TUNISIA CELEBRATES 7 NOVEMBER; ELECTIONS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TUNIS 11598 E.O. 12356: DECL: OADR TAGS: PGOV PHUM ECON ELAB PREL TS SUBJECT: TUNISIA CELEBRATES 7 NOVEMBER; ELECTIONS NEXT APRIL; NATIONAL PACT SIGNED REF: (A) FBIS LD0711185788; (B) FBIS LD0711163688 ¶1. C O N F I D E N T I A L- ENTIRE TEXT. -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶2. TUNISIA CELEBRATED THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF THE CHANGE OF GOVERNMENT LAST 7 NOVEMBER WITH FESTIVITIES AND CEREMONIES. TUNISIANS RESPONDED ENTHUSIASTICALLY. IN AN ADDRESS TO THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES BEN ALI ANNOUNCED THAT PRESIDENTIAL AND LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS WOULD BE HELD 9 APRIL AND RECAPITULATED HIS GOVERNMENT'S ACHIEVEMENTS OVER THE PAST YEAR. TOGETHER WITH REPRESENTATIVES FROM THE LEGAL OPPOSITION AND PROFESSIONAL AND PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS HE SIGNED A "NATIONAL PACT" TO SERVE AS A UNIFYING CREDO. FOR MOST TUNISIANS BEN ALI HAS LIVED UP TO THE PROMISES AND EXPECTATIONS EVOKED LAST YEAR. END SUMMARY. -------------- 7 NOVEMBER: AN OCCASION TO CELEBRATE -------------- ¶3. THE 7TH OF NOVEMBER WAS THE OCCASION FOR A WIDE RANGE OF FESTIVITIES AND CEREMONIES. PRESIDENT ZINE EL ABIDINE BEN ALI HAD SET THE MOOD TWO DAYS BEFORE ISSUING A CLEMENCY THAT BENEFITED SCORES OF PRISONERS, INCLUDING SUCH PROMINENT OPPOSITION FIGURES AS NAJIB CHEBBI AND THE ISLAMIST ABDELFATAH MOUROU (SEPTEL). STREETS WERE RENAMED, CONFERENCES HELD, AND PARADES ORGANIZED THROUGHOUT TUNISIA. (NATIONAL TV SHOWED THE TUNSIAN CONSUL IN LIBYA INAUGURATING A "7 NOVEMBER AVENUE" IN TRIPOLI.) GOT LET GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES LEAVE WORK EARLY. UNLIKE PAST PARADES, THE MILITARY ASPECT DID NOT DOMINATE: NO WEAPONS WERE DISPLAYED AND NO JETS OVERFLEW THE PROCESSIONS. FOR THE FIRST TIME IN TUNISIA'S HISTORY, THE LEGAL OPPOSITION PARTIES WERE ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN THE PARADES: THE YOUTH WINGS OF THE LEGAL PARTIES HAD FLOATS. THE MOST PROMINENT FOREIGN DIGNITARY AT THE FESTIVITIES WAS LIBYAN COMMANDANT KHOUILDY HUMIDI WHO STOOD AT BEN ALI'S SIDE ON THE VIEWING STAND. HABIB AMMAR, THE RECENTLY FIRED INTERIOR MINISTER, WAS ALSO PRESENT AND WAS ONE OF 12 RECIPIENTS OF A "ORDER OF 7TH NOVEMBER RIBBON" AWARDED BY BEN ALI THAT DAY. DIPLOMATS WHO OBSERVED AMMAR UP CLOSE, HOWEVER, SAID HE LOOKED DRAWN. ¶4. A FEW WEEKS BEFORE THE FESTIVITIES TWO INDEPENDENT PAPERS ASKED BEN ALI TO TREAT 7TH NOVEMBER AS AN ORDINARY DAY SO AS TO BREAK DEFINITIVELY WITH THE PERSONALITY CULT OF THE BOURGUIBA YEARS. THIS SENTIMENT WAS NOT WIDESPREAD, 
HOWEVER, AND THE THOUSANDS WHO ATTENDED THE PARADES, FIREWORKS, ETC. WERE OBVIOUSLY ENTHUSIASTIC, ALBEIT LESS BOISTEROUS THAN SUCH CROWDS WERE ON SIMILAR OCCASIONS DURING THE BOURGUIBA ERA. -------------- BEN ALI ADDRESSES CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES -------------- ¶5. IN AN ADDRESS TO THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES (REF A) THE AFTERNOON OF 7 NOVEMBER PRESIDENT BEN ALI ANNOUNCED NEW MEASURES AND RECAPITULATED RECENT ACHIEVEMENTS. HE ANNOUNCED THAT EARLY PRESIDENTIAL AND GENERAL LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS WOULD BE HELD 9 APRIL 1989. (FYI. THIS SUPPLANTS THE ELECTIONS SCHEDULED FOR JANUARY AND NOVEMBER 1989. END FYI.) OTHER MEASURES INCLUDE: A SECRETARIAT OF STATE CHARGED WITH RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS; A DRAFT LAW ABOLISHING FORCED LABOR AS A PRISON SENTENCE; RESTRUCTURED AND ENHANCED GOVERNORATE COUNCILS; A COMMITTEE TO ENHANCE JUDICIAL AUTHORITY; AND A SUPREME COUNCIL OF COMMUNICATION. ¶6. BEN ALI MENTIONED THE RECENT POLITICAL REFORMS AND THANKED THE UNITED NATIONS AND THE ARAB ORGANIZATION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS FOR SELECTING TUNISIA TO HOST THE ARAB/AFRICAN HUMAN RIGHTS INSTITUTE. HE REITERATED GOT'S PLAN TO ARABIZING EDUCATION AND OUTLINED PLANS TO TACKLE ECONOMIC PROBLEMS (SEPTEL), ESPECIALLY UNEMPLOYMENT: "OUR MAJOR CONCERN". HE APPEALED TO HIS FELLOW TUNISIANS TO OVERCOME THE "WAITING ATTITUDE" AND ADMINISTRATIVE SLOWNESS AND ASKED TRADE UNIONIST TO BREAK WITH THE NEGATIVE PAST. AS FOR FOREIGN POLICY, HIS GOVERNMENT ASSIGNED PRIME IMPORTANCE TO THE MAGHREB, HAD REESTABLISHED THE COUNTRY'S ARAB DIMENSION, AND HAD REINFORCED LINKS WITH OTHER MUSLIM, AFRICAN, MEDITERRANEAN, AND NON-ALIGNED STATES. RESPECT FOR MORALITY, HE SAID, IS BINDING ON EVERYONE. WOMEN, BEING ROLE MODELS FOR CHILDREN, MUST PROVE THEY ARE WORTHY OF THE RIGHTS THAT THEY HAVE GAINED. HE CALLED ISLAM A RELIGION OF TOLERANCE AND TUNISIA'S REFUGE AND ASKED THEOLOGIANS TO GO HAND IN HAND WITH PROGRESS. -------------- THE NATIONAL PACT -------------- ¶7. EARLIER IN THE DAY THE LEGAL POLITICAL PARTIES AND NATIONAL AND PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS SIGNED THE "NATIONAL PACT" (REF B),A SORT OF NATIONAL CREDO. THE PACT IS THE JOINT EFFORT OF REPRESENTATIVES FROM THE LEGAL PARTIES, THE TUNISIAN TRADE UNION FEDERATION (UGTT),THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE (UTICA), AND A SYMPATHIZER OF THE ISLAMIC TENDENCY MOVEMENT. OF THE FOUR BROAD TOPICS THAT THE PACT DISCUSSES, THE ONE ON "IDENTITY" IS THE MOST SPECIFIC. IT AFFIRMS FORCEFULLY THE NEED FOR ARABIZATION AND REITERATES TUNISIA'S AVERSION TO POLYGAMY AND SUPPORT FOR EQUAL RIGHTS FOR WOMEN IN DIVORCE. UNDER THE HEADING "POLITICAL REGIME" THE NEED FOR RESPECTING HUMAN RIGHTS AND POLITICAL TOLERANCE IS RESTATED; UNDER "DEVELOPMENT" THE PACT CALLS ON CITIZENS TO SUBMIT TO "FISCAL DUTY", ENDORSES AN EQUITABLE SHARING OF ECONOMIC SACRIFICES, AND ASSIGNS PRIORITY TO AGRICULTURE. THE "FOREIGN RELATIONS" SECTION AFFIRMS THE URGENCY OF CREATING AN ARAB MAGHREB AND TUNISIA'S ATTACHMENT TO NON-ALIGNMENT AND SUPPORT FOR THE UN AND OAU. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶8. WHEN TUNISIANS COMPARE BEN ALI'S RECORD WITH THE PROMISES AND EXPECTATIONS EVOKED LAST YEAR THE OVERWHELMING MAJORITY BELIEVE HE HAS DELIVERED. GOT HAS FREED HUNDREDS OF POLITICAL PRISONERS, ENACTED NUMEROUS POLITICAL REFORMS, AND -- PERHAPS MOST IMPORTANTLY -- CONVINCED THE AVERAGE MAN THAT IT IS HONEST AND COMPETENT. SIGNIFICANTLY, THE PASSAGE IN BEN ALI'S SPEECH BEFORE THE CHAMBER THAT DREW THE MOST APPLAUSE WAS THE SECTION WHERE HE SAID (ALLUDING TO HABIB AMMAR),"NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW...THERE IS NO ROOM FOR THE EXPLOITATIONS OF NEPOTISM AND FAVORITISM...." PELLETREAU