FORMER PRESIDENT BOURGUIBA REPORTEDLY STILL

C O N F I D E N T I A L TUNIS 001953 PARIS FOR ALLEGRONE E.O. 12356: DECL: OADR TAGS: PGOV TS SUBJECT: FORMER PRESIDENT BOURGUIBA REPORTEDLY STILL GOING STRONG ¶1. CONFIDENTIAL - ENTIRE TEXT. ¶2. FORMER MINISTER OF STATE MOHAMED SAYAH TOLD POLOFF ON MARCH 28 THAT EX-PRESIDENT HABIB BOURGUIBA APPEARED WELL AND IN GOOD SPIRITS WHEN SAYAH VISITED HIM IN MONASTIR LAST WEEK. SAYAH SAID HIS LATEST MEETING WITH BOURGUIBA WAS THE SIXTH TIME THAT THE GOT HAS PERMITTED HIM TO VISIT THE NONAGENARIAN FORMER PRESIDENT SINCE BOURGUIBA WAS REMOVED BY THEN PRIME MINISTER ZINE EL ABIDINE BEN ALI ON NOVEMBER 7, ¶1987. ACCORDING TO SAYAH, BOURGUIBA CANNOT LEAVE HIS RESIDENTIAL COMPOUND OR RECEIVE VISITORS (EXCEPT FOR HIS SON WHO SEES HIM TWICE A WEEK) WITHOUT INTERIOR MINISTRY AUTHORIZATION, WHICH SAYAH CLAIMED WAS USUALLY WITHHELD. SAYAH SAID THAT HE FOUND BOURGUIBA IN GOOD HEALTH FOR HIS AGE, ABLE TO WALK AROUND WITH ASSISTANCE, AND CAPABLE OF LUCIDLY EXPOUNDING AT LENGTH ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS (THE FORMER PRESIDENT DWELT ON ASPECTS OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND ISLAMIC DOCTRINE DURING SAYAH'S RECENT VISIT). BOURGUIBA STUDIOUSLY AVOIDED COMMENTING ON CURRENT DOMESTIC POLITICAL ISSUES, SAID SAYAH. ¶3. THE TUNISIAN MEDIA LAST WEEK HIGHLIGHTED PRESIDENT BEN ALI'S NOMINATION OF BOURGUIBA FOR THE 1995 "NEHRU PRIZE," WHICH IS REPORTEDLY AWARDED BY INDIA TO PERSONALITIES WHO WORK TOWARD UNDERSTANDING, PEACE, AND FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN PEOPLES. DESCRIBING THE NOMINATION AS NOBLE AND CIVILIZED, THE PRESS PRAISED BOTH BEN ALI FOR MAKING THE GESTURE AND BOURGUIBA AS DESERVING OF THE AWARD. ¶4. COMMENT: MORE THAN SEVEN YEARS AFTER HIS REMOVAL, HABIB BOURGUIBA REMAINS A VENERATED FIGURE IN TUNISIA, AND BEN ALI IS CAREFUL TO PAY PROPER HOMAGE TO FOUNDER OF THE MODERN TUNISIAN STATE, WHOM THE PRESIDENT APPEARS TO RESPECT SINCERELY. SAYAH, A CENTRAL PLAYER IN THE PRE-1987 JOCKEYING FOR THE EVENTUAL SUCCESSION TO BOURGUIBA, HAS BEEN OUT OF A JOB AND UNDER 24-HOUR POLICE SURVEILLANCE SINCE BEN ALI BECAME PRESIDENT. CASEY