US embassy cable - 05TUNIS1915

C O N F I D E N T I A L TUNIS 001915 
 
 
STATE FOR NEA (GRAY), NEA/MAG (WILLIAMS, LAWRENCE), NEA/PPD 
(FERNANDEZ, SMITH AGNEW), NEA/PI (MULENEX, KIRBY), NEA/PA, 
NEA/IP, I/GNA, DRL, CWG-PD, EB/CIP (SHIPMAN) 
NSC FOR KSHAP 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/26/2015 
TAGS: KPAO,PHUM, PREL, PGOV, OIIP, TS 
SUBJECT: TUNISIAN JOURALISTS REACT NEGATIVELY TO NEW 
FOREIGN MINISTER 
 
REF: TUNIS 1805 
 
Classified By: Amb. William J Hudson; reasons 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
1.(C) Summary. Per reftel, on August 17, President Ben Ali 
made the surprise appointment of presidential counselor 
Adelwaheb Abdallah to the post of Foreign Minister. Having 
long served as the de-facto Minister of Iformation and 
widely believed to be one of the forces behind the GOT's 
strict control over the media, Abdallah's move out of the 
palace and to the forefront of Tunisian dipomacy has given 
rise to much discussion of the reasons for the change. 
Conversations with a wide variety of media professionals 
reveal that while Tunisian journalists disagree about the 
real reason behind the appointment, they generally remain 
pessimistic that there is hope for an end to the widspread 
censorship that defines the Tunisian media environment. End 
Summary. 
 
2.(C) On August 18 Tunisian newspapers announced that 
President Ben Ali had appointed one of his closest veteran 
adisors, Abdelwaheb Abdallah, as Foreign Minister. his 
decision took all observers by surprise, since Abdallah has 
spent the last fifteen years in the Palace, where he oversaw 
all aspects of informaion in the country, to include the 
appointment of editors and directors, licensing (or failure 
to license) new newspapers, and even the editorial and news 
content of the daily newspapers. A journalist by 
background, Abdallah has little exerience in areas of 
international relations, except for two years as Ambassador 
to London. 
 
3.(C) Over the past week, Embassy personnel spoke to eight 
journalists of varied poliical allegiances about this issue. 
According to these journalists, Abdallah was appointed to 
the post of Foreign Minister due to President Ben Ali's 
belief that he was the correct person to manage foreign 
relations up to and during the November World Summit for 
the Information Society (WSIS) scheduled to take place in 
Tunis. Several of them advanced the idea that Ben Ali has 
been so impressed with Abdallah's ability to control 
informaton inside Tunisia that it was a natural progression 
to place his master propagandist at the Foreign Ministry. 
Those journalists, however, agreed that this was a 
miscalculation on the President's part, as it is widely known 
that Abdallah is held in low esteem by those Tunisians and 
foreign diplomats who are cognizant of his role in 
suppressing freedom of the press in the country. Another 
theory expressed was that Abdallah was being set up for a 
fall, with some journalists speculating that this move may 
have been made to distance Abdallah from the President at a 
time when freedom of the press is constantly raised by 
international observers. 
 
4.(C) Several of the journalists noted the dismay with which 
this appointment was met at the government media outlets and 
at the government-run journalism university, IPSI. One said 
that the IPSI faculty, while disgusted with the state of the 
press in Tunisia, counted on Abdallah for continued support 
and funding of the university. (Note: Abdallah is a former 
professor at IPSI. End Note.) Another wondered how the 
government media would go on without the daily instructions 
that had been provided by Abdallah to their editors and 
journalists. One editor at a government newspaper alluded to 
these close relations when he laughingly referred to his 
colleagues as "Abdallah's orphans" who would be lost without 
their patron; he also reported that the day that Abdallah 
moved to the Foreign Ministry, there were more journalists 
than diplomats in his office. (Note: One journalist reported 
that he was specifically summoned to the Foreign Ministry by 
Presidential Press Attache Lamjet Hamdani, who told him that 
Abdallah wanted to arrive to the Foreign Ministry surrounded 
by journalists. This same journalist opined that this was 
done to underline Abdallah's powerful position for his new 
colleagues at the MFA. He also reported that, when he saw 
Abdallah, he asked him directly if this meant the end of his 
work on information issues in the country; Abdallah 
reportedly replied, "Never." End Note.) 
 
5.(C) All the journalists agreed that Abdallah's move outside 
of the palace walls would naturally diminish his influence 
over the President and that his new portfolio would keep him 
so busy that he could no longer directly interfere in the 
working of the Tunisian media. That said, none of them felt 
that this move would alleviate existing control over their 
profession. They cited the important role that editors and 
directors -- all of whom are loyal to Abdallah -- play in 
ensuring that government redlines are strictly observed. 
They concluded that, with or without Abdallah, journalists 
would still not enjoy any margin of liberty in their 
reporting. Some thought that Abdallah's former staff 
(including Presidential Press Attache Lamjet Hamdani and 
Presidential Press Counselor Mehdi Hattab) would remain 
active in the palace, providing usual daily instruction to 
newspapers. 
 
6.(C) When asked if the Tunisian Journalists Association 
viewed this as an opportunity for a new opening in the press, 
one of its leaders indicated that the pro-government 
leadership was unlikely to challenge what is widely seen as 
President Ben Ali's decision to control the media. The 
journalists believe that, while Abdallah was often vilified 
as the sole controller of all information in the country, he 
was in reality no more than a spoke in the wheel of media 
control that will continue to turn even after his move to the 
Foreign Ministry. All of the journalists advanced the idea 
that President Ben Ali is the person responsible for lack of 
freedom of expression in this country and whether through 
Abdallah or the Ministry of Interior, the press will remain 
muzzled. 
 
7.(C) Comment. While it is probable that Abdallah was moved 
to the MFA to ensure the success of Tunisia's role in the 
WSIS, it is also possible that Ben Ali is trying to send a 
sign to outside observers that the Palace will no longer be 
controlling the press. Despite journalists' pessimism, we 
hope that Abdallah's new position as Foreign Minister will 
provide multiple new opportunities to raise the mission 
priority of free press in Tunisia with the one person (other 
than the President) who is most responsible for the sad 
situation of the media in the country. 
 
 
HUDSON