Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05TUNIS1047
2005-05-18 15:12:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Tunis
Cable title:  

ANONYMOUS COMMUNIQUES ALLEGE RCD DISCONTENT WITH

Tags:  PGOV KDEM TS 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TUNIS 001047 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

DEPT FOR NEA/MAG (LAWRENCE)

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/18/2015
TAGS: PGOV KDEM TS
SUBJECT: ANONYMOUS COMMUNIQUES ALLEGE RCD DISCONTENT WITH
BEN ALI

REF: A. TUNIS 777

B. WWW.TUNISNEWS.NET/28FEVRIER05.HTM

C. HTTP://PAGES.ZDNET.COM/PLM/ID276.HTML

D. PLEASE ALSO VISIT WWW.STATE.SGOV.GOV/P/NEA/TUNIS

Classified By: Ambassador William J. Hudson for reasons: 1.4(b/d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TUNIS 001047

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

DEPT FOR NEA/MAG (LAWRENCE)

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/18/2015
TAGS: PGOV KDEM TS
SUBJECT: ANONYMOUS COMMUNIQUES ALLEGE RCD DISCONTENT WITH
BEN ALI

REF: A. TUNIS 777

B. WWW.TUNISNEWS.NET/28FEVRIER05.HTM

C. HTTP://PAGES.ZDNET.COM/PLM/ID276.HTML

D. PLEASE ALSO VISIT WWW.STATE.SGOV.GOV/P/NEA/TUNIS

Classified By: Ambassador William J. Hudson for reasons: 1.4(b/d)


1. (C) Summary: Two communiques highly critical of President
Ben Ali have been issued in recent months from a newly formed
group calling itself the "Destouriens Democrates." Its
anonymous authors claim to be members of the ruling
Democratic Constitutional Rally (RCD) party who are
dissatisfied with President Ben Ali's rule, in particular the
allegations of growing high-level corruption that are said to
implicate the President's wife's family, the Trabelsis. The
first communique focused on accusations of corruption and
abuse of power by President Ben Ali. The second communique
focused on the group's reform agenda. Although some have
expressed the belief that the communiques are fabrications
disseminated by opposition activists in -- or more probably
outside of -- Tunisia, many of our contacts say they seem
real and represent a growing trend of ruling party antipathy
towards President Ben Ali and his in-laws. End Summary.


2. (C) Two communiques highly critical of President Ben Ali
have been issued in recent months. The communiques claim to
be from a newly formed group called the Destourien Democrates
(an Arabic-French hybrid meaning "Democratic
Constitutionalists"). Its anonymous authors claim to be
members of the ruling Democratic Constitutional Rally (RCD)
party who are dissatisfied with President Ben Ali's rule, in
particular the allegations of growing high-level corruption
that are said to implicate the President's wife's family, the
Trabelsis. The group's name is a play on the name of the RCD
party, as well as the name of the party under former
President Habib Bourguiba. For the full text of the two
French-language communiques, see Refs B and C. A brief
summary of each follows.

Summary Of Communiques
--------------

3. (C) The first communique appeared in the February 28
edition of the French-Arabic listserve Tunis News (Ref B) and
also reportedly the March edition of the opposition magazine
"L'Audace" (NB: L'Audace is published in France and

officially unavailable in Tunisia, although some opposition
activists acquire copies from abroad and circulate them
informally). The Tunis News editors appended a note stating
they received the communique on February 28 but also
acknowledged that they had no way to verify its authenticity.
The communique itself focused on two categories of
accusations against the President: first that he and his
wife's family were involved in a number of sweetheart deals
involving valuable undeveloped tracts of land; and second,
that the President had unnecessarily politicized the
country's security services, particularly the Tunisian
presidential security force.


4. (C) The second communique was first published on the
website of Embassy contact Neila Charchour Hachicha (Ref C;
Hachicha maintains close ties to RCD elites but is often
critical of the regime) and claims to have been issued on
April 6, the fifth anniversary of President Habib Bourguiba's
death. Hachicha wrote that she received it via email from
lesdestouriens.democrates((at))laposte.net on April 8. The
communique described the group's goals, which it stated were
to change the focus of the ruling party from its current
emphasis on accumulating/maintaining political power, back to
the party's former goal under Bourguiba of helping improve
the lives of the Tunisian people. The communique was vague
about the composition of its membership stating, "We are
neither numerous nor few." However, the communique said a
growing number of ruling party members share the group's
critical views on the Party, the GOT, and President Ben Ali.

Views of Our Contacts
--------------

5. (C) Several of our civil society contacts across the
political spectrum have raised these communiques in meetings
with us. They say the documents look real to them and that
this marks the first time that President Ben Ali has been
criticized so publicly by members of the ruling party, and
could potentially be the biggest fissure within the RCD to be
made public in recent memory. But even some members of the
opposition have questioned the authenticity of the reports
and/or the size of the group that is behind them. Most,
however, concur that the sentiments expressed in the
communiques represent real, growing dissatisfaction with
where President Ben Ali has taken the country and the party.
Contacts with closer ties to the ruling party, such as
Hachicha or former Tunisian Ambassador to the U.S. Ounaies,
generally have expressed more interest in the documents than
members of the fringe opposition (Ref A). EU diplomatic
contacts also have raised this issue with us -- although they
also find it intriguing, none have had additional information
about the group and/or authors worth noting.

Comment
--------------

6. (C) We believe what is most significant about these
communiques is the buzz that they have generated among
Tunisian civil society elites that fall into the middle
ground between ruling party true believers and diehard
oppositionists. The communiques resonate with Tunisians who
have for several years passed around rumors of presidential
excesses. Regardless of the validity of the two documents,
the accusations they make ring true to our contacts. It is
probably true that RCD membership no longer brings the
guaranteed, lifetime perks that it once did, which might be
sufficient to motivate disgruntled party members to publish a
few anonymous poison pen letters. What is notable about
these specific communiques, however, is that they make such
detailed allegations and seem to know the personalities of
Ben Ali's inner circle of advisors, hinting that the authors
have access to inside knowledge.


7. (C) Some Tunisians give the communiques credit because
they are written in a more literate French than is usual for
opposition activists and with a decisive style and active
voice that is more typical of power elites than local
intellectuals. It also would be a mistake to underestimate
the significance of the group's decision to use the Arabic
word "Destour" (instead of its French equivalent,
Constitution) as a tactic to evoke idealized memories of the
ruling party prior to Ben Ali's 1987 accession. Tunisia
claims it was the first Arab or African country to adopt a
constitution (1861) and the ruling party's name included the
word "Destour" from before independence (1920) until Ben Ali
renamed it in 1988. Although the Arabic name of the ruling
party still contains the word Destour, most Tunisians think
of the party by its French acronym RCD. This would
accentuate the way that longtime RCD members are said to view
Ben Ali: as an outsider, since the President (previously a
relatively apolitical GOT official in the Ministry of
Interior) only gained the party's support when he seized
power.
HUDSON