PRESIDENTIAL ADVISOR BEN DHIA RESPONSE TO DEPUTY

S E C R E T TUNIS 000621 SIPDIS NOFORN SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/FO (GRAY) NEA/MAG (HOPKINS AND HARRIS) AND S/WCI (WILLIAMSON, MORRISON AND MUBANGU) NSC FOR CAMPONOVO DOF FOR MONHEIM DOD FOR LIOTTA E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/18/2017 TAGS: PTER KAWC PINR TS SUBJECT: PRESIDENTIAL ADVISOR BEN DHIA RESPONSE TO DEPUTY SECRETARY LETTER ON GUANTANAMO DETAINEES SIPDIS REF: A. DEPUTY SECRETARY-BEN DHIA LETTER OF 05/04/2007 ¶B. TUNIS 461 ¶C. TUNIS 306 ¶D. TUNIS 259 ¶E. TUNIS 257 ¶F. TUNIS 193 ¶G. TUNIS 139 ¶H. TUNIS 65 ¶I. SECSTATE 10683 ¶J. 06 TUNIS 2814 Classified By: Ambassador Robert F. Godec for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (S/NF) Summary: Foreign Ministry Chief of Staff Hatem Atallah today provided Ambassador with a letter from Presidential Advisor Ben Dhia to the Deputy Secretary, in which Ben Dhia reiterates the GOT's willingness accept the three Tunisian detainees currently held at Guantanamo (reftels). The letter notes that the detainees will benefit from the rights guaranteed by Tunisian law, including visitation rights, as stipulated by the law. The Ben Dhia letter does not contradict, but neither does it echo in written form, the specific assurances Ben Dhia verbally offered on April 12, as memorialized in the Deputy Secretary's May 4 letter. End Summary. SIPDIS ¶2. (S/NF) MFA Chief of Staff Hatem Atallah convoked the Ambassador on May 18 to deliver a letter from Minister of State, Special Advisor to the President Abdelaziz Ben Dhia to Deputy Secretary Negroponte (Ref A). Ben Dhia's letter, which is not dated, is in response to the Deputy Secretary's May 4 letter to Ben Dhia, a letter that memorialized the assurances Ben Dhia gave to the Ambassador in their April 12 meeting (Ref B). Ambassador alerted Atallah that the target date for the transfer of the three detainees is June 18. He noted that PolOff had been seeking to contact MOI POC on this matter to begin discussions about logistics. Atallah offered to facilitate this contact. ¶3. (SBU) Embassy has faxed a copy of the Ben Dhia letter to NEA/MAG. Following is the Embassy's informal translation of the Ben Dhia-Negroponte letter: Begin Text: Dear Mr. Deputy Secretary of State, In reference to your letter of May 4, and my meeting on April 12 with US Ambassador in Tunis Robert Godec, I wish to confirm to you that the Tunisian authorities are prepared to accept the return of three Tunisians currently (held) at the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba. I am pleased to recall that the return will take place after confirmation of the identity and nationality of the detainees in question, given the fact that once they are in Tunisia, they will benefit from the rights guaranteed by Tunisian law to all detainees without exception, including visitation rights as governed by the law in effect. Finally, I wish to assure you, Mr. Deputy Secretary of State, of our full collaboration in this matter, in the spirit of friendship and partnership that we wish to conform to the excellent relations between our two countries and our mutual engagements in favor of security, stability and peace in the region and in the world. With the assurance of my highest consideration. /s/ Abdelaziz Ben Dhia Minister of State, Special Advisor to the President of the Republic End Text. ¶4. (S/NF) Comment: The Ben Dhia letter does not contradict, but neither does it echo in written form, the specific assurances Ben Dhia verbally offered on April 12, as memorialized in the Deputy Secretary's May 4 letter. End Comment. GODEC