March 16, 2017 — Tunis, Tunisia
AJC conferred with President BéjiCaïdEssebsi and other Tunisian officials on the North African republic’s democratic progress and its security and economic challenges five years after the overthrow of dictator Zine el-AbidineBen Ali.
The two-day visit, which included discussions with U.S. and German diplomats, civil society activists and policy analysts, was the latest in a more-than-20-year series of periodic AJC consultations with the Tunisian government and civil society, including leadership of its small Jewish community. AJC has an international partnership agreement with the CommunautéJuive de Tunisie, headed by Roger Bismuth.
"Tunisia, where the 2010-2011 Arab uprisings began, has made impressive progress in establishing democratic institutions and processes,” said Jason Isaacson, AJC Associate Executive Director for Policy, who conducted the discussions. “But Islamist forces on Tunisia’s borders, as well as homegrown terrorism, threaten that progress and impede the country’s economic recovery. Decisive action must be taken urgently, by Tunisia and the international community, to assure the success of the country’s bold and promising embrace of democracy.”
Topics discussed in meetings in three ministries and the Palais de Carthage included Tunisian-U.S. and Tunisian-European cooperation in the fight against Islamist terror, and the urgency of countering recruitment of Tunisians as Islamic State fighters. The AJC visit came a week after an Islamic State assault on a Tunisian town near the Libyan border was repelled by the army, with heavy losses on both sides. The government said young Tunisians were among the terrorists killed; it has been estimated that as many as 6,000 Tunisians have been recruited to the jihadist cause.
Other issues explored with senior officials were the continuing security and humanitarian crises in Libya and Syria, effective means to advance Israeli-Palestinian peace, Tunisia’s proud multifaith and multiethnic history, and steps the government is taking to strengthen an economy battered by terrorist attacks, regional instability, and the growing pains of political transition.
Government officials expressed a firm commitment to the security of the country’s Jewish community, which is concentrated on the southern island of Djerba and in Tunis. Plans are underway for the annual Ghriba pilgrimage, which draws hundreds of Jews from France, Israel and elsewhere to an ancient synagogue in the traditional Djerba community on the holiday of Lag B’Omer, which this year falls on May 26.
