AFRICOM DEPUTY MEETS NEW TUNISIAN DEFENSE MINISTER

C O N F I D E N T I A L TUNIS 000060

SIPDIS

HQ AFRICOM FOR DCMA AMB HOLMES AND SPP FOR MG SHERLOCK

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/25/2020
TAGS: MARR PREL TS
SUBJECT: AFRICOM DEPUTY MEETS NEW TUNISIAN DEFENSE MINISTER
RIDHA GRIRA

Classified By: Ambassador Gordon Gray for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: The U.S. Africa Command,s Deputy to the
Commander for Civil Military Activities (DCMA),Ambassador J.
Anthony Holmes, met new Tunisian Minister of National Defense
Ridha Grira on January 21, one week after the latter,s
appointment. The new minister was friendly and emphasized
the oft-heard Tunisian commitment to strong bilateral
relations with the U.S.; he said more than once that he
looked forward to the Joint Military Commission meeting in
Washington at the end of April. However, despite urging from
Ambassador Holmes for increased engagement and greater
openness on Tunisia's capabilities and needs, Grira did not
address possible increased engagement or information
exchange, noting the need for the government to balance its
commitments to civilian needs as well. Grira asked for
peacekeeping training. When Ambassador Holmes noted
continued USG interest in a Status of Forces Agreement
(SOFA),Grira replied that the GOT was waiting for a response
to its language change requests from 2008. End summary.


2. (C) For his first meeting with the U.S. as Defense
Minister, Grira decided to have all his Chiefs of Staff
attend, as opposed to having Ambassador Holmes meet each
separately, as had been the plan when the meeting was
scheduled with his predecessor, Kamel Morjane. Attending
from the Tunisian side were Major General Rachid Ammar, Chief
of Staff of the Army; Rear Admiral Tarek Faouzi El Arbi,
Chief of Staff of the Navy; Colonel Major Taieb Laajimi,
Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Colonel Major Mohamed
Ghorbel, the Defense Ministry's Director of Cooperation and
International Relations, and Captain Major Mohamed Khammassi,
advisor to the Minister of Defense for International
Relations. From the U.S. side, Ambassadors Holmes and Gray
were accompanied by Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Talley,
Executive Officer to Ambassador Holmes; Commander Doug Poole,
Political-Military Chief for the North Africa Engagement
Division at AFRICOM; Christine Castro, Executive Officer to
the AFRICOM Political Advisor, as well as the Deputy Chief of
the Embassy,s Office of Security Cooperation (notetaker).

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COMMITTED TO RELATIONS WITH THE U.S., BUT NO EXPANSION
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3. (C) Speaking in French, Grira restated the words regularly
heard from the Tunisian leadership, emphasizing President Ben
Ali,s commitment to continued strong relations with the U.S.
Anticipating the U.S. points, he said he knew the U.S.
wanted to expand military engagement and emphasized
Tunisia,s commitment to the military role in
counterterrorism and defending freedom and democracy.
However, he pointed out that Tunisia also had a commitment to
counter poverty, develop its financial institutions, and
strengthen good governance. He also raised the issue of
Tunisia,s need to balance its friendship with the U.S. with
the need to maintain good relations with its neighbors.


4. (C) Ambassador Holmes, while reassuring the Minister of
the United States, commitment to Tunisia, emphasized that in
the current economic environment, Congress was looking
closely at spending. For Tunisia to continue receiving high
levels of assistance, Congress would need to see concrete
benefits coming from the assistance, to include a willingness
to increase engagement, particularly in the realm of
counterterrorism, and more openness in terms of letting the
U.S. know what Tunisia,s long-term objectives are for its
military and how the U.S. could help meet these objectives.
The DCMA emphasized that point again to the Chief of Staff of
the Air Force, Colonel Major Laajmi, during the MOD-hosted
lunch the following day, who responded that the GOT was
focused on the April JMC in that regard.


5. (C) Grira said "message understood" once Ambassador Holmes
finished his opening remarks, but assured him that Tunisia,s
commitment to the relationship with the U.S. was deeper than
just the amount of military assistance it was receiving; that
it was based on shared interests and principles and that it
would continue regardless of what Congress decided in terms
of FMF level. Despite this, he did ask that Ambassador
Holmes defend Tunisia,s case for maintaining current
assistance levels.


6. (C) Ambassador Holmes complimented Tunisia on its approach
to addressing social ills. Describing the conversations he
had the day before while visiting two U.S. military
humanitarian assistance financed facilities run by the
Association of Parents of Handicapped in Tunisia (APAHT),he

commented that this level of social assistance does not exist
elsewhere in Africa. Grira stated that under President Ben
Ali education of all types has taken priority. The GOT
belief is that the best way to combat terrorism is through
education.

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International Engagement
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7. (C) Thanking the Minister for Tunisia,s participation in
the United Nations Mission in Congo (MONUC),Ambassador
Holmes stated that the training of the Congolese Army is very
important to stabilizing that region. MG Ammar stated that
Tunisia,s contribution to MONUC is a battalion of 500
soldiers. Grira asked if the U.S. could assist in training
and equipping Tunisian peacekeeping forces, but was told that
while the U.S. was providing Scan Eagle Unmanned Aerial
Vehicles to Tunisia using Peacekeeping funds, there were no
current initiatives to train or equip Tunisia,s peacekeepers.


8. (C) As the meeting drew to a close, Ambassador Holmes
asked Grira if he had any particular concerns. Grira
responded that he had no special security concerns, but one
must always be vigilant. The security situation is helped by
Tunisia,s strong relations with its neighbors, which Grira
attributed to President Ben Ali,s friendship with both
President Gaddafi of Libya and President Bouteflika of
Algeria. Ambassador Holmes used this opening to encourage
Tunisia,s involvement in multilateral exercises and
organizations, stating his belief that the best way to handle
security threats was through broad regional cooperation.


9. (C) As they stood up to depart, the DCMA told the Defense
Minister that the U.S. was still interested in establishing a
SOFA for U.S. military forces in Tunisia and that Congress
considers a SOFA very important in judging the strength of a
relationship. Grira said that he was aware of the issue, but
that the Tunisians were waiting for the U.S. to respond to
their proposal for text changes. (Comment: The last
engagement on this issue was in 2008. End comment.)

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Comment
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10. (C) Despite being only a week in the job, Minister Grira
appeared relaxed, confident, and friendly in the meeting.
Although the discussions broke no new ground, we hope that
his reassurances of Tunisia,s commitment to the bilateral
relationship mean that we will continue to have reasonably
good access to, and cooperation with, the new Defense
Minister. One area to watch is his relationship with the
Chiefs of Staff, who were all but silent during the meeting.
While this could be indicative of a Defense Minister who
wants to keep a tighter rein on his subordinates, it more
likely reflects that the Minister and the Chiefs of Staff are
trying to get used to each other just six days after he
formally took over. Finally, Ambassador Holmes understood
the Air Force Chief,s reference to the GOT,s focus on the
JMC to be a direct response to his urging the minister the
previous day to deepen Tunisian engagement in our bilateral
mil-mil cooperation. End comment.


11. (U) Ambassador Holmes has cleared this cable.
GRAY