VZCZCXRO7343
RR RUEHDE
DE RUEHTU #0257/01 0371557
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 061557Z FEB 06
FM AMEMBASSY TUNIS
TO RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS 7131
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1522
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT 8053
RUEHDE/AMCONSUL DUBAI 0109
RUEHUNV/USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA 0020
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9688

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 TUNIS 000257 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NEA/IPA, NEA/MAG (LAWRENCE), NEA/PI, DRL, PARIS FOR ZEYA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/05/2016 
TAGS: PARM PREL TS
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR AND FM DISCUSS PALESTINIAN ELECTIONS, 
IRAN, OTHER SUBJECTS 
 
REF: (A) TUNIS 141 (B) STATE 14992 (C) TUNIS 227 
 
Classified By: AMBASSADOR WILLIAM J. HUDSON FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) & (D) 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary:  In a wide-ranging conversation at the MFA 
on February 6, Ambassador and Minister Abdelwaheb Abdallah 
discussed the Palestinian elections and future of the peace 
process, Iran,s nuclear ambitions, the status of SOFA 
negotiations, prospects for Maghreb unity, freedom of the 
press in Tunisia, and the offensive cartoon crisis.  On the 
Palestinian situation, Abdelwaheb promised continued Tunisian 
support of U.S. policy.  Regarding Iran, he said that 
Tunisian President Ben Ali told Iranian envoy Moussavi 
(reftel A) that the GOT,s support for Iran,s right to 
peaceful exploitation of nuclear power ends when it becomes 
clear that Iran,s goal is nuclear arms.  Abdallah was 
optimistic on prospects for a U.S.-Tunisia SOFA in the very 
near future and pessimistic on better intra-Maghreb 
cooperation.  Abdallah thanked the U.S. for its statements on 
the European cartoon crisis and outlined steps the GOT had 
taken to mitigate continued violence spawned by Muslim anger. 
 On the issue of freedom of the press in Tunisia, Abdallah 
claimed clear recent progress and predicted greater opening, 
but not in a &spectacular or speedy8 way.  End Summary. 
 
Israel-Palestine: I wouldn,t want to be in Abbas, place, 
but it,s a good thing he,s there. 
 
¶2.  (C) Responding to the Ambassador,s question on the 
GOT,s opinion of the Hamas victory, FM Abdallah snorted and 
said, &You know what we think about a Hamas victory.8  He 
listened to the Ambassador,s points (ref B)  and agreed with 
all of them.  He noted that he was very pessimistic about the 
situation in the short run, because Hamas did not have good 
political sense and did not know how to put reason over 
emotion.  While he wouldn,t want to be in Pres. Abbas, 
place, Abdallah noted that it was a good thing Abbas was 
there to exert a moderating influence. &What if it was just 
Hamas?8 he said, &At least Abbas can pressure them to be 
reasonable.8  Abdallah promised that, as a friend of the 
Palestinians and the West, Tunisia would do all it could to 
encourage continued negotiations.  &It,s in everybody,s 
interest to follow the Road Map.8  Abdallah said that he met 
acting Israeli PM Olmert in Barcelona in the fall, as they 
were staying in the same hotel and had occasion to talk in 
the hallways, at meals, and in conference settings.  He was 
impressed: &Olmert speaks well and seems to be a good person 
to succeed Sharon.8  Abdallah then reversed his original 
pessimistic prognosis in closing his comments, saying, &I 
think Hamas will be like the Turks and leave its extremism in 
the cupboard.8 
 
Iran:  GOT,s support for Iran,s peaceful pursuit of nuclear 
power ends if true pursuit is weapons 
 
¶3. (C) Shifting the subject to Iran, the Ambassador noted 
several recent high-level exchanges between Iran and Tunisia 
and asked what the GOT,s thinking on the Iranian question 
was.  Abdallah replied that he had met U/S Joseph in New York 
during UNGA and was very appreciative of the briefing he had 
received on Iran,s nuclear ambitions.  That said, Tunisian 
policy remained the same: The GOT supports the peaceful use 
of nuclear power but is &completely against8 proliferation 
of nuclear arms.  Abdallah said that Pres. Ben Ali had made 
clear to visiting Iranian envoy Moussavi that Iran could not 
count on Tunisia,s support of any attempts to develop 
nuclear weapons.  Abdallah said that Tunisia,s preference 
remained continued diplomatic pressure on Iran, and that 
reporting Iran to the UNSC was good as a tool of diplomatic 
pressure, but not to prepare the way for sanctions.  He said, 
&Our position vis--vis Iran is very clear, and they know 
it.  We meet them frequently in our joint commission and 
other venues.  I am taking a group of Tunisian businessmen to 
Iran on February 18, for example.  We are very clear that we 
are always against proliferation.  Remember our support in 
bringing Qadhafi to give up weapons.8 
 
Progress on SOFA:  Any day now 
 
¶4. (C) In discussing visit of Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld 
to Tunisia later this week, Abdallah said that he thought the 
draft SOFA could be approved by appropriate GOT authorities 
by then.  He said that the process was no longer with his 
ministry, but that he was optimistic that it might be 
 
TUNIS 00000257  002 OF 003 
 
 
approved in time for the SecDef visit. 
 
Maghreb cooperation:  No encouraging signs 
 
¶5. (C) Responding to the Ambassador,s question about 
prospects for greater intra-Maghreb cooperation with the 
nomination of former Tunisian FM Habib Ben Yahia as the new 
Secretary-General of the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA), Abdallah 
 
SIPDIS 
said that Tunisia was trying to find ways to encourage 
cooperation, but he was not optimistic.  He noted that 
Tunisia would soon host a Maghreb avian flu meeting and a 
conference for ministers of finance.  Working in "political 
areas" was very difficult, however, so Tunisia,s approach 
was to try to bring everyone together in areas where 
cooperation can work.  But the Western Sahara conflict 
continued to poison the atmosphere and there were &no 
encouraging signs.8  Abdallah closed by noting that the 
state of Pres. Bouteflika,s health was not helping, either. 
 
Cartoon crisis: Violence just makes the situation worse 
 
¶6. (C) Abdallah thanked the Ambassador for the USG,s 
statements on the issue of the European cartoons that had 
inflamed the Muslim world.  He said that the GOT had directed 
imams to use their sermons last Friday to urge Tunisians to 
be moderate and calm on this issue and not to make it a 
bigger problem than it was.  He said that, internationally, 
the GOT had also called on Muslim states to push for 
moderation.  (Note: We have seen no official GOT statements 
on this issue. End note.)  &There is no point in encouraging 
conflict or hatred.  Violence just makes the situation 
worse.8 
 
Freedom of the Press in Tunisia:  Evolution can,t be 
"spectacular or speedy" 
 
¶7.  (C) Responding to the Ambassador,s question regarding 
progress in the GOT,s plan for greater freedom of 
expression, Abdallah said that he thought the formation of 
the new Higher Council for Audiovisual Media was a step in 
the right direction.  He said that the Council was already 
working on a proposal to liberalize the AV sector, which in 
turn would have implications for the print media.  When the 
Ambassador asked if this meant the process for registering 
new media would be more open and transparent soon, Abdallah 
responded, &I think so, but it will be an evolution that 
cannot be spectacular or speedy.8  He said that Tunisia,s 
sole private TV, Hannibal, which just celebrated its first 
anniversary, was obviously more daring in coverage of sports, 
social subjects, and politics than it had been at first.  The 
same trend could be seen in the Tunisian press.  The 
Ambassador took the opportunity to note that ash Shourouq, 
Tunisia,s most popular (and vehemently anti-American) daily, 
still refused to publish or acknowledge the Ambassador,s 
letters complaining about factual errors in its coverage of 
U.S.-related issues.  Abdallah seemed surprised and said, 
&Well, you know, the majority of Shourouq,s journalists are 
pan-Arabs.  They are now about 60 per cent pro-Saddam, for 
example, but they used to be 100 per cent.  I,ve told them 
myself several times that there are more important issues 
than Falluja to put in bold headlines on the front page.8 
 
¶8. (C) Comment: This is the first time in recent memory that 
the Ambassador (or any other emboff) has been invited to the 
MFA for open-ended conversation.  All other invitations have 
been motivated by a specific demarche or message.  FM 
Abdallah repeated three times at the start of the 
conversation that he had no agenda and merely wanted to 
follow up on his promise during the Ambassador,s courtesy 
call that he wanted to meet regularly to discuss issues of 
bilateral interest.  On the multilateral front, nothing 
Abdallah said was surprising, except his remark that 
President Ben Ali had directly warned the Iranians that GOT 
support of Iran,s quest for nuclear power would end if Iran 
was pursuing nuclear weapons.  Abdallah reiterated familiar 
Tunisian positions on the peace process, Iran, and Maghreb 
cooperation: Tunisia supports U.S. goals and, while it will 
not be a hindrance, neither will it be a leader in these 
areas.  On Maghreb integration, it should be noted that since 
Abdallah,s August 05 move to the MFA, he and former FM Ben 
Yahia, who was special foreign affairs counselor at the 
Presidency, have been rivals for status as Tunisia,s primary 
spokesman on foreign affairs.  Most observers believe that 
Ben Yahia,s move to the Arab Maghreb Union signaled a 
 
TUNIS 00000257  003 OF 003 
 
 
victory for Abdallah, but the latter was certainly not 
magnanimous in his appraisal of Ben Yahia,s chances for 
success in his new position.  On local issues, Abdallah,s 
comments on progress in freedom of the press in Tunisia were 
notable because of the source (from his former position in 
the Presidency, Abdallah was the GOT,s chief enforcer of 
media censorship) and because he did not make the GOT,s 
usual extravagantly upbeat claims about the media situation 
in Tunisia.  His praise of TV Hannibal for pushing the 
envelope on media freedom was extraordinary, coming from the 
man that TV Hannibal,s owner has often told us personally 
sought to thwart the channel,s start-up and to limit access 
to programming at every step in his former position.  End 
Comment. 
HUDSON