Tunisian Interim Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa. He is putting together a 'technocratic' cabinet three years after a national uprising that ousted Ben Ali., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
Prime Minister Replaces 18 Regional Governors
03 March 2014 1:07 pm
Asma Smadhi
Eighteen of Tunisia’s 24 governors were replaced last Friday by Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa, a procedure his office said was meant to prepare for the upcoming election.
The Ministry of Interior, responsible for local governments, released a list of the replacements in a statement on Friday.
The political opposition has long accused the former government, led by the Islamist Ennahdha party, of appointing loyal officials to state positions. Ennahdha ceded power last month in an agreement by political leaders to resolve a lengthy political deadlock. The opposition has urged Jomaa’s government to review Ennahdha-era appointments.
The change of governors “is a preparation for the elections so that people [governors] will be neutral,” Sami Ben Kraiem, a spokesperson for the prime ministry, told Tunisia Live.
Ben Kraiem added replacing the local leaders is part of same roadmap, a document agreed upon by Tunisian political parties and civil society groups that presents a set of guidelines to be met by the National Constituent Assembly and the caretaker government before the next elections expected in 2014.
The six governors who have kept their positions are not suspected of having partisan allegiances, Ben Kraiem said.
There are no women among the new appointees.
“18 governors changed today and still no women,” wrote Nadia Chaabane, a member of the Constituent Assembly from the secular Massar party, in a Facebook post Friday.
Only one woman has ever served as a governor in Tunisia, according to Huffington Post Maghreb. Saloua Mohsni Labiadh was governor of Zaghouan, south of the capital, Tunis, from 2004 to 2008.
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February 28, 2014
Tunisia Seeks to Boost Regional Economic Ties
by Mohamed Elshinnawi
During a surprise visit to Tunisia recently, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry praised the country saying it could be a “model to other peoples seeking reforms.”
While Tunisia’s political transition has been praised as a regional model, the country’s economy has stagnated. Discontent over the economy exploded in January when strikes and riots largely shut down the country after new taxes were imposed by the government. While the taxes were rescinded, Tunisia’s government continues to struggle to revive the economy.
As part of that effort Tunisia’s President Moncef Marzouki has pledged to revive The Arab Maghreb Union, a regional organization founded in 1989 to promote trade and political ties between its five members; Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania.
Radwan Masmoudi, president of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy in Washington says Marzouki’s efforts make sense.
“The Tunisian revolution was about jobs and economic opportunities. Economic development requires a bigger market with free trade partners and investment in economic ventures, so reviving the union could help pull the economies of its members who have a lot in common.” Masmoudi said.
Earlier efforts to foster regional cooperation broke down over the decades-long dispute between Morocco and Algeria over the Western Sahara.
Masmoudi says Tunisia has a role to play in helping to bring the two sides together.
“Tunisia can be a mediator in trying to reach an acceptable solution to that dispute which prevented the Union from succeeding.”
But William Lawrence, a Professor of International Relations at George Washington University and a Senior Fellow at the Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) disagrees.
“2013 was a bad year for Algerian-Moroccan relations, they had several disputes over the same issue and given the Moroccan appetite for scoring points internationally on the Western Sahara issue, I don’t see much chance for a Tunisian role any time soon,” he said.
Masmoudi says Tunisia can still benefit from both Morocco and Algeria.
“Morocco has a thriving economy, so there are tremendous opportunities for economic cooperation that creates badly needed jobs and Algeria is a very rich neighbor with surplus capital that can be invested in Tunisian agriculture and tourism,” he said.
Lawrence agrees, saying regardless of the tensions between Algeria and Morocco Tunisian efforts to revive the Union serve all members.
“All of the Maghreb states are very aware that they lose several points of their respective gross domestic production GDP every year by not having a unified economic activity,” he said.
Tunisia’s economic problems stem in part from the global economic downturn – especially in the EU countries – which are Tunisia’s main trade partner. So while it is trying to revive the Arab Maghreb Union, Tunisia is also working to develop trade with regional powers like Iran and Turkey.
Tunisia reduced customs duties on imports from Turkey, an early supporter of its revolution. Turkey’s economy minister recently said that Turkish companies have invested $744 million in Tunisia with more to come. Turkey also provided a critical $500-million assistance package immediately following Tunisia’s revolution.
Masmoudi says Turkish economic support has been a boon to Tunisia. “Turkey has become a major economic super power in the region and with its swift support to the Tunisian revolution it became a main partner in energizing Tunisian economy and in technology transfer,” he said.
Tunisian officials have also been outspoken in their diplomatic support for Iran, with President Marzouki criticizing efforts to isolate Tehran over its nuclear program. In a recent meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Tunisia’s ambassador in Tehran pledged to expand trade and political ties.
William Lawrence says however Tunisia’s outreach to Tehran is more political than economic.
“Islamists in general have always been long inspired by the 1979 Iranian revolution and in particular Iran’s stance with regard to the Palestinian issue,” he said.
Radwan Masmoudi says regardless of where it finds economic partners it’s vital that Tunisia do so if its revolution and its transition to democracy are to succeed.
“For the last three years Tunisia focused on developing its democratic institutions and recently ratified a new constitution, but at the end of the day people would like to have jobs and food on their tables. Democracy has to deliver economic development so people can feel that the Tunisian revolution improved their livelihood,” said Masmoudi.
http://www.voanews.com/content/tunisia-seeks-to-boost-regional-economic-ties/1861486.html
http://www.dawn.com/news/1090362/12bn-wb-support-fund-for-tunisia
$1.2bn WB support fund for Tunisia
FROM THE NEWSPAPER
Published
2014-03-02 07:08:21
TUNIS: The World Bank on Friday announced a $1.2 billion programme to support economic and political reform in Tunisia after the adoption last month of a new constitution.
“The financing planned for 2014 would include $750 million in support of government reforms to level the economic playing field and promote growth and job creation, while increasing accountability in the delivery of services to citizens,” the bank said.Another $300m will go towards building up local government capacities to support the decentralisation process envisaged in the new constitution, with $100m being allocated to a credit facility for banks that finance small and medium-size businesses.
The level of financial support is designed to match the Tunisian government’s progress on reform during what the bank called “this last year of democratic transition.”
“The consensus built around the new constitution provides a foundation for much needed economic reforms,” said the bank’s regional vice president Inge Andersen after meeting Tunisian Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa.
Tunisia’s economic recovery since the revolution has been hampered by political instability, social unrest and Islamist violence that culminated last year with the assassination of two secular politicians by suspected jihadists and months of institutional paralysis.
But in a major step towards ending the crisis and restoring stability, parliament finally adopted a consensus constitution in January, three years after the Arab Spring uprising, paving the way for the formation of a technocrat government tasked with steering the country to fresh elections.
—AFP
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