Tunisia has been deemed as the test case for the Bush
administration's policy to promote democracy in the Middle East.
A report by the Washington Institute asserts that U.S. efforts to
introduce democracy and human rights reforms in Tunisia would portend the
success of the campaign in such countries as Algeria, Egypt and Yemen. The
report deemed Tunisia as the Arab country most ripe for reforms.
On Feb. 18, President George Bush met visiting Tunisian President Zine
El Abidine Bin Ali in his first meeting at the White House in 14 years amid
an increasingly blunt U.S. effort to introduce reforms in the Middle East.
The two men were said to have reviewed bilateral relations and Bush was said
to have pressed his democracy and reform program in the region, termed the
Middle East Partnership Initiative. The administration is also preparing
what it terms the Greater Middle East Initiative, meant to stress
Washington's
commitment to the transformation of the Middle East.
"Tunisia is one of the best candidates for reform in the Arab world,"
the report, entitled "Tunisia as the Test Case for U.S. Resolve," said. "The
Bush administration is well positioned to urge Bin Ali to undertake reforms.
He is friendly toward the United States, and Washington's dialogue with
Tunisia is not complicated by other strategic interests that compete for
policy attention -- oil, military bases, the Arab-Israeli conflict."
Bin Ali became president in a 1987 coup and over the last decade has
been cited for imposing an increasingly autocratic rule over Tunisia. The
State Department has criticized Tunisia for harassing and attacking
dissidents and employing torture. Bin Ali has won several elections by votes
reported to be above 99.5 percent.
The report, authored by research director Patrick Clawson, said Tunisia
has succeeded in maintaining a strong economy and defeating what he termed a
"virulent radical Islamic movement" in the 1980s and early 1990s. Tunis and
Washington have also maintained warm relations and cooperate on
counter-insurgency issues. The administration also plans to open a regional
Middle East Partnership Initiative office in Tunis.
"Tunisia's success against Islamists sometimes required brutal measures,
undertaken with U.S. acquiescence," the report said. "The country did not
permit Islamists to seize any role in social and cultural life, much less in
politics. As a result, however, Tunisia is one of the Arab countries least
visibly affected by the tide of Islamism."
The report urges the administration not to adopt a heavy-handed, public
approach toward Bin Ali. But Clawson said that any U.S. effort must
establish benchmarks and timetables for progress in free and fair elections,
freedom from arbitrary arrest, freedom of speech, the right to a fair trial,
and separation of powers. The dialogue should also include U.S. incentives
for
any reforms introduced in Tunisia.
"If Washington cannot focus on making visible progress toward political
reform in Tunisia ø which is better positioned for such reform than almost
any other country in the Middle East ø then it is unlikely to succeed with
reform elsewhere in the region," the report said. "Indeed, if 'the forward
strategy for freedom' is not high on the Bush agenda with Bin Ali, then
other U.S. friends ø such as Presidents Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and Ali
Abdullah Saleh of Yemen ø will heave sighs of relief, concluding that
reform is not a priority issue in Washington. In that circumstance, the
Greater Middle East Initiative will almost surely be dead on arrival in the
region."
