Fahem Boukaddous: Lettre à l’opinion publique Assabilonline: Taoufik Ayachi, journaliste, a été agressé violemment dans la banlieue de Mégrine TTU Monde Arabe: Tunis/Doha – une affaire épineuse Kalima: Le procès du journaliste Mouldi Zouabi ajourné Kalima: Une délégation de la société civile au siège du Parti démocratique italien Kalima: Le gendre du président décroche un marché avec le ministère de l’éducation AFP: Tunisie/piraterie: une rançon réclamée Reuters: Tunisia jails 23 over attacks, Iraq insurgency links Tunisie soir: Le nouvel ambassadeur de Tunisie à Doha présente ses lettres de créance The Gaurdian: Tunisia, our supposedly stable ‘friend’
Lettre à l’opinion publique
Taoufik Ayachi, journaliste, a été agressé violemment dans la banlieue de Mégrine
TUNIS/DOHA : UNE AFFAIRE ÉPINEUSE
Les observateurs s’interrogent sur les intentions de la chaîne qatarie Al-Jazeera, après la diffusion, en août dernier, d’une série d’entretiens de douze heures avec l’ancien secrétaire d’Etat tunisien à l’Intérieur, Ahmed Bennour, dans le cadre de l’émission “Témoin de son époque”. La filature du journaliste de la chaîne Ahmed Mansour et une tentative de vol de cassettes dans ses affaires personnelles ayant échoué, le président Ben Ali s’est emparé lui-même du dossier, devenu une affaire d’Etat (voir TTU n° 662). Exilé à Paris depuis 1986, Bennour fait l’objet d’attaques régulières dans la presse tunisienne. Ben Ali redoute que cet ancien secrétaire d’Etat à la défense puis à l’Intérieur n’ait divulgué, au cours de ses entretiens, des informations ultra-sensibles concernant les relations entre les services de renseignements tunisiens et ceux de certains pays étrangers, notamment le Mossad. Informations qui pourraient en gêner plus d’un au Palais de Carthage, à commencer par le Président. C’est en tout cas l’argument qu’a mis en avant Ben Ali lors de son entretien avec l’émir du Qatar, en visite à Tunis le mois dernier, pour le convaincre de faire interdire le programme en question. Il aurait même laissé entendre à l’émir que les révélations de Bennour pourraient faire du tort aux autorités de Doha, compte tenu des relations qu’entretient le Qatar avec Israël. Surtout si l’on apprenait que le fils d’un haut responsable qatari réside à Tel-Aviv. Depuis cet entretien entre les deux chefs d’Etat, l’émission “Témoin de son époque” avec Ahmed Bennour, prévue pour fin octobre, a été reportée sine die. (Source: « TTU Monde Arabe » LETTRE HEBDOMADAIRE D’ INFORMATIONS STRATÉGIQUES N° 666 – 11 NOVEMBRE 2010)
Le procès du journaliste Mouldi Zouabi ajourné
Une délégation de la société civile au siège du Parti démocratique italien
Le gendre du président décroche un marché avec le ministère de l’éducation
Tunisie/piraterie: une rançon réclamée
AFP 12/11/2010 | Les pirates qui retiennent le navire Hannibal II avec 31 membre d’équipage ont réclamé le paiement d’une rançon à l’armateur tunisien GMT. Le navire battant pavillon du Panama capturé dans l’océan Indien est la propriété d’une entreprise spécialisée dans le transport des produits chimiques et pétroliers, la Gabes Marine Tankers (bien: Gabes Marine Tankers). Le montant de la rançon n’a pas été précisé. Le gérant de la société, l’homme d’affaires fortuné Farid Abbas, n’a pu être joint vendredi à Tunis. Le bateau a été capturé jeudi par des pirates dans l’océan Indien alors qu’il faisait route vers Suez, avait annoncé la force navale antipiraterie de l’Union européenne, Atalante. Le Hannibal II, qui transportait de l’huile de palme depuis la Malaisie, a été attaqué à environ 860 milles nautiques à l’est de la Corne de l’Afrique, soit plus près des côtes indiennes que somaliennes, relevait Atalante. Hannibal II a été détourné jeudi à 04H30 GMT par dix à quinze pirates armés qui l’ont forcé à prendre la direction des côtes somaliennes, avait précisé l’agence gouvernementale TAP. Les autorités tunisiennes ont affirmé suivre « heure par heure » l’opération pour y mettre fin dans les plus brefs délais et préserver la vie de tous les membres de l’équipage. L’équipage compte 23 Tunisiens, 4 Philippins, un Croate, un Géorgien, un Russe et un Marocain, selon Atalante.
Reuters le 11-11-2010
TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisia has jailed 23 Tunisian nationals after six were found guilty of joining insurgents in Iraq and another 17 of plotting attacks in Tunisia, their lawyer said on Thursday.
He did not give any details on what sort of attacks had been planned and said one of those found guilty was dead and another three were on the run.
Tunis has stepped up a crackdown on Islamic militancy since the introduction of an anti-terrorism bill in 2003, a process critics of the government say has allowed a harsher repression of the opposition at home.
The predominantly Muslim country is a secular state with close ties to the West. The United States and the European Union rely on closer cooperation with North African states to prevent attacks that may target Western countries or their interests in the region.
« (One of the accused) Mohammed Akkari admitted that he fought U.S. troops in Iraq before being detained there and then released, » Samir Ben-Amor, a prominent human rights’ lawyer who represented the 23 found guilty, told Reuters by telephone on Thursday.
However, he said one of those found guilty of joining insurgents in Iraq and undergoing military training outside Tunisia, whom he identified as Mejdi Zribi, was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment even though he had died near the Syrian-Iraqi border under circumstances Ben-Amor could not specify.
He said only two of the men charged were actually present during the trial and three were tried in absentia.
Tunisian government officials were not immediately available to comment.
Lawyers say about 2,000 people have been arrested in Tunisia on charges of militancy since the anti-terrorism bill was enforced. The Justice Ministry says no more than 400 have been arrested.
Of the 23 found guilty in the latest case, six were jailed for between five and 20 years after being accused of joining insurgents in Iraq and undergoing military training outside Tunisia, Ben-Amor said.
In a second trial, 16 Tunisians were sentenced to two-year jail terms and another was given a 10-year sentence after being found guilty of forming a « terrorist group plotting terrorist acts in the country », he said.
Le nouvel ambassadeur de Tunisie à Doha présente ses lettres de créance
Lors d’une cérémonie officielle organisée, à Doha, M. Ahmed Kédidi, a présenté à Cheikh Hamad Ben Khalifa Al Thani, Emir de l’Etat du Qatar, les lettres l’accréditant en qualité d’ambassadeur de Tunisie au Qatar. A cette occasion, Cheikh Hamad Ben Khalifa Al Thani a fait part de ses sentiments de fraternité et de considération à son frère, le Président Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, se félicitant des relations de coopération séculaires établies entre les deux pays. Il a, également, salué le professionnalisme et la probité dont font preuve les cadres tunisiens exerçant au Qatar, dont le nombre est passé de 4000, en 2008, à 9000 actuellement. Cheikh Hamad Ben Khalifa Al Thani a chargé le diplomate tunisien de transmettre ses sentiments de fraternité au président de la République et ses souhaits, au peuple tunisien, d’un surcroît de progrès et de prospérité, réaffirmant l’engagement à oeuvrer, de concert, en vue de hisser le niveau de la coopération bilatérale. Pour sa part, M. Ahmed Kédidi a transmis au Cheikh Hamad Ben Khalifa Al Thani les salutations du Président Ben Ali et les sentiments de fraternité et de considération que lui voue le chef de l’Etat, ainsi que sa volonté de raffermir, de développer et de diversifier les liens de coopération unissant les deux pays. (Source : « Tunisie Soir » le 11-11-2010) Lien : http://www.tunisiesoir.com/politique/111110-le-nouvel-ambassadeur-de-tunisie-a-doha-presente-ses-lettres-de-creance.html
Tunisia, our supposedly stable ‘friend’
The west’s search for Arab allies should not be at the expense of supporting political freedom within those countries
I am standing in a cramped, three-room office in an unmarked building in central Tunis. I have been led here by Nejib Chebbi, the chairman of the Parti Démocrate Progressiste (PDP), the most credible opposition party in Tunisia. We have just finished lunch during which Chebbi discussed the week-long hunger strike he and Maya Jribi, the PDP secretary-general, had finished only the previous evening in protest at the government’s attempt to block publication of the latest issue of the PDP’s newspaper.
Chebbi is articulate, well-versed in international politics and thoroughly pragmatic. Indeed, he fits precisely the profile of the « Arab democrat » I’ve heard western political scientists pining after. Now standing in his party’s modest headquarters – which Chebbi says the government tried to seize recently to leave them with no place to organise – he politely shrugs off that the US and European embassies only privately express their support for his party. Instead he gestures across the room and states, « if you want a picture of democracy in Tunisia, this is it. »
Since independence in 1956, Tunisia has been ruled by one party and two presidents – Habib Bourguiba and, since 1987, Zine el Abidine Ben Ali. Though political rights have supposedly expanded in this time, Tunisians’ ability to actually exercise them effectively has been eliminated.
Today, foreign or domestic journalists who publish material that is seen as critical of the government quickly find themselves unable to work in the country. Similarly, Tunisians who join unapproved movements of any political shading are liable to find themselves followed by police and quietly dismissed from their job, while their family is harassed and they are perhaps thrown into jail or, worse, tortured.
The government has accomplished pervasive control by constructing a fearsome security apparatus and an extensive system of patronage and bribes that is continually leveraged to maintain the support of those who might otherwise cause problems for the regime, such as judges and the country’s economic elite.
The common view from outside is that Tunisia is stable. Because Ben Ali’s government has provided economic growth and avoided the violence of neighbouring Algeria, most Tunisians supposedly have acquiesced to the exchange of political freedom for economic and personal security. This view also forms the basis of a rather meagre argument from Tunisia’s allies as to why they are not more critical of the regime. Essentially, Tunisia is not creating any headaches for the west, and – in the post-9/11 international order – can be relied upon as a western-friendly Arab regime that will co-operate on security.
But that does not mean this surface-level « stability » runs very deep. Most Tunisians I spoke to expressed real apprehension about the future. Though Tunisia’s GDP grew steadily between the late 1980s and the mid-2000s, growth has slowed in recent years and unemployment has risen sharply. Economists suggest the actual (unpublished) rate of unemployment is around 25%, and possibly as high as 40% in the critical 18-25 age group.
With ever-fewer outlets for discontented individuals to express their views, many fear the outcome could be a « national drama », in which the west would be seen as complicit for not pressuring the regime to limit itself.
It is not as if there are no democrats for the west to partner with in Tunisia. Widely respected individuals with a commitment to democracy do exist, and their support seems to be growing at the margins where the state has not yet learned how to effectively repress it. Chebbi, for instance, says public sympathy for the PDP has widened markedly since the mid-2000s when the party began using international satellite channels, Facebook and other new media sources to disseminate its messages.
The party’s supporters also are becoming younger. During the September hunger strike, nearly 80% of the support calls received by PDP offices were from people in their late teens to early 30s, most of whom said they had heard about the protest on Facebook. The question, though, is whether Tunisia’s western allies will continue to stand silent while such individuals are arrested outside their embassy doors.
Chebbi told me: « We are not asking international observers to act in our place. We are the actors, but we are asking for political courage from them, to issue statements, anything that shows a clear support for democracy …
« I can understand that foreign states are not activists, they have to manage their political and economic interests … But in the case of Tunisia, what are the risks? … We are not a big country, we do not have a radical culture of Islam. We are an educated people. I think the chances to have a modern democracy in a country like Tunisia are great. »
Chebbi makes a strong point. Tunisia lacks the religious sectarianism of Iraq or Lebanon; it has a true middle class, there is no wide extremist religious current, and it has a largely positive attitude towards western institutions and culture. In social and economic terms, it is objectively one of the best cases for a democratic experiment in the Arab world.
However, I didn’t have a satisfactory answer for Chebbi as to why his English-speaking friends in the US and European embassies could not be more forthcoming in supporting Tunisians’ own democratic aims.
Nearly a decade after 9/11, the US and EU are still desperate to bring the Muslim world on side. Throughout this period, they have been courted by Arab autocrats who saw an opportunity to shore up support for their rule by promising to co-operate on security. Yet despite jumping into bed with these supposed friends, anti-western extremism has not demonstrably been lessened. Meanwhile, the Arab democrats eager to befriend us in places like Tunisia politely tell us they view our governments as hypocrites.
If we truly want to improve the brand image of the west in the Muslim world, we ought to consider seriously whether our engagement in such countries is genuinely supporting the best outcome for their populations. Supporting citizens’ desire to pursue their own political aspirations – whatever those may be – by resolutely standing by political freedom would seem a basic start, and something I would argue is the only justifiable option in Tunisia.
Source:” The Gaurdian” 11-11-2010)
Lien: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/nov/11/tunisia-arab-allies-political-freedom
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