The U.S. and Tunisia

Released by the U.S. Embassy, Tunis

Assistant Secretary Welch: Hello. First of all, I am sorry to keep you waiting. I apologize. It is a great pleasure to visit Tunis once again and to meet with my friends and colleagues in the Tunisian government. Today I had meetings with his Excellency President Ben Ali and a lengthy meeting with Foreign Minister Abdallah. I will have a chance to meet with some other people from Tunisian society this evening.

Our partnership with Tunisia remains very strong. We are committed to working together for peace, security, prosperity, and democratic progress in the region. I had lengthy meetings today because there are a lot of important regional and international issues, and this is a very good chance for me to hear the news, the advice, and counsel of my Tunisian hosts. And it was also a good chance for me to express the views and positions of the United States government on all these issues. I am happy to talk about any of these things that you wish in detail.

But let me say something at the beginning about the historic and close Tunisian-American friendship. Shortly Tunisia will celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of its independence. I would like to assure you that the support and friendship of the United States and of the American people remain as strong today as they were when independence was gained. Tunisia has much to be proud of, and we are honored to have been a partner with this country for fifty years of achievement and development that is highlighted by the impressive economy and social structure of this nation.

As independence was arrived at, the United States was one of the first countries to recognize Tunisia. We have worked since then in a spirit of partnership and friendship in a variety of fields. This includes development, economic and technical programs, university partnerships, citizen and cultural exchanges, science and technology, military and security issues, and of course cooperation against terrorism.

Today our friendship and cooperation include new areas of endeavor. This means increasingly to do work on strengthening human rights, democracy, and free enterprise. We stand ready to support and encourage strong democratic institutions and expanded freedoms in Tunisia which are natural as the economic and social progress of this country moves forward.

Every country undertakes these reforms at its own pace and in its own context. Not to move forward is to go backward particularly because there are developments in the region around you. We therefore continue to encourage Tunisia, as we do every country in this area, to show commitment to peaceful democratic reform by guaranteeing the right to free and peaceful assembly, by allowing the growth of civil society through the registration of new independent NGO’s and media, and by allowing free access to an open internet. None of these privileges and rights should be abused by anyone for the purpose of violence. A commitment to freedom of expression and assembly will help Tunisia be stronger and of course reinforce its good reputation in this region and in the world.

This was a very good visit. I was very encouraged with my discussions with senior Tunisian officials and honored to have the opportunity to spend some time this morning with President Ben Ali, whose advice President Bush respects very much. I was honored also to spend a long time with the Foreign Minister who has visited Washington before. I had a chance to meet him there, and we covered all the issues of significant security concern to both countries.

With that, ladies and gentleman, I will take some questions.

Q: I would like to thank you for this introduction. You focused on the question of human rights and freedom of expression, and we really appreciate that. My question is how would you explain what happened yesterday in the Palestinian territories. Wasn’t that a new method of Israeli terrorism against the Palestinian people?

A/S Welch: There were some people in this jail near Ariha, Jericho who were in there for crimes that they had committed. Their incarceration was agreed by the Palestinian Authority with Israel. The United States and the United Kingdom were monitoring this imprisonment. The conditions in this place have never been satisfactory, either in terms of the observance of the original agreement between the Palestinian Authority and Israel or with respect to security for the American and British monitors who were present. For some time now, the British and American governments have informed the Palestinian Authority that these conditions were not acceptable and needed to be changed. Unfortunately, no such changes were made. Therefore our monitors withdrew. They withdrew, and that action was not coordinated in advance with anyone, because of our concern for their safety. Those are the facts of the matter.

Q: (translated from Arabic) You have focused your presentation on issues related to democracy, freedoms of assembly, etc. and we also heard, after the visit of Mr. Rumsfeld to Tunisia, that America is now bargaining part of the freedoms with the attempt to combat terrorism.

A/S Welch: I didn’t see those words from Secretary Rumsfeld, and it doesn’t sound to me like those were his words. President Bush believes that the rights of the individual are non-negotiable. It’s not impossible for countries to have a variety of interests and to pursue them all at the same time. In fact, I consider it a symbol, a distinction of a friendly and mature relationship, that you can have a conversation about issues as diverse as security and freedom. I think it is particularly important that we have this conversation with some of our friends. In fact, in many cases, they start the conversation themselves. And there are many differences in the places in which these conversations occur, so one should not have the expectation that it is going to be the same in Belarus as it is in Morocco, in Venezuela as it is in Saudi Arabia. These are all very diverse places. But you can be sure that we are having these important conversations all over the world.

Q: (translated from Arabic) How do you describe the Israeli raid on the jail in Jericho in violation of an international agreement? And don’t you fear that this may lead Palestinians to extreme acts which you would then label terrorism?

A/S Welch: We would prefer that these criminals and terrorists be kept in jail by the Palestinian Authority itself under the conditions that were agreed to. That did not turn out to be the case, so we removed our monitors from this place. The reason we have this agreement is because these people were pursued for crimes before and, in order to resolve that situation, this agreement was made. We would prefer not to see this happen but, that said, we have long been concerned about this agreement having been violated and we didn’t see any response. So we had no other choice in the matter. And as I said, it was not a matter of coordinating this with anybody. You must understand the situation was dangerous for the British and American personnel there and we could not accept this danger any longer.

Q. (translated from Arabic) What type of danger was there for them?

A/S Welch: I think perhaps you have an incorrect impression of what this place is like. You need to go see it yourself. Trust me on this. If we had an option to stay there in conditions that were acceptable for the security of our personnel, we would have done so. Trust me on another matter which is also a fact. The Palestinian Authority has been aware of this difficulty for some time, and I don’t mean hours or days -- months. It was not corrected. It should have been corrected. We went there at the invitation of the Israelis and Palestinians to help control this problem. But we left of our own will because it was no longer safe for us to be there.

Q: (translated from French) Do you think that what is happening now in Iraq will encourage people to believe in the policy on democracy that you are trying now to propose to Arab countries?

A/S Welch: I don’t see a situation in the Arab world anywhere such as that which existed in Iraq before March 2003. So, yes, I hope the situation that we found there is never repeated. The Iraqi people have voted now three times in elections in the last year and some months. That is a change for the better both in Iraq and in the region. There is no question, sir, that there are political, economic, and security challenges in Iraq. And I would be the first to agree that those are all very difficult.

Q: (translated from Arabic) Now that Hamas has won the elections and that Hamas is going to form a government after democratic choice, will the United States continue to oppose Hamas and will the United States continue to block international aid to the Palestinian government?

A/S Welch: The United States supported elections in the Palestinian territories and would support them again. The elections were conducted freely and safely. The Palestinian people made a choice. Forty-four, forty-five percent of them voted for Hamas candidates, resulting in a majority in the PLC. Now according to the basic law, Hamas is trying to form a government. That is there responsibility to form a government. And it will be their responsibility to govern in accordance with the wishes of the Palestinian people. That means the forty-four percent that voted for Hamas candidates and the fifty-five percent that did not, as well as the majority who voted for President Abbas and a different platform a year earlier. If Hamas forms a government, it will have to address the international concerns to see a government of Palestinians that recognizes Israel, that renounces violence and terrorism, and that accepts the obligations, agreements, and initiatives that have been accepted in the past by the parties, including the Roadmap. It is up to that government to decide its position on those things. The United States will not have any relationship to a Hamas government because the Hamas party is a terrorist group. We are already making arrangements to be sure that no American assistance goes in any form to a Hamas government, but instead goes directly to the Palestinian people. I am sure that, unless there is a change in Hamas’ policies on any of those three questions that I just described, that we will have support from the international community for the same decision.

Thank you all very much.