxed, police and the military retained powers to intervene in unrest or for security reasons.
