US embassy cable - 05TUNIS1314

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TUNIS 001314 
 
SIPDIS 
 
LONDON FOR GOLDRICH, PARIS FOR ZEYA, USEU FOR LITZENBERGER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/16/2015 
TAGS: TS, KDEM, PREL, PHUM, MEPI 
SUBJECT: MEPI: IRI PRESENTS AMBITIOUS PLAN FOR TUNISIA; GOT 
TEPID IN RESPONSE 
 
REF: TUNIS 1045 
 
Classified By: David Ballard, Charge d'Affaires, Reasons 1.4 b and d. 
 
1.  (C) Summary and Comment: International Republican 
Institute (IRI) MENA Director Tom Garrett outlined proposals 
for increasing IRI engagement with Tunisia to MFA DG Atallah 
on June 14.  IRI would like to hold a regional conference on 
public opinion polling in Tunis in September, plans to 
increase the number of Tunisian participants in regional 
events elsewhere and would like to open a permanent office in 
Tunis.  Atallah had no comment on Tunisian participants going 
elsewhere, was non-committal on the conference, and tried to 
throw cold water on the office idea, stating that cooperation 
and communication have been just fine thus far without an 
office.  Post believes that we should support IRI on both the 
conference and an office, letting senior GOT officials know 
that we will use this as a means to measure the seriousness 
of their claims to want to engage more fully in MEPI 
activities.  End Summary and Comment. 
 
2. (C)  Charge accompanied Tom Garrett, MENA Director at the 
International Republican Institute (IRI), to a June 14 
meeting with MFA Director General for Asia and the Americas 
Hatam Atallah.  P/E Counselor and MEPI Regional Director also 
attended.  Garrett began by noting that IRI wanted to build 
on the Campaign School conference for women that it held in 
Tunis last year and increase cooperation with Tunisia. 
Atallah said he was very familiar with IRI from his days as 
Ambassador in Washington and welcomed new activities.  He 
stressed, however, that to maximize participation, it is 
essential to consult closely and well in advance of any 
activities.  The key, Atallah stated, is not just holding an 
event, but ensuring that there is real outcome and follow-up. 
 
3. (C) Garrett said that it was in the spirit of consultation 
that he had come to share IRI's thinking about possible 
activities for the coming months.  First, Garrett said that 
IRI would like to host a regional conference in Tunis on the 
question of public opinion polling, perhaps in September. 
The conference would be both for polling practicioners as 
well as end users, such as political parties.  Second, 
Garrett explained IRI plans to invite more Tunisian 
participants to activities held either elsewhere in the 
region or in Europe where recent reform programs have been 
successful.  Finally, Garrett said that IRI would like to 
create a permanent presence in Tunisia by opening an office 
to support the growing relationship.  This, he said, would 
respond in part to the GOT desire for consultation, as well 
as to ensure the outcome and follow-up that Atallah had 
mentioned.  Garrett stressed that IRI understood that each 
country had its individual circumstances and laws regulating 
such an office and that IRI would respect both. 
 
4. (C) Atallah seemed to have no problem with sending 
Tunisians to programs elsewhere.  On the conference, he was 
noncommittal, though he asked whether it would include 
countries that already have experience in using polling. 
Garrett responded that the conference would bring together 
those already doing polling, e.g. Jordan, Lebanon, West Bank, 
with those that have little or no experience, e.g. Qatar and 
Oman.  On the question of an IRI office, Atallah was 
circumspect, to say the least.  He said he would relay the 
request, but did not really see the need for an office since 
cooperation and communication have been fully satisfactory up 
to now without the presence of an office.  He repeated this 
same point in a slightly different fashion several times. 
Garrett said that IRI was not making program cooperation 
contingent on having an office, but wished to pursue the 
matter, as it believed an office would greatly benefit its 
overall effectiveness in Tunisia. 
 
5. (C) Comment: We should fully support IRI's re-engagement 
in Tunisia, including the conference and IRI's quest for an 
office here.  Post's Democracy Strategy (reftel) identified 
this as one of two near-term priorities for advancing reform 
in Tunisia.  Though, particularly following the successful 
businesswomen's summit held in Tunis, the GOT has recently 
expressed enthusiasm for greater participation in MEPI 
activities, we expect significant resistance to an IRI office 
(foot dragging, bureaucratic hurdles, etc.).  It will require 
senior-level engagement on our side to overcome this.  The 
run-up to the WSIS gives us added leverage, so we should 
waste no opportunity to let senior GOT officials know that we 
will judge their openness to IRI's overture as a measure of 
their seriousness about greater engagement on MEPI and about 
pursuing reform itself. 
BALLARD