Tunisia

F

Tunisian Resistance to French Rule

Anti-French disorders became increasingly violent late in July 1954. On July 31 the French premier Pierre Mendès-France arrived in Tunisia on a mission of conciliation. Mendès-France promised the protectorate full internal autonomy under a government composed of Tunisians. This statement proved acceptable to nationalist leaders, notably Bourguiba, and rioting came to a halt. Lengthy negotiations followed, and on June 3, 1955, the Tunisian premier Tahar ben Ammar and the French premier Edgar Faure signed a series of conventions and protocols that greatly increased the extent of Tunisian self-rule.

France retained control of Tunisian foreign policy and defence, however. On September 17 the first all-Tunisian government in 74 years was installed in Tunis. Many nationalists actively opposed the new regime and pressed for an even greater measure of independence from France. Further French concessions were embodied in a historic protocol signed in Paris on March 20, 1956. The agreement in effect abrogated the Bardo Treaty of 1881 and recognized Tunisia as a completely sovereign, constitutional monarchy under the bey of Tunis.

The first national legislative elections in Tunisian history, which took place on March 25, resulted in a decisive victory for the Neo-Destour Party. On April 8 Bourguiba was elected president of the first Tunisian National Assembly; on April 11, he was named premier. The assembly adopted a constitution transferring to the Tunisian people the legislative powers hitherto exercised by the bey. On November 12, 1956, Tunisia was admitted to the UN.

The political strength of the Neo-Destour Party was demonstrated again when on May 5, 1957, the party polled about 90 per cent of the vote in various municipal elections. Women voted in those elections for the first time.

G

The Republic

On July 25, 1957, the National Assembly overthrew the last vestiges of the monarchy by deposing the bey, proclaiming Tunisia a republic, and electing Bourguiba as president. On August 5 all the bey’s properties and funds were confiscated by the republic and applied to a debt of US$3.84 million owed by the bey to the state. Widespread dismissals of French civil servants were carried out in the months following. As a result, about a third of the French residents of Tunisia, fearing further anti-French actions, fled the country, taking considerable amounts of capital and diminishing sharply the available reserves of technical and administrative skills.

Relations with France deteriorated in the late summer and autumn of 1957 as a result of clashes between French and Tunisian troops along the Tunisian-Algerian border. The clashes occurred when French troops, pursuing Algerian rebels, allegedly crossed the border into Tunisia.

In the early months of 1958 the crisis in foreign relations was exacerbated still further. On February 8 French military planes flew across the Algerian border and bombed the Tunisian village of Sakiet-Sidi-Youssef (now Saqiyat Sidi Yusuf), killing 68 Tunisians and wounding 100. French government representatives announced later the same day that the raid had been conducted in retaliation for the machine-gunning of French planes flying over the area on February 7.

Tunisia became a member state of the Arab League on October 1. On October 15, however, Tunisia ended its diplomatic relations with Egypt (then called the United Arab Republic). In November Tunisia resigned from the league.

On April 15, 1959, France and Tunisia signed an agreement continuing French technical assistance. In 1960 Tunisia agreed to make part payment for land confiscated from French nationals; France would pay the balance. A new constitution was promulgated on June 1, 1959. On November 8 the first elections under the constitution were held. Unopposed, Bourguiba was re-elected president, and the Neo-Destour Party won all seats in the National Assembly.

Following French rejection of a Tunisian note demanding the immediate evacuation of the naval base at Bizerte, Tunisian troops on July 19, 1961, began a siege of the base. In the next two days French forces broke the blockade and surrounded the entire city, taking a toll of 1,300 Tunisian lives. Both sides accepted a UN Security Council resolution of July 22 calling for a ceasefire. The UN General Assembly, in addition, on August 25 called on France to quit Bizerte altogether. Shortly thereafter both sides withdrew to the positions occupied before the fighting. After prolonged discussions between France and Tunisia, beginning in 1962, France completely withdrew from Bizerte in October 1963.

H

Strengthened Ties with the Arab World

During 1963 and 1964 Tunisia moved towards closer economic and political cooperation in northern Africa. The border dispute with Algeria was settled, and schemes of technical cooperation were drawn up. Tunisian relations with Morocco also improved. During 1965-1966 Tunisia supported the establishment of the Maghreb Permanent Consultative Committee to work for greater North African regional cooperation.

Meanwhile, during 1963-1964, Tunisia had moved to strengthen ties with the Arab East, especially Egypt. In May 1964 the National Assembly enacted the expropriation of all foreign-owned lands, which mainly affected about 300,000 hectares (750,000 acres) belonging to French families. France’s reaction was to cancel all financial assistance to Tunisia, leaving the country in serious economic crisis.

I

Tunisian Socialism

One implication of the nationalization of land was the beginnings of a greater emphasis toward socialist collectivism. During the elections of November 1964, renewed emphasis was placed on “Tunisian Socialism”, and the Neo-Destour Party changed its name to Parti Socialiste Destourien (Destour Socialist Party). In that election President Bourguiba, the sole candidate, won by 96 per cent of the votes; the Destour Party won all 90 of the National Assembly seats. In April 1965 Bourguiba’s newly forged ties with the Arab East were shattered when he unexpectedly proposed a negotiated settlement between the Arab states and Israel on the basis of the 1947 UN resolution. This was rejected by both Israel and most Arab states, led by Egypt. Differences between Tunisia and other Arab states were further exacerbated when relations with Egypt were severed, and Tunisia began to boycott Arab League meetings.

In 1966 a rapprochement was achieved between Tunisia and Saudi Arabia, but relations with Egypt further deteriorated. In the Yemeni war Tunisia supported Saudi Arabia. When the Arab-Israeli diplomatic confrontation intensified in April-May 1967, Tunisia gave full support to the Arab cause, and diplomatic relations with Egypt were restored.

Bourguiba was re-elected to a third term in November 1969. In December the National Assembly approved a constitutional amendment providing for a premier, to be appointed by the president, who would assume the presidency in case of death or disability. This was expected to ensure a continuation of the moderate domestic and foreign policies laid down by Bourguiba. In March 1969, he was named President for Life “in recognition of services rendered”.

J

Growth of Islamic Fundamentalism

In the early 1970s Tunisia pursued peaceful economic development, particularly of its petroleum resources. Relations with France and China improved, but Bourguiba expressed his distrust of US and Soviet intentions in the Middle East. In 1982 Tunisia gave refuge to Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) leader Yasir Arafat and several hundred of his followers who had been forced out of Lebanon.

Domestic rioting early in 1984 forced Bourguiba to rescind price increases on basic foodstuffs. Relations with Libya were severed in 1985 after Libya expelled some 30,000 Tunisian workers. Later in the year an Israeli air raid demolished the headquarters of the PLO near Tunis. The growth of Islamic fundamentalism in Tunisia, and several terrorist attacks on tourist resorts, led to large numbers of arrests, and the breaking of diplomatic links with Iran, which was accused of plotting to overthrow the president, in 1987.

In November 1987, following a period of inconsistent behaviour, Bourguiba was declared medically unfit to govern, and Prime Minister Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali assumed the presidency. While retaining the secret police, Ben Ali freed political prisoners, legalized most opposition parties, and eased restrictions on the press. Although several parties contested the April 1989 elections (Tunisia’s first free elections since 1956), Ben Ali’s Constitutional Democratic Assembly (RCD; the renamed Destour Socialist Party) won all 141 seats in parliament, and he was elected to the presidency unopposed.

In the early 1990s Ben Ali imposed a severe crackdown on Muslim fundamentalists. During 1993 Tunisia attempted to mediate between Libya and Western states over the demands for extradition of Libyan suspects wanted in connection with the destruction of an American airliner over Lockerbie in Scotland. Ben Ali also expressed support for the government of Algeria against its domestic fundamentalist insurrection. In the March 1994 presidential and legislative elections Ben Ali and his party were returned overwhelmingly; however, opposition parties gained seats in the legislature for the first time.

The Middle East peace accords between Israel and the PLO in 1994 were welcomed by Tunisia, which moved to set up liaison offices in Tel Aviv and the Gaza Strip. Ben Ali reshuffled his Cabinet in January 1995, in an apparent effort to introduce more technocratic and pragmatic economic management. An incident on the border with Algeria in February, in which six Tunisian border guards were killed, was described in French newspapers as a deliberate attack by Algerian fundamentalists as part of a new fundamentalist policy of reprisal against Ben Ali’s support for Algeria’s rulers.

The RCD gained control of all municipal councils in local elections in May 1995, with opposition parties winning just six seats. The arrest in October of the opposition leader Muhammad Mouada, of the Movement of Democratic Socialists (MDS), accused of links with Libya, and subsequent arrest of Khemais Chamari, an MDS member of the National Assembly, on charges related to Mouada’s trial, caused international concern over deteriorating human rights in the country. Chamari had earlier been prevented from attending a conference on human rights. In January 1997 Mouada was released from prison on parole.

The easing of the enmity with Israel was halted following the election in Israel in May 1996 of a new hard-line right-wing government under Binyamin Netanyahu, while links were strengthened with the Gulf states, particularly Kuwait.

The government accelerated its privatization programme of 50 major companies in May 1998, in an effort to obtain increased aid from the European Union (EU). In the first contested presidential election in October 1999, President Ben Ali was elected to a third five-year term with over 99 per cent of the vote, and his party, the RCD, swept to victory in the concurrent legislative elections, taking 148 seats in the recently expanded 182-seat National Assembly. The remaining 34 seats are reserved for opposition parties and were split among 5 parties.

In April 2000, Tunisia mourned the death of the “father of the nation”, Habib Bourguiba, who died at the age of 96. Concerns about human rights breaches and corruption resurfaced shortly after with the sacking of a prominent activist who criticized the government overseas. In October, Tunisia cut diplomatic ties with Israel following Israeli violence against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Ben Ali’s Arab nationalist stance was reaffirmed in February 2001 when Tunisia agreed a proposed free trade pact with Iraq. The ruling RCD called upon President Ben Ali to stand again as president, to which end a referendum was held in May 2002 on the abolition of the three-term limit on incumbent presidents. The overwhelming support for the amendment opened the way for Ben Ali to serve a further term as president, despite his initial opposition to such a change on his accession to the office in 1987. He duly won the October 2004 election by taking more than 94 per cent of the vote.

In April 2002 a suicide bomb attack at a synagogue on the island of Jarbah killed 19 people. A spokesman for the terrorist network Al-Qaeda later confirmed the organization’s responsibility for the incident. In parliamentary elections held in October 2004, 152 of the 189 seats were taken by the RCD.