VZCZCXYZ0019
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTU #0712/01 1821250
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 301250Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY TUNIS
TO RUEHFSI/DIR FSINFATC IMMEDIATE
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5259

C O N F I D E N T I A L TUNIS 000712 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FSI FOR DIRECTOR WHITESIDE AND SLS DEAN MORRIS 
NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE AND NEA/MAG 
L FOR L/DL 
OBO FOR ADNAN KANUN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/17/2018 
TAGS: ABLD AMGT PGOV AFSI TS
SUBJECT: MFA SAYS FSI WRITTEN AGREEMENT WOULD CODIFY THE 
STATUS QUO 
 
REF: TUNIS 705 
 
Classified By: Amb. Robert F. Godec for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary:  On June 28, three senior MFA officials 
assured the DCM and FSI school director that the GOT wishes 
to simply put in writing the existing arrangements for the 
presence of the FSI Arabic Language Field School in Tunisia. 
They said the prospective move onto the Embassy compound gave 
FSI's presence a more permanent nature and that Article 3 of 
the Vienna Convention did not contemplate the school facility 
as a normal arrangement.  Acknowledging the time limit that 
we face to obligate funds for the construction of a new 
school, they urged rapid action to put a document together 
that would place in writing existing practice so that the 
building permit we seek could be released by the end of July. 
 They asked for language from the U.S. side that lists the 
current situation no later than Thursday morning (although 
ideally earlier) so that a document could be quickly put 
together.  The assurances by the Foreign Minister to the 
Ambassador (reftel) together with the presence of three 
Directors General (for Americas and Asia, Protocol and Legal 
Affairs) for this one meeting suggests the Tunisians want to 
move forward quickly.  We have drafted proposed language for 
Washington's review to pass to the Tunisians containing those 
elements we believe would safeguard the current status of the 
field school and the USG personnel assigned to it.  Rapid 
action will be required to prevent the loss of this fiscal 
year's building funds.  End Summary 
 
¶2.  (C) The DCM and FSI field school director met with 
Director General for Asia and the Americas Ilyas Kasri, 
Director General for Protocol Moncef Hajeri and Director 
General for Legal Affairs Mondher Dheraief June 28 to discuss 
the recent diplomatic note (reftel) seeking a written 
agreement on the future of the FSI Arabic Language Field 
School.  The Tunisian request came in light of our desire to 
move FSI onto the Embassy compound into a purpose built 
facility. 
 
¶3.  (C) In his remarks, Kasri said that the primary 
motivation for the information meeting was to review the 
status of the school.  He noted that there had been 
"diplomatic tolerance" of the school since 1975 but that the 
planned construction gave its presence a permanent nature. 
He also noted that the activities of the school were not 
contained within the normal definition of a diplomatic 
function as contained in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic 
Relations.  The DCM replied with a detailed description of 
the current status of the FSI school as an integral part of 
the Embassy's activities under the authority of the Chief of 
Mission, an explanation of FSI Washington as an integral part 
of the Department of State, and clearly delineated FSI Tunis 
from private organizations such as AMIDEAST. 
 
No Change in the Status Quo Sought 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (C)  In response, Kasri and Dheraief stated that they are 
not seeking any change in the current status of FSI but they 
do wish to put in writing the current rights and obligations 
of each side to include whatever expectations that the U.S. 
might have.  Acknowledging that FSI Tunis is a small part of 
the training activities of the Department, they said they 
were not wedded to the language "accord de siege" 
(headquarters agreement), nor were they concerned about the 
number of personnel that FSI might train.  They said that 
their goal was the rapid creation of a text that describes 
the current situation or even possibly makes it better while 
clarifying all points related to FSI's operation.  Dheraief 
asked many practical questions to verify the fact that FSI 
trained only USG personnel and whether such personnel needed 
or received different treatment from other diplomats.  DCM 
replied that the diplomats studying Arabic currently received 
the same treatment internally within the USG in terms of 
administrative support as other Embassy personnel and only 
needed to receive the same treatment from the GOT as the rest 
of the Embassy's diplomatic personnel.  The only difference 
is that their tours of duty are shorter than other Embassy 
personnel since they normally stay no longer than one year. 
Hajeri pointed out to Dheraief that all the personnel have 
diplomatic status (something accorded to FSI students in 
December 2006 by the Tunisians since they hold diplomatic 
passports and for which we received concurrence from the 
Department).  Dheraief noted that from a legal point of view 
the move of the FSI students into the Embassy compound 
clearly adds to the validity of current practice that they be 
 
treated as diplomatic personnel since their activities would 
no longer be in a separate location but within the Embassy's 
walls. 
 
We Should Move Ahead 
-------------------- 
 
¶5.  (C)  Given the strongly positive nature of the meeting, 
especially the assurances received that there is no desire to 
degrade the status of FSI Tunis, we believe we should accede 
to the request at the meeting to provide language that would 
describe the status of FSI Tunis and receive written 
confirmation of that status.  Given that FSI Tunis has 
functioned since 1975 without any written guarantee on 
keeping its operations, under the circumstances we believe 
that such a document, if agreed to by the end of July as 
urged by Kasri, would remove the current obstacle and serve 
as a legal guarantee for our pending $40 million investment 
in the planned training facility.  We would suggest that any 
eventually agreed document be implemented through an exchange 
of diplomatic notes.  Below we suggest a text for such a note. 
 
Text of Suggested U.S. Document 
------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  (Complimentary Opening) and has the honor to refer 
to the Ministry's notes No. 228/19463 dated June 23, 2008 and 
193/16691 date May 29, 2008 and seeks the Ministry's written 
acknowledgement of the current status of the Foreign Service 
Institute Arabic Language Field School (FSI-Tunis), an 
indivisible part of the American Embassy that has provided 
Arabic language and cultural affairs training for American 
diplomatic officials in Tunis since 1975, thanks to the 
hospitality of the Government of Tunisia.  The Foreign 
Service Institute in Washington is the training division of 
the United States Department of State. 
 
FSI-Tunis is a section of the American Embassy that consists 
of American government personnel, who manage or are trained 
at the institute, Arabic language teachers who are Tunisian 
or of other nationalities who have residence status in 
Tunisia or are able to obtain legal permits to work in 
Tunisia, and administrative support personnel who are hired 
locally in Tunisia.  In 1985, FSI-Tunis moved to its current 
location in a rented villa in Sidi Bou Said.  As noted in the 
Embassy's note No. 529 of April 15, 2008, the Embassy wishes 
to move the functions of FSI-Tunis into a new building on the 
Embassy's compound that would permit modernization and growth 
of FSI-Tunis' operations and provide a more secure facility 
than the one currently being occupied.  The move would permit 
FSI-Tunis to be physically co-located with the rest of the 
Embassy of which it is a part, and diminish the need for the 
Government of Tunisia to provide separate security support in 
Sidi Bou Said. 
 
The Embassy proposes that both governments agree that the 
American personnel assigned to manage or study at FSI-Tunis 
will continue to have diplomatic status.  The Government of 
Tunisia currently accords the same rights and priviledges to 
USG personnel at FSI-Tunis as it does to all other personnel 
covered by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and 
we propose that it continue to do so.  The Embassy proposes 
that the Ministry agree to continue to treat the training 
activities of FSI-Tunis as an acceptable activity that would 
be treated equally to those activities listed under Article 
Three of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. 
 
The Embassy wishes to state for the record that the training 
activities of FSI-Tunis are designed only for United States 
Government personnel and their dependents, have no commercial 
purpose and are not open to the general public of any 
nationality.  The typical training period for United States 
Government personnel assigned to FSI-Tunis is 11 months 
during which time they receive instruction in advanced 
Arabic, including language and culture lectures, media 
training, immersion field trips within Tunisia and interim 
and end of year testing.  In individual cases the training 
period is at times shorter or longer depending on specific 
pedagogical needs.  American personnel assigned to FSI-Tunis 
receive the same administrative support and are treated by 
the American Embassy in the same manner as all other American 
personnel assigned thereto.  All personnel are under the 
authority of the American Ambassador in the same manner as 
the rest of the Embassy. 
 
The Embassy requests that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs 
confirm by return diplomatic note its agreement to the above. 
 
 
Complimentary close. 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  We request a rapid reply from the Department so 
that we can engage as quickly as possible with the GOT on 
creating an acceptable document. 
GODEC