VZCZCXRO3743
RR RUEHDE
DE RUEHTU #0008/01 0030922
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 030922Z JAN 08
FM AMEMBASSY TUNIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4259
RUEHMEP/THE MIDDLE EAST PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVE
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 0332
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 0165
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 1398
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1870
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 0162
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 0068
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 3355

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TUNIS 000008 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KDEM KMPI GE PREL PGOV YM
SUBJECT: MEPI ALUMNI MEETING: A CIVIL SOCIETY SPRINGBOARD 
 
Ref: a) 07 Sanaa 2313 
 
     b) 07 Tunis 109 
 
Sensitive But Unclassified.  Handle Accordingly. 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1. (SBU)  Taking a "two birds with one stone" approach, the MEPI 
Regional Office in Tunis brought together select MEPI alumni holding 
civic-activist profiles to beef-up a BMENA civil society event and to 
hold a separate alumni meeting.  The participants, from a dozen 
Arab countries, spent one day preparing for the fourth Parallel 
Civil Society Forum (PCSF) in Sanaa, which enhanced their contribution 
and resulted in six of them being chosen by their peers to represent 
civil society at the upcoming Forum for the Future ministerial meeting. 
Following the PCSF, the MEPI alumni regrouped with MEPI staff 
from Washington and Tunis to provide USG officials with a first-hand 
evaluation of that event.  Further discussions included a frank 
exchange on the future of reform in the region and the appropriate 
role for the United States.  As MEPI continues to seek out ways to 
sustain and build on relations made among the thousands of 
civil society actors who have been involved in MEPI programs, this 
alumni meeting served as an effective model for convening activists 
from different fields around a single, galvanizing event. 
End Summary. 
 
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THE SELECTION 
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¶2. (SBU) The MEPI Regional Office (RO) in Tunis, in coordination 
with the RO in Abu Dhabi, invited 25 civil society activists to 
participate in a MEPI alumni meeting called "Developing Networks and 
Sharing Experiences" on the margins of the fourth annual 
Civil Society Parallel Event (PCSF) to the Forum for the Future, 
held Dec. 2-3, in Sanaa. The invitees had participated in previous 
MEPI activities, such as the New Generations program for established 
activists, the Leaders for Democracy Fellowship program for 
emerging reformers, or as implementers of MEPI local grant projects. 
They were invited for their experience and expertise in a variety of 
fields, including law, media, human rights, and women's empowerment. 
 
¶3. (SBU) In the end, 19 activists from 12 Arab countries and the 
Palestinian Territories participated in the alumni meeting, as well 
as the PCSF.  They were joined by NEA DAS Kent Patton and five reps 
from NEA/PI and the Tunis RO.  The meeting achieved a number of key 
objectives.  First, it fit into MEPI's goal of building up alumni 
activities for the thousands of actors throughout the region who have 
taken part in MEPI programs over the past five years.  Next, it 
contributed to ongoing efforts to keep USG officials in contact with 
alumni members, as well as putting and keeping them in contact with 
each other.  The meeting also served as a model for how to bring 
alumni from different fields together around a galvanizing event, such 
as the PCSF. 
 
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THE MEETING 
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¶4. (SBU) The purpose of the alumni meeting was twofold: 1) to 
prepare participants for an active role in the PCSF, which took place 
following the first day of the meeting; and 2) to provide them with an 
opportunity to give the USG officials in attendance their views on 
the PCSF once it ended, as well as recommendations for how the USG 
might better advance democratic reform in the region.  Toward the first 
goal, the participants heard from MEPI officials and other civil 
society actors about the process and outcomes of the previous Forum for 
the Future and PCSF conferences held in 2004 in Morocco, 2005 in 
Bahrain, and 2006 in Jordan.  They then divided into teams, based on 
their own interests and areas of expertise, to brainstorm on how they 
could be most effective contributing to the PCSF. 
 
¶5. (SBU) The MEPI alumni then took part in the two-day PCSF, where 
they were involved in each of the six practical workshops, which 
included promoting reforms around freedom of expression, the legal 
environment for NGOs, education and labor markets, women and 
political empowerment, youth and political participation, and the 
private sector's role in democratic reform (Ref A).  Their impact was 
clearly evident, as one MEPI alumni member presided over the general 
PCSF, while a second was chosen to chair the workshop on women and 
political empowerment.  Six of the MEPI alumni were elected 
 
TUNIS 00000008  002 OF 002 
 
 
by their peers to be among the 24 members of civil society who will 
present the PCSF recommendations to the Forum for the Future delegates, 
when it'S conference takes place in Sanaa in the first part of this 
year. 
 
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THE POST-MORTEM 
--------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Following the PCSF, the MEPI participants were brought back 
together to evaluate the event and to provide recommendations for 
future civil society activities, including next year's PCSF.  On the 
positive side, alumni agreed the overall participation at the PCSF 
was excellent, with more than 300 civil society representatives from 
all BMENA countries present and engaging in discussions of 
controversial subjects that would not have been permitted by some of 
their governments just a few years ago.  The MEPI alumni also were 
pleased to see how the participants stuck to the reform agenda rather 
than getting side-tracked by discussions of Iraq, Israel, or other 
topics, as had been the case in previous PCSF conferences (Ref B). 
They also praised the preparations of the PCSF organizers and the 
positive media coverage of the event.  On the negative side, 
there were complaints that many of the workshop sessions had too 
many participants to be effective.  If the workshop size cannot be 
reduced, future meetings should at least look at tightening the 
procedures and perhaps hiring professional moderators to increase 
their efficiency. 
 
¶7. (SBU) The overarching concern voiced by MEPI alumni members was 
that while many good recommendations came out of the PCSF workshops, 
they remain recommendations only. The challenge, they said, is in 
finding mechanisms to compel the Arab governments attending the Forum 
for the Future to adopt these recommendations in their respective 
countries.  One alumni member pointed out that while governments had 
agreed to many of the recommendations regarding freedom of expression 
at the last Forum, none of these suggestions was ever implemented and 
the situation in most countries has actually worsened since last year. 
A number of suggestions were made on how to hold governments 
accountable, including monitoring promises against actual reform 
achievements and shaming through the media those governments that 
failed to live up to their commitments. 
 
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THE USG ROLE 
------------ 
 
¶8. (SBU) During the final session, the MEPI alumni offered 
suggestions on how the USG might better promote democratic reform 
in the region.  Several of them thanked us for our assistance yet 
warned against putting them in difficult or even dangerous positions. 
They said it was critical for US officials to fully understand the 
working environment in each country and to be careful in reaching 
out to the true reformers rather than government-backed actors posing 
as civil society activists.  A number of participants faulted the USG 
for remaining too close to oppressive leaders and for failing to be 
consistent when dealing with states that fulfill American interests yet 
violate human rights principles.  Some complained of problems with US 
NGOs and/or contracting companies, which they said do not coordinate 
well with local organizations and often receive funding to implement 
reform programs that local groups could better implement, thereby 
taking funding opportunities away from them.  Toward this end, several 
of the participants reiterated how reform must emerge from the region, 
without being imposed by the United States, but said the USG has a 
role to play providing funds, expertise, and political support to 
those trying to forge change. 
 
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COMMENT 
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¶9. (SBU) The MEPI alumni meeting proved to be an effective venue for 
bringing together civil society actors around a meaningful event 
as part of our ongoing effort to strengthen a network of democratic 
reformers in the region.  There was a definite "esprit de corps" 
that emerged by the end of the alumni event, with many participants 
already discussing how they could continue to collaborate on a range 
of reform matters.  The impact of the alumni on the Civil Society 
Parallel Event was also clear.  Not only did they help improve the 
quality of that conference, but we expect many of them will become 
more active in the larger BMENA/Forum for the Future process. 
GODEC