Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09TUNIS214
2009-04-06 13:50:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Tunis
Cable title:  

STUDENT UNION UNDER PRESSURE AS STUDENTS ENTER

Tags:  PGOV PHUM ELAB TS 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0002
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTU #0214/01 0961350
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 061350Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY TUNIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6166
INFO RUCNMGH/MAGHREB COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L TUNIS 000214 

SIPDIS

FOR DRL (MMITTELHAUSER) AND NEA/MAG (MHAYES, JPATTERSON,
SWILIAMS)

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/04/2019
TAGS: PGOV PHUM ELAB TS
SUBJECT: STUDENT UNION UNDER PRESSURE AS STUDENTS ENTER
53TH DAY OF HUNGER STRIKE

REF: 08 TUNIS 39

Classified By: Ambassador Robert F. Godec for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

-------
Summary
-------

C O N F I D E N T I A L TUNIS 000214

SIPDIS

FOR DRL (MMITTELHAUSER) AND NEA/MAG (MHAYES, JPATTERSON,
SWILIAMS)

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/04/2019
TAGS: PGOV PHUM ELAB TS
SUBJECT: STUDENT UNION UNDER PRESSURE AS STUDENTS ENTER
53TH DAY OF HUNGER STRIKE

REF: 08 TUNIS 39

Classified By: Ambassador Robert F. Godec for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

--------------
Summary
--------------


1. (C) Since February 9, several students have engaged in a
prolonged hunger strike in front of the national headquarters
of the General Union of Tunisian Students (UGET) in Tunis.
They are protesting their expulsion from their universities
claiming the expulsions were politically motivated because
they are UGET activists. They intend to continue striking
until they are reinstated. Police have prevented some
supporters from visiting the strikers and in reaction a group
of 158 Tunisians and others used Facebook to organize a
one-day hunger strike March 26 to show their support. The
Secretary General of UGET Ezzeddine Zaatour complained to
PolOff that university disclipinary boards were expelling
student activists under political pressure. He and the UGET
have come under increasing political pressure over the past
year because of his continued push for permission to hold the
union's 25th national congress. After three years of
discussions, and several postponements, the Ministry of
Higher Education finally granted UGET permission in late
February to hold its national congress April 10-11. The
UGET, like so many Tunisian NGOs, is divided Qhin and under
pressure from without effectively paralyzing the
organization. End Summary.

--------------
Students on Strike
--------------


2. (C) The five students mounting the hunger strike were
accused of various actions, including lack of respect for
civil authorities, and disorderly behavior, none of which
were directly linked to their union activities, and expelled
by their universities in 2007 and 2008. After their
expulsions they were additionally sentenced to prison for
periods ranging from 6-18 months. The students range in age
from 23-26, two each were in their first, second, and third
years of university and they were studying business
management, law, science and journalism. Two of the strikers
were taken to the hospital for treatment and then continued

the strike. UGET Secretary General Zaatour expressed concern
for their long-term health and said he and others have tried
to convince them to stop their strike. A sixth student
joined the hunger strikers after having been just released
from prison. He was expelled from university in 2004 for
holding an unauthorized meeting and since then has faced
several trials and imprisonment.


3. (C) The students claim the Ministry of Higher Education
has not fulfilled its promises to help them return to
university after serving their prison sentences. The
Ministry has upheld the expulsions as legitimate and said it
will not respond to the students' demands. Zaatour said the
Ministry had told him it would not take any action until the
students end the hunger strike. According to Zaatour, most
of the politically active NGOs have voiced support for the
students, including the independent opposition parties, the
Union of Democratic Women, the Tunisian League of Human
Rights and the Union of University Teachers. The national
union umbrella organization (UGTT) has not spoken out for the
students. Police have been observing the hunger strikers and
have prevented some people from visiting them. In a sign of
how Tunisians are circumventing this type of GOT action, a
group of 158 Tunisians and others used Facebook to organize
and publicize a one-day hunger strike March 26 in solidarity
with the students.

-------------- -
Divided Within and Under Pressure from Without
-------------- -


4. (C) In a now well worn path, the regime has been
undermining the UGET from both within and without for at
least a year. The GOT firmly controls university campuses
and denies most organizations, including Embassies, access.
The UGET has been the recognized student union since the

1952. However, GOT opposition to the union has been steadily
growing and became more pronounced the end of 2008 as Zaatour
continued to insist on trying to organize the union's 25th
national congress, which the Ministry of Higher Education had
delayed several times. February 26 Zaatour announced that,
after three years of discussions, the Ministry had finally
given its approval for the national congress to be held April

10-12 in Bizerte.


5. (C) Most observers conclude that the ruling Democratic
Constitutional Rally (RCD) party has been trying to replace
the UGET with an RCD-controlled student union. It has
employed a variety of tactics from direct intimidation to
using university administration contacts to control the
timing of elections for student positions. Zaatour called on
students to boycott elections for members of university
scientific councils in December 2008 after the RCD arranged
for the elections to be held for four hours only, two days
before the winter break, when most students were focused on
tests or had already left campus. Zaatour told PolOff that
government harassment of UGET members is a continual problem
making it difficult for him to even stay in contact with UGET
organizers in other towns. He said seven or eight UGET
activists are in prison for periods ranging from five months
to four years. The government reduced its funding for the
union in 2008 and has not provided any funding for 2009.


6. (C) Zaatour discovered in February that he had been tried
in absentia and sentenced to six months in prison for
insulting behavior towards a civil servant on duty stemming
from an altercation with a policeman in 2004. He had ten
days to appeal the verdict and the court had to reschedule a
new trial in which he had to be present. The new trial took
place March 25 and a verdict is expected soon. Several other
UGET activists were accused of violent aggression against a
civil servant on duty, public drunkenness and disturbance of
public order. In February he announced he would not run for
re-election in the upcoming April elections to be held during
the national congress. His announcement came in a long press
interview in which he said the UGET council had agreed to
continue pressing for permission to hold its national
congress. His interview was followed the next day by an
interview with Secretary General of the local Tunis UGET
branch challenging Zaatour and the national level council's
decision to hold a congress. He claimed the timing was not
right and accused the council of not representing the
interests of the whole union.


7. (C) Zaatour said among the UGET's main goals are
advocating for better lodging for students, better training
for teachers, improvements to university campuses which have
not expanded with the growing student population, and more of
a student voice in university policies. He also questioned
the government's management of funding announced by the
European Union for a university project which he claimed had
never been implemented.

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


8. (C) The UGET is another historical civil society
organization, like Tunisian League for Human Rights (LTDH)
and the national union (UGTT),that started during the
struggle for independence. It therefore enjoys an
independent voice and standing within Tunisian society albeit
diluted by years of internal divisions and political party
interference. The GOT appears determined to replace this
organization with an RCD-controlled student union and is
using the same tactics it has used against LTDH (Ref A). The
student hunger strike has helped attract public attention to
the pressure being applied to the UGET and garnered
declarations of support from opposition parties and other
civil society organizations. So far the students' situation
has not caused enough of a public outcry to make the Ministry
of Higher Education retract its decision to ignore their
demands. However, the fact that the Ministry finally agreed
to allow the union to hold its national congress could
indicate that the GOT would like to find a way to end this
particular face-off with the UGET. The use of Facebook by
supporters of the students to organize a campaign on their
behalf is another indication of the growing significance of
the internet (and Facebook in particular) for opponents of
the GOT.
Godec