Tunisia: Putting Bush’s Initiative on the Line, from Human Rights Watch

2004-03-29

U.S. President George W. Bush hosts a meeting with Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in the White House on February 18, 2004. © 2004 Reuters Limited

An ally in U.S. antiterrorism efforts, Tunisia’s president was the first Arab leader invited to the White House after President Bush announced plans to promote democracy in the Middle East. Human Rights Watch told Bush that the credibility of his project was on the line, and urged him to tell President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali that Tunisia’s policies of repression were incompatible with his initiative for democracy in the region.

“Tunisia bills itself as a moderate Muslim nation,” said Joe Stork, acting executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa division. “But there is nothing moderate in the way authorities repress nearly all forms of dissent.”

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