TUNISIA: INTERFERENCE IN USG ACTIVITIES ON RISE;

C O N F I D E N T I A L TUNIS 002408

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

FOR NEA/MAG (HARRIS)

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/20/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM TS
SUBJECT: TUNISIA: INTERFERENCE IN USG ACTIVITIES ON RISE;
EDITORIALS DECRY DEALINGS WITH "SUPERPOWER EMBASSIES"

REF: TUNIS 622

Classified By: CDA David Ballard for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary. Embassy personnel are increasingly subject
to GOT interference in their meetings and activities, the
result of a culture of paranoia about dealing with foreign
governments that appears to have spilled over from the MOI.
While the phenomenon itself is not new, or targeted only at
the U.S. Embassy, the GOT's tactics have intensified beyond
the "usual," i.e., overly bureaucratic GOT approach to the
U.S. and other embassies. The new tone includes, but is not
restricted to, excessive requests for diplomatic notes,
unanswered or canceled meeting requests, or demands for GOT
"permission" for Embassy officers' in-country travel. In one
recent case, an impersonator intercepted an Embassy
invitation to a Tunisian human rights activist. In an
apparent effort to sever ties between this individual and the
Embassy, the impersonator stated that he no longer wished to
receive invitations to Embassy functions. Even more
troubling, on September 19 three Arabic language dailies
simultaneously published editorials denouncing "so-called
civil society activists" who deal with "superpower Embassies"
as traitors. The content of one of these editorials was
clearly drawn from an intercepted telcon placed by PolFSN.
Thus, there is little doubt that these incidents reflect
conscious GOT policy and are not isolated events. Charge
will continue to protest GOT interference with the activities
of the Embassy; the level of harassment has now reached a
level where Washington's intervention is also warranted. See
suggested talking points, para 7. End Summary.

--------------
GOT Interference in Embassy Meetings,
Activities: Examples of a Troubling Trend
--------------


2. (C) Over the course of the past couple of months, Embassy
personnel have been subjected to a pronounced increase in the
breadth and intensity of GOT interference in their
activities, particularly but not exclusively during visits
outside the capital of Tunis. Below is a representative list
of such GOT actions, in chronological order, along with the
"excuses" proffered by the GOT, when such actions have been
protested:

-- The most high-profile instance was the GOT's de facto
cancellation of Charge's planned August 1 visit to Mahdia to
visit an Embassy-organized English language teaching
workshop. Charge was in Sfax on July 31 visiting DOD
Humanitarian Assistance projects and opening a DOD-funded
language lab at a Tunisian Air Force base when he received
calls from the MFA Chief of Protocol and the Director General
for the Americas and Asia. Both tried to convince Charge
that it would be better for him not to go to Mahdia the next
day to visit the workshop. In long and rather contentious
conversations, Charge refused to accede to the request that
he not visit a USG-sponsored and -funded project. In the
event, however, he did not go, because the Tunisian co-hosts
of the workshop told Embassy reps that they would suffer
negative consequences if he did. During the phone calls and
in subsequent MFA meetings to complain about attempts to
control our movements, MFA interlocutors gave a shifting
range of excuses for blocking the Charge's travel, including
a) because of anger over what was happening in Lebanon, the
GOT wanted to "protect" Charge from the critical comments
about U.S. policy that he would no doubt hear from his
interlocutors; b) vaguely defined security concerns (Note:
MFA reps backed off immediately when asked if there was a
threat they had not informed the Embassy about. Even so,
Tunisian Ambassador to Washington used this same excuse with
NEA/MAG Office Director, claiming that Tunisia was a country
"under threat." End Note.); c) subsequent apology in the
form of a Dip Note that explained that the Embassy's travel
request had not been submitted in time to permit the MFA to
carry out unspecified necessary formalities prior to the
visit. (Note: Embassy had not asked for any official
meetings. End Note); and d) the national three-day mourning
period for Lebanese casualties in effect at the time
specifically called for the cancellation of all cultural
activities. (Note: Embassy reminded the MFA that the English
language teaching workshop that Charge had intended to visit
was not canceled. End Note.) Post sent a Dip Note
requesting that the MFA provide it with a written explanation
of any regulations that govern EmbOffs' travel in Tunisia.
To date, there has been no formal answer. (Comment: It
appears that the MOI learned of the Charge's trip only after
he was already in Sfax, and, panicking because they had no
prior knowledge of his movements, reflexively put pressure on
the MFA to stop the rest of the trip. MFA sources (protect)

essentially told EmbOffs as much by confessing, "You know we
are not behind these requests, but we need to know about your
plans ahead of time so that we can convince others that what
you are doing is okay." End Comment.)

-- During a September 5-8 trip to Sfax, EconCommercialOff and
CommercialFSN were confronted with range of obstacles. Even
contacts at non-governmental entities, like the local Chamber
of Commerce, insisted on Dip Notes or other evidence of GOT
"permission" for the meetings to take place. When Charge
brought this matter to the attention of the MFA, he was given
assurances that it was not necessary either to inform the GOT
of EmbOffs' in-country travel or to seek GOT authorization
for same. Nonetheless, Sfax contacts remained reluctant to
engage. Of those who did agree to meet with EmbOffs, two
separate contacts later called off their meetings,
coincidentally offering the same excuse that they had to
visit a sick relative in the hospital. (Note: This
phenomenon is not new: If an Embassy officer travels out of
town on official business and declines to send a Diplomatic
Note informing the MFA of her/his travel, meetings s/he had
scheduled at her/his destination are frequently canceled due
to "scheduling problems." End Note.) Those meetings that
did take place were subjected to intrusive surveillance by
plain-clothes police. Indeed, every morning one of the
detailed police officers would aggressively question
CommercialFSN about the exact program scheduled for that day.
The policemen went everywhere EmbOffs did; dining at the
same restaurants, they apparently expected the restaurants to
pick up their tabs.

-- FSI Arabic Field School language students and FSN
instructors on a September 5-9 field trip to the south of the
country (Tamerza, Nefta, Tozeur, and Kairouan) were
accompanied by a phalanx of plain-clothes policemen, whose
invasive surveillance tactics included trying to sit in on
the group's lectures. (Note: The policemen did back off,
when asked to do so. End Note.) These policemen, too,
expected restaurants patronized by the FSI group to feed them
free of charge.

-- On September 13, Hassan Soukni (protect) an Embassy
contact in the Prime Minister's office, called PolFSN to
inform him that "unscheduled commitments" precluded a meeting
with PolEconCouns which was to have taken place the next day.
When pressed, Soukni admitted that he had been instructed to
break off the meeting. He offered to meet with PolEconCouns
and PolFSN outside of normal working hours.

-- There has been one known incident in which an Embassy
invitation was intercepted by a man impersonating the
intended invitee, a human rights activist and member of the
National Council on Liberties in Tunisia (CNLT),an
"unauthorized" NGO. When an Embassy driver attempted to drop
off the invitation, the impersonator told the driver that he
did not want anything to do with the Embassy and to please
stop inviting him to Embassy functions. Sensing that
something was amiss, Protocol FSN called the invitee to
inquire about the incident. The invitee said that he had had
no such interaction with the Embassy driver, and that he
assumed the impersonator was the plain-clothes policeman
stationed outside his residence.

-- On the margins of a September 18 round-table discussion
hosted at the U.S. Embassy to which many human rights and
opposition activists were invited, some activists noted the
presence outside the Embassy of several "political police,"
beyond the usual complement of Tunisian police officers
assigned to protect the U.S. Embassy.


3. (C) These incidents follow a campaign of speeches in
mid-March by high-level GOT officials, including the primus
inter pares counselor Presidential Counselor and Spokesman
Ben Dhia, as well as the Interior Minister, rebutting the
premises of USG reform policy in Tunisia (reftel). These
officials warned Tunisians not to associate with foreign
embassies and described as disloyal those who do.

--------------
Latest Twist: Newspaper Commentaries Deter
Interactions with "Superpower Embassies"
--------------


4. (C) As evidence that the actions described above reflect
conscious GOT policy rather than isolated incidents, three
Arabic-language Tunisian newspapers on September 19 ran
commentaries disparaging Tunisian opposition members who
accept invitations from "superpower foreign embassies" and/or
contribute to their reports. All three articles made it
clear that Tunisian citizens' contacts with our Embassy

should be seen as treasonous. Moreover, two of the three
editorials closed with impassioned pleas to the GOT to stop
ignoring this behavior and take (unspecified) actions against
those who get close to foreign diplomats. In addition, the
content of the editorial in Al-Hadath newspaper, which is
openly referred to as a mouthpiece for the MOI, was clearly
drawn from an intercepted telcon between PolFSN and a civil
society activist. PolFSN was setting up a meeting for
PolOff, who is working on this year's Human Rights Report.
Relevant text from the article follows: "We have noticed
that a certain number of so-called Tunisian opposition
leaders and, in particular, some activists from insignificant
political parties and NGOs who are, in reality, unscrupulous
ambitious individuals disguised under civil society
activities, do not hesitate for a moment to receive
invitations from embassies of superpower countries in Tunis
to attend festivities, receptions and sometimes volunteer to
help embassies, officials prepare their 'intelligence'
reports about Tunisia's internal affairs. In fact, one of
the dismissed judges when asked by one of the employees of
one of the superpower embassy's officials to meet with him in
the framework of his preparations for a report about our
country, did not hesitate one single moment to accept to meet
with him. He even suggested to warmly receive the concerned
official at his house and promised to invite to the meeting
some lawyers who are active members of one of the NGOs with
Islamist tendency. This dismissed judge did even suggest, in
addition, providing this embassy's official with documents
and information necessary for the elaboration of the report."


--------------
Incidents Symptomatic of an MOI-MFA Divide?
--------------


5. (C) At the policy level, this culture of suspicion is
manifested in a lack of coordination between the MOI and the
MFA on a host of important bilateral issues. For example,
the MOI has opened an investigation into a Tunisian MEPI
grantee for receiving foreign funds. The grantee is the
University of Tunis' institute for teaching journalism. The
MFA has long been aware of this grantee's MEPI funding and,
of course, USG funding is behind many projects in Tunisian
universities and think tanks across the country. It is clear
that the source of the funding -- MEPI -- and the sensitivity
of the activity -- starting a student newspaper -- prompted
this investigation.

--------------
Comment and Suggested Talking Points
--------------


6. (C) As stated above, this phenomenon is not new, nor is
Embassy Tunis the only embassy subject to these kinds of
shenanigans. For example, Tunisian authorities on September
8 blocked an international labor conference organized by the
Friedrich Ebert Foundation, which was to have included about
50 participants from NGOs in 13 countries. What is new is
the breadth and intensity of GOT harassment, which according
to a working-level contact at the MFA (protect),is
indicative of the MOI-centered culture of suspicion now
spilling over into the MFA's traditional area of operations.
To be sure, the publishing of a newspaper commentary based on
a private -- but clearly monitored -- telcon between an
Embassy employee and an outside contact takes the harassment
to a new level and should not go unanswered. Charge has made
it a habit to protest such GOT actions when they occur. This
same MFA contact has suggested that, in order to get the
attention of GOT policy makers, these protests should also be
made by senior USG officials in Washington.


7. (SBU) Suggested Talking Points:

-- Relations between U.S. Embassy and some GOT entities are
suffering from an overly suspicious approach on Tunisia's
part.

-- For example, U.S. diplomats face excessive requests for
diplomatic notes; requests for meetings between U.S. Embassy
officials and GOT officials go unanswered; contacts both
inside and outside government seem to be fearful of meeting
with Embassy officers at all levels without "permission;" in
some cases, there is even GOT pressure on individuals not to
meet with Embassy officials; there have been strong
insinuations from the GOT that Embassy officers of all levels
should be requesting "permission" to travel on official trips
within Tunisia; and there is intrusive surveillance when they
do travel.

-- Recent rhetoric from high-level GOT officials has

described Tunisian citizens who seek support from foreign
Embassies as disloyal.

-- None of this is reflective of the positive bilateral
relationship that our two countries enjoy.

-- We have even had brought to our attention an incident in
which an Embassy invitation to a Tunisian was intercepted by
an individual impersonating that invitee. This impersonator
told the driver that he wanted nothing to do with the Embassy
and to please stop inviting him to Embassy functions.

-- Even more offensive is the fact that, on September 19,
three Tunisian newspapers published commentary that warned
against interactions with "Superpower Embassies." All three
articles made it clear that Tunisian citizens' contacts with
our embassy should be seen as treasonous. Moreover, the
editorial in Al-Hadath newspaper was clearly drawn from an
intercepted phone call between an Embassy employee and an
outside contact. We simply cannot tolerate this kind of
interference.

-- I know our Charge has protested these kinds of measures
several times in the past, but I want you to know that we
here in Washington are also concerned.

-- I would also note that we do not treat Tunisian diplomats
in Washington this way. Imagine if we suggested that the
Tunisian Ambassador should request permission from us to
travel to Los Angeles for the upcoming exhibit of Tunisian
mosaics at the Getty Museum, or if we asked the Pentagon not
to meet with anyone from the Tunisian embassy without
permission from the Department of State.

-- It was not so long ago that our diplomats enjoyed the
privilege to interact freely in your society, including with
officials of the Tunisian government. I strongly urge your
government to relax these restrictive and intrusive policies
and help us return to a mutually beneficial environment.
BALLARD