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Tunisia

Economy

Tunisia Needs Real Reform To Break A Ruinous Economic Cycle

The European Commission has committed €100 million to support Tunisia in the effort against migration, with an affectional €900 million in funding for the country. But how does the agreement expect to find success with a formula that has long held a reputation of failure?

TUNIS — As pressure rises to break the deadlock over a possible IMF program for Tunisia, international players are rushing to find ways to get an agreement signed.

At the Italian government's request, the European Commission has committed what is likely to be an unconditional €100 million to support the fight against migration. The Commission has also announced €900 million in additional funding for Tunisia, if an agreement with the IMF is approved.

But as it stands, the IMF deal looks like a non-starter for Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed.

The current agreement between Tunisia and the IMF seems to rely on a time-tested and unsuccessful formula of drastic cuts and consumption taxes that could fuel inflation, increase poverty and hamper economic growth. It was wise to reject a repetition of regressive anti-growth prescriptions.

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A Key New Ally For Russia That Makes The West Cringe: Tunisia

Tunis and Moscow have been increasingly close — at the cost of relations with the West, which had once looked to Tunisia as a model of democracy. The two countries are brought together by Kremlin's efforts to woo African countries, but also a natural alliance of its strongman Presidents Putin and Saïed.

-Analysis-

TUNIS — Back on December 16, a surprising scene was unfolding at the headquarters of the Independent High Authority for Elections. In the chairs of the reception hall, the president of the government agency Farouk Bouasker and four other members of the organization were seated in front of … a Russian delegation.

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Arriving from Moscow the same day, they were members of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation, a body that monitors and evaluates public action but has very little power in Vladimir Putin’s regime. Yet they were welcomed with the honors previously reserved to the European Union delegations, and presented with a copy of the new electoral code.

Deployed to Tunisia at the invitation of Farouk Bouasker, close to Tunisia's strongman President Kaïs Saïed, their mission would be to follow and analyze the process of the legislative elections organized the next day. It was the first such meeting since the coup of July 25, 202, when Saied issued an emergency declaration firing the prime minister and assumed all executive power.

It is the first ever delegation of this kind sent by Russia in the country. If their mission doesn’t differ from that of their European predecessors, the context of their coming is far from trivial.

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Tunisian Frankenstein? Strongman President Accused Of Censorship At Book Fair

The recently completed 37th International Book Fair in Tunis became a flashpoint of growing concerns that Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed is cracking down on freedom of speech.

TUNIS — In the final days of the International Book Fair of Tunis, the aisles of the Kram Exhibition Center were buzzing with publisher stands overrun by readers in search of new works and young attendees checking out the latest board games. At first glance, it was difficult to imagine that the 37th edition of Tunisia's top literary event was embroiled in a major censorship controversy.

Two books — Le Frankenstein Tunisien (Tunisian Frankenstein) and Kaïs Ier président d’un bateau ivre (Kaïs I, President of a Drunken Boat) — had been removed days before from the stands, for so-called "administrative reasons."

On Friday, April 28, less than an hour after the inauguration of the Fair by Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed, who had declared his support for "freedom of thought," all copies of Le Frankenstein Tunisien, the latest novel by Kamel Riahi, illustrated by a caricature of Saïed on the cover, were withdrawn. The next day, Kaïs 1er, président d'un bateau ivre, an essay by journalist and author Nizar Bahloul, also disappeared from the shelves.

"Officials from the Ministry of Culture along with the Fair's security guards came to collect the inventory of the book. They told us that it was for inspection," said the head of the stand that publishes Bahloul’s work, the Maison tunisienne du livre. Their stand remained open, unlike, publishing house Dar Al Kitab’s, which was shut down by security agents. The stand was covered with a black tarpaulin, on which the publisher pasted a poster explaining that the closure was "an arbitrary decision.”

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Tunisia, Between Arab Spring Nostalgia And An Age-Old Dilemma Of Democracy

The arrest this week of top opposition leaders shows Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed is drifting ever farther away from basic democratic practices. Yet there's no mass uprising, unlike in 2011, perhaps because economic factors are foremost on people's minds.

-Analysis-

TUNIS — When officials in Washington' look at the Tunisian experiment in democracy, it appears to be a distressed ship, listing and heading straight for an iceberg where the invisible part is always far bigger than what's visible. The damage from a collapse of Tunisia can spill over into neighboring countries. The problem, in other words, is not only Tunisian.

Without explicitly saying so, experts and observers present in Washington for the IMF Spring Meetings are convinced that the crew at the helm in Tunisia is rather emotional, without a roadmap, and above all, carrying out projects that often lack basic rationality.

Certainly, it is a harsh judgment, but not for nothing! And for good reason, the democratic model, established since Day One of the birth of the Arab Spring in 2011, confronts Tunisians (expatriates and locals alike) with an uncomfortable and divisive dilemma.

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Geopolitics
Adama Wade

The African Union Must Take A Stand On Tunisian President's Racist Tactics

Tunisia's president has risen to power on the back of populism that suggests black people are trying to replace Arabs. The African Union has not intervened, begging the question of what is its purpose.

-OpEd-

DAKAR — Habib Bourguiba led Tunisia to independence from France and led the country for over 30 years. The continent remembers Bourguiba the African, and the title of Supreme Fighter was awarded to him posthumously by the Mandela Institute in 2017.

The father of independence had time to embrace the African and Mediterranean dimension of his country and assimilate the three isms (pan-Africanism, pan-Arabism, and pan-Islamism) that constitute the Tunisian identity.

But the difference between Habib Bourguiba and the country's current President Kaci Saïed could not be more stark.

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Migrant Lives
Pierre Haski

Another World Leader Stokes Racist Fears Of Immigration — In Tunisia

Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed's xenophobic claims that a conspiracy aims to replace Tunisians with sub-Saharan migrants has unleashed racist violence in the country. It's a sign of the growing authoritarianism of the popular but powerless president.

-Analysis-

PARIS — When he suspended democratic institutions and gave himself absolute power last year, Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed responded to critics by echoing a retort from French General Charles de Gaulle: "It is not at my age that I will begin a career as a dictator."

But after recent events in Tunisia, that's becoming harder to believe.

Not only has the Tunisian head of state revived the country's tradition of authoritarianism, but he has now plunged the country into a racist nightmare by singling out sub-Saharan immigrants for popular hatred. Hunts for migrants have been reported in the major city of Sfax, leaving many hiding in fear.

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Geopolitics
Pierre Haski

France And North Africa: The Whiff Of Neo-Colonialism Has Returned

Whether it’s in Tunis, Algiers or Rabat, France is faced with the near-impossible task of finding its diplomatic footing in countries that were under its colonial rule last century.

-Analysis-

PARIS — It went relatively unnoticed this week, but Algeria has recalled its ambassador to Paris. It's the language of international diplomacy to express a nation's discontent.

The matter at hand is not necessarily grave, and may be resolved quickly, but it shows just how challenging it has been for Franco-Algerian relations to find any semblance of stability, despite constant efforts from both sides.

And it is a reminder that the same problem is shared by the three main countries in northern Africa, albeit for different reasons.

The spark behind this latest Algerian tension is the fate of a woman, Amira Bouraoui, a figure of the Hirak, the democratic movement in Algeria. This gynecologist and activist fled illegally from Algeria to Tunisia, fearing she would be arrested again.

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Migrant Lives
Haïfa Mzalouat

Across Africa, Families Of Migrants Lost At Sea Join Forces For Comfort And Justice

In West and North Africa, survivors of migrants who've vanished have come together to support each other and pay tribute to their family members. But above all, they're trying any means possible to find out the truth and get justice after years of silence.

ZARZIS — “I need to know the truth! Where is my son?”

Souad’s voice resonates strongly through the square in the town of Zarzis, in the south of Tunisia. On Sept. 6, 2022, in spite of the sweltering heat, the families of people who went missing during migration marched through the town with sympathetic activists, holding banners and slogans.

This date was chosen in homage to the 80 people who went missing after a small boat departing from Tunisia sank off the coast of Italy. Ten years later, the mother of one of the lost at sea is still there, waiting for answers.

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Geopolitics
Johannes Jauhiainen

Tunisia’s New Constitution And Risks Of A Return To “Presidential Dictatorship”

In the cradle of the Arab Spring, democracy is once again at stake.

Modern Tunisia has adopted three different constitutions. The first two were linked to proud moments in the nation’s history: independence from France in 1956, and the fruit of the 2011 Arab Spring pro-democracy movement that ousted strongman President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who had ruled the country for almost 24 years.

The adoption of a third constitution, which Tunisians were called to vote on in a referendum on Monday, has been a very different story. Though exit polls report that more than 90% of those voting approved the new constitution, the referendum saw a low turnout of just above 30% after the major political parties boycotted the vote.

Still, with no minimum turnout required or expected legal challenges to the referendum results, by Saturday Tunisia is set to be governed by the new constitution when the final results of the referendum are announced.

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Economy
Frida Dahmani, Hossam Rabie, Nina Kozlowski, and Rania Hamdi

Ukraine War, North African Food Shortages And Whiff Of A New Arab Spring

Rising tensions in wheat productions, explosion of oil prices, fear of the unknown, could the Ukraine war lead to a popular Arab uprising similar to the one in 2011?

TUNIS — History tells us that in 2010-2011 the rise in prices for raw materials, especially wheat, was one of the main causes of the uprisings that spread across the Arab world.

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Today, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine is putting many of the world's economies dependent on wheat imports to the test, notably in North Africa. This prompts the question: Could there be a second “Arab Spring?”

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Society
Fadwa Islah and Soufiane Khabbachi

Morocco Wages "Soft" War Against Islamic Extremism In Prisons

Launched in 2017 to combat radicalization, the Moussalaha program is finding success by helping those incarcerated for terrorism by providing counseling, reducing their prison sentences and following up after release.

RABAT — In Europe, deradicalization policies are often highly contested and their effectiveness is regularly questioned. But Morocco, a majority Muslim country, has become a pioneer in these sorts of programs. To face the terrorist threat on its territory, the North African kingdom is not content with preventing attacks and neutralizing actors. A security source contacted by Jeune Afrique spoke of a "multi-dimensional strategy that does not rely solely on the security approach.”

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Geopolitics
Laura-Mai Gaveriaux

Tunisia's Drift From Democratic Revolution To Authoritarianism

The Tunisian president is cultivating his ambiguities and pushing his constitutional reform, without proposing a roadmap to get the country out of the crisis. Refusing to speak to the media, he has an increasingly populist tone with messianic accents.

-Analysis-

TUNIS — President Kaïs Saïed likes to surprise. Everyone expected an event on December 17 to mark the 11th anniversary of the founding event of the revolution, the immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi. It was finally in a speech on television on the evening of December 13 that Saïed announced that parliament would remain for a year until the next general elections, using a new electoral law — which amounts to a de-facto dissolution of the parliament. Only one thing is certain: he retains the full powers he assumed on July 25.

Until then, Tunisians are invited to vote on a constitutional reform project, an "electronic popular consultation" that will be held from January to March and will be sanctioned by a referendum in July 2022. Because according to the tenant of Carthage, the current semi-presidential regime based on the 2014 constitution is the source of all the ills from which Tunisia suffers.

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