President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali gives Interview to United Press International

6 February 2003

Question :

The Middle-East region is going through an acute crisis that portends unprecedented grave dangers. What prospects do you see for this crisis, for the chances of returning to the peace process, and for stability in this part of the world.

Answer :

The situation in the Palestinian territories has seriously worsened, especially since the previous year. Israel continues its aggressions against the Palestinian people, destroying its institutions and targeting the symbols of its national authority in defiance of the Security Council's resolutions and international agreements. Israel has gone back on all its commitments and the agreements made by its successive governments, which is indeed a source of extreme concern for us.

In the light of the present situation, saving the peace process depends on the international community speedily shouldering its responsibilities, guaranteeing international protection for the Palestinian people, bringing Israel to abide by international legality and respect the agreements it has signed, allowing the Palestinian people to recover all its legitimate rights, including the right to establish its independent state on a just and equitable basis as defined by international legality, and bringing Israel to withdraw from all the Arab occupied territories.

We hope that the international community will learn from the latest painful developments and that all the influential parties, led by the United States, will pursue their efforts to halt this serious deterioration of the situation and to protect the peace process, as regards the Palestinian problem and all the other conflicts, in order to consecrate the principle of peaceful coexistence between all the peoples of the region.

Despite the painful events which are happening every single day in the land of Palestine and the continuing cycle of violence, we remain absolutely certain that a just, lasting and comprehensive peace is the only strategic choice for this region, and that the spiral of violence will only stop when the Palestinians and Israelis return to the negotiating table on the bases agreed on by all the parties to settle the question.

Our country, which backs peace as a strategic choice for which all the Arabs have opted since the Madrid Conference and until the peace initiative adopted by the Beirut Summit (March 2002), has played an active part in every stage of the peace process since it started. Tunisia will continue to support every initiative, idea and proposal likely to bring a just and lasting solution to the Palestinian problem and guarantee security, peace, and stability in the region.

Question :

What about the Iraqi issue, Mr. President?

Answer :

Security and stability in the Middle East are an indivisible whole. On that basis, Tunisia, which consistently calls for respect of international legality, believes that achieving security and stability requires moving ahead in settling the Iraqi question politically and through peaceful means, and that military action should be avoided since it will further complicate the situation, increase the sufferings of the Iraqi people, and add to the many factors of tension that will give rise to a real tragedy, which the region certainly does not need. We hope that efforts will continue in order to reach a peaceful solution to the Iraqi crisis, one that is likely to protect the region from further perils and turmoil.

Question :

On several occasions, you have asserted that the Arab Maghreb Union is a necessary strategic choice to guarantee a better future for the peoples of the region, in light of the regional and international changes. However, some obstacles seem to impede the prompt materialization of this idea. How can these obstacles be surmounted, and is it possible to push ahead the Maghrebi institutional action?

Answer :

The Arab Maghreb Union ranks first among our foreign policy orientations, as it is one of our constant options and a historical aspiration for our peoples. We have indeed worked to reinforce the relations of brotherliness and cooperation with the Maghreb countries, and have spared no effort, since the establishment of the Union, to promote common Maghreb action, to endeavor with our brothers, the leaders of the Maghreb states, to surmount circumstantial difficulties and to activate the Union's institutions. For we consider the Maghreb Union a perfect tool to promote cooperation with the close regional groupings and to achieve effective solutions for the various economic, social and even political problems existing in our Maghreb region.

While current objective conditions limit our ability to fully achieve our objectives, the fact remains that we are still determined to join our efforts in order to consolidate the Maghreb edifice which requires determination and perseverance.

As far as we are concerned, we have spared no effort to help the Union carry on its process. Our hope is cooperation and interaction between the Maghreb countries be reinforced and accelerated, in such as way as to meet our peoples' aspirations of complementarity and integration.

No doubt, the results achieved by the Council of the Maghreb Ministers of Foreign Affairs in its last session (Algiers, January 2003) renew our hope that the Maghreb Summit be held in the course of this year, so that the Union manages to achieve its objectives and hold the status it merits in the regional and international environment.

Question :

Your country hosts this year the 5+5 Summit. Can we consider this summit a sort of revival for this grouping, and what stakes are you placing on it?

Answer :

Given our geographical location, we have worked to make of the Mediterranean a space of security, peace and cooperation, and a crossroads for civilizations and cultures for all its peoples.

To consecrate this orientation, Tunisia has contributed to the establishment and stimulation of the 5+5 dialogue which includes the countries of the two shores of the western Mediterranean basin.

We have endeavored to promote this dialogue and to surmount circumstantial difficulties, in accordance with a forward-looking vision of the relations between the two shores of the Mediterranean, based on cooperation, openness and solidary development.

Our hope is that this Summit, which our country will host this year and which crowns a series of meetings held during this last period, will further stimulate the 5+5 dialogue, on the basis of the principle of regional solidarity, in order to contribute to reducing development discrepancies between these countries and to reinforcing stability and security in the region.

We are resolved to ensure all the conditions of success for this Summit and to win the stakes of this partnership which we consider a fundamental choice for our future.

It is worth pointing out that our determination to consolidate relations with the countries of South-West Europe does not go against our relations within other broader forums; rather we consider it as a prelude for a wider cooperation between the Maghreb Union and the European Community, and also for the resumption of the Arab-European dialogue.

Question :

The international community has reacted favorably to your call for the creation of a World Solidarity Fund; and the UN General Assembly adopted in December 2002 the resolution concerning its effective establishment. Could you explain your vision of this initiative and of the mechanisms of its implementation, as well as your feeling as regards this resolution ?

The increasingly widening gap between the industrialized world and the developing countries as well as the economic and scientific divide between the North and the South, accompanied by the intensification of the phenomena of poverty and marginalization which give rise to feelings of frustration in many peoples, do constitute an additional threat to stability in the world, especially that economic globalization has not managed yet to meet its underlying hopes, that's achieving equal opportunities of economic growth between peoples and establishing just foundations for the right to development for all countries.

The increase in the rate of poverty, exclusion and unemployment, and the propagation of diseases and epidemics in many developing countries engender further troubles and instability within societies, which impacts negatively on the relations between the peoples of the world.

With these considerations in mind, we called for the globalization of solidarity, through the creation of a world fund that will serve as a tool to translate into fact a more just world policy, to consecrate mutual assistance between peoples and individuals, and to instill the value of solidarity in the world.

We consider this Fund, whose financing is based on voluntary contributions, an effective mechanism that will contribute to alleviating poverty in the world and involving the international community in the fight against all forms of exclusion resulting from the imbalance characterizing the international economic relations.

While we are pleased that our initiative has been met with an international support and that the UN General Assembly unanimously adopted the resolution concerning the creation of the Fund, we consider this Fund a new gain that will serve the issues of human development in the world, and a clear indication of the success of our national approach to the fight against marginalization and destitution, an approach that allowed one of our national experiences to be globalized.

As you know, the National Solidarity Fund, which we call in Tunisia the 26-26 Fund, has proven its efficiency, and has been one of the most effective mechanisms that helped us reduce the rate of poverty in Tunisia to 4.2% and integrate more than one million persons within the economic mainstream.

While we are proud of this international recognition that goes beyond my person to include all Tunisians wherever they are, and while we express our most sincere thanks to all who have contributed to supporting this initiative, we are aware that we are called upon to pursue our efforts to ensure the necessary financial resources for this Fund, so that it can start operating and achieve its noble and humanitarian objectives as soon as possible, in complementarity with the UN development programs and the objectives set by the Millennium Summit. Our country will always remain an advocate for solidarity, tolerance and peace.