Tunisia

Al-Jumhūriyyah at-Tūnisiyyah الجمهورية التونسية
Flag	Coat of Arms
Capital	Tunis
Government	Republic
Language	Arabic (official)
President	Beji Caid Essebsi
Prime minister	Ahmed Hachani
Area	63,170 sq mi
Population	11,850,000 (2020)
GDP	$40,000,000,000 (2020)
GDP per capita	$3,376 (2020)
Currency	Tunisian dinar

The Tunisian Republic (Arabic الجمهورية التونسية) is a country in north Africa. The country borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Algeria to the west, and Libya to the east. The ancient city of Carthage lies just to the north of the present-day capital, Tunis. The official religion of Tunisia is Islam, with approximately 98% of Tunisians being Muslims.

Modern Tunisians are the descendents of indigenous Berbers and of people from numerous civilizations that have invaded, migrated to, and been assimilated into the population over the millennia. Nearly all Tunisians (98% of the population) are Muslim. There has been a Jewish population on the southern island of Djerba for 2000 years, and there remains a small Jewish population in Tunis and other cities, which is mainly descended from those who fled Spain in the late 15th century. A small Christian community is dispersed throughout the country, and includes foreign residents, as well as a few hundred native-born citizens who have converted to Christianity. Small nomadic indigenous minorities have been mostly assimilated into the larger population.

• Population (2006): 10,216,000.
• Annual growth rate (2005): 1.12%. Birth rate—17.1 births/1,000 population. Death rate—5.17 deaths/1,000 population.
• Ethnic groups: Arab-Berber 98%, European 1%, other 1%.
• Religions: Muslim 98%, Christian 1%, Jewish less than 1%.
• Languages: Arabic (official), French.
• Education: Years compulsory—9. Literacy (definition—age 15 and over can read and write)--74% (2006 est.).
• Health (2006): Infant mortality rate—20.3 deaths/1,000 live births. Life expectancy—73.5 total, 71.6 years male, 75.5 years female.
• Work force (2006): 3,503 million.
• Unemployment rate (2006): 13.9%.

Tunisia is a republic with a strong presidential system. The former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has been in office since 1987, when he deposed Habib Bourguiba, president since Tunisia's independence from France in 1956. The ruling party, the Democratic Constitutional Rally (RCD), was the sole legal party for 25 years—including when it was known as the Socialist Destourian Party (PSD)--which dominated the political life. Regional governors and local administrators are also appointed by the central government; largely consultative mayors and municipal councils are elected. In 2011 it came to a revolution and Ben Ali left his country.

There are currently nine parties in the parliament, the Islamist Al-Nahda party, the Congress for the Republic, Ettakatol, Al Aridha, the Progressive Democratic Party, the Democratic Modernist Pole, Afek Tounes, Tunisian Workers' Communist Party, the Al-Watan Party and The Initiative. The last two parties are formed by supporters of Ben Ali.

The ruling party is the Islamist Al-Nahda. People were arrested for "Blasphemia" and Women's were discriminate.^[1] After the killing of an opposition leader, people were protesting against the government.^[2]

Principal Government Officials

• President—Beji Caid Essebsi
• Prime Minister—Habib Essid
• Minister of State--
• Minister of Foreign Affairs—Rafik Abdessalem
• Minister of National Defense--

Arab Spring

See also: Obama war crimes

In December 2010 vegetable seller Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire and ignited a set of revolutions across the Middle East and North Africa. The Western mainstream media dubbed it, the "Arab Spring.” The head of the Islamist Ennahda party, Rached Ghannouchi, returned from exile. That followed the 2011 overthrow of the long-time Tunisiam dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. The Mediterranean beaches that attracted tourists, the country’s main source of hard cash, emptied out after an ISIS gunman killed 38 people at a Sousse resort in 2015. Even before that, Islamist enforcers barred locals from freely enjoying those beaches as they had enjoyed them in earlier decades.^[3]

Foreign Relations

Tunisia has long been a voice for moderation and realism in the Middle East. President Bourguiba was the first Arab leader to call for the recognition of Israel, in a speech in Jericho in 1965. Tunisia served as the headquarters of the Arab League from 1979 to 1990 and hosted the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) headquarters from 1982 to 1993. (The PLO Political Department remains in Tunis.) Tunisia consistently has played a moderating role in the negotiations for a comprehensive Middle East peace. In 1993, Tunisia was the first Arab country to host an official Israeli delegation as part of the Middle East peace process. The Government of Tunisia operated an Interests Section in Israel from April 1996 until the outbreak of the second Intifada in 2000. Israeli citizens may travel to Tunisia on their Israeli passports.

Wedged between Algeria and Libya, Tunisia has sought to maintain good relations with its neighbors despite occasionally strained relations. Tunisia and Algeria resolved a longstanding border dispute in 1993 and have cooperated in the construction of a natural gas pipeline through Tunisia that connects Algeria to Italy. In 2002, Tunisia signed an agreement with Algeria to demarcate the maritime frontier between the two countries.

Tunisia's relations with Libya have been erratic since Tunisia annulled a brief agreement to form a union in 1974. Diplomatic relations were broken in 1976, restored in 1977, and deteriorated again in 1980, when Libyan-trained rebels attempted to seize the town of Gafsa. In 1982, the International Court of Justice ruled in Libya's favor in the partition of the oil-rich continental shelf it shares with Tunisia. Libya's 1985 expulsion of Tunisian workers and military threats led Tunisia to sever relations. Relations were normalized again in 1987. While supporting the UN sanctions imposed following airline bombings, Tunisia has been careful to maintain positive relations with her neighbor. Tunisia supported the lifting of UN sanctions against Libya in 2003, and Libya is again becoming a major trading partner, with 2005 exports to Libya valued at $472.2 million and imports at $509.9 million.

Tunisia has supported the development of the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA), which includes Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, and Libya. Progress on Maghreb integration remains stymied, however, as a result of bilateral tensions between some member countries. Tunisia has played a positive role in trying to resolve these tensions.

In 2012 Tunisia condemns Israel and supported the Hamas.^[4]

Tunisia's economy has emerged from rigid state control and is now mostly liberalized. World Bank and IMF support, coupled with prudent economic policies implemented by the Tunisian Government in the mid-eighties after a balance of payments crisis, has resulted in regular stable growth. Although this faltered after 9/11, the economy has since bounced back, thanks to healthy exports, renewed growth in tourism, and favorable climatic conditions which boosted agricultural production.

Manufacturing industries, producing largely for export, are a major source of foreign currency revenue. Industrial production represents about 28 percent of GDP and primarily consists of petroleum, mining (particularly phosphates), textiles, footwear, food processing, and electrical and mechanical manufactures. Textiles are a major source of foreign currency revenue, with more than 90% of production being exported. While the end of the Multifiber Arrangement in 2005 eroded Tunisia's competitiveness in its traditional European textile markets, to counteract this, manufacturers are successfully upgrading product lines and exporting smaller quantities of higher value items.

• Real GDP (2006, $2000 mil): $25,498.
• Real GDP growth rate (2006): 5.2%.
• Per capita GDP, PPP (2006): $8,898.
• Natural resources: natural gas, crude oil, phosphates, salt, iron ore.
• Agriculture: Products—olives, dates, citrus, almonds, grains.
• Industry: Types—petroleum, mining (particularly phosphate), textiles, footwear, food processing.
• Services: Tourism, commerce, transport, communications.
• Sector information as %GDP (2006 est.): Agriculture, 12%; industry, 33%; services, 55%.
• Trade (2005): Exports--$11.7 billion: hydrocarbons, agricultural products, phosphates, chemicals, textiles, mechanical, electric components. By region—Africa 9.9%, Americas 3.1%, Asia 3.7%, Europe 83.3%. By country (U.S$. million)--France, $3807.07, Italy, $2598.46, Germany, $926.0, Spain, $739.0; Libya, $635.15; Belgium, $282.61; UK, $322.0; U.S. $145.6. Imports ($15.2 billion)--industrial goods and equipment, hydrocarbons, food, consumer goods. By region—Africa 7.8%, Americas 5.9% Asia 10.5%, Europe 75.8%. By country (U.S$. million)--France $3461.61, Italy $2836.15, Germany $1200.61, Spain $714.69, Libya $743.0, China $501.84, U.S. $435.15.

Tourism is a major source of foreign exchange, representing about 20 percent of hard currency receipts, as well as an important sector for employment. 6.5 million tourists visited Tunisia in 2006, hailing largely from Europe and North Africa. While the influx of tourists represents a boon to the economy. Tunisia's large expatriate population (about 1 million) also makes a positive and significant contribution. Over the past five years, remittances from abroad averaged 1.61 million dinars (approximately 1.21 million USD) a year, or roughly 5 percent of Tunisia's GDP and one fourth of the country's foreign currency earnings.

Soaring oil prices have hit the Tunisian economy hard. The country is a net importer of hydrocarbon products. Domestic crude production is approximately 112,000 barrels per day, but refining capacity is only about 30,000 barrels a day. Proven reserves are in the region of 300 million barrels. Tunisia has one oil refinery in Bizerte on the north coast and in May 2006 awarded a tender for a second at La Skhira near Gabes to Qatar Petroleum. Natural gas production is currently about 3 million tons oil equivalent Proven reserves are about 2.8 trillion cubic feet, two-thirds of which are located offshore. British Gas is the major developer of the natural gas industry, and the largest foreign investor in Tunisia.

Economically and commercially, Tunisia is very closely linked to Europe. Tunisia signed an Association Agreement with the EU, due to go into effect in 2008, which will eliminate customs tariffs and other trade barriers on a wide range of goods and services. In advance of the 2008 implementation of this Association Agreement, the Government of Tunisia embarked on a program, "Mise à Niveau",(industrial upgrading) to improve the competitiveness of Tunisian industry. Launched on a pilot scale in 1996, the "Mise a Niveau" program is supported in part by EU grants. The program consists of technical assistance, training, subsidies, and infrastructure upgrades aimed at encouraging and assisting Tunisian private sector industrial restructuring.

EU member states also provide the bulk of FDI, much of which has come in under the Government of Tunisia privatization program launched in 1987. In May 2006 the Government of Tunisia announced that overall its privatization program had raised $1.9 billion, of which $1.4 billion was foreign capital. This does not include the $2.25 billion the Government of Tunisia recently received for the sale to Dubai Holding of a 35% share in the national telecommunications authority, Tunisie Telecom. Persian Gulf investments in telecommunications, real estate, and energy are also a major source of FDI.

The Ministry of Industry and Energy is responsible for a program to improve the international competitiveness of Tunisian industry in preparation for free trade with the European Union. Launched on a pilot scale in 1996, the "Mise a Niveau" (industrial upgrading) program is supported in part by EU grants incorporated into the EU Association Agreement. The program combines government technical assistance, training, subsidies, and infrastructure upgrades aimed at encouraging and assisting Tunisian private sector industrial restructuring. More than 2,300 companies have applied to join the program, with more than half accepted.

A Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) with the U.S. was signed in October 2002 and follow-up TIFA Councils were held in October 2003 and June 2005, but little progress has been made towards generating the necessary reforms required to engender a free trade agreement between the U.S. and Tunisia. The framework for a multilateral trade agreement with Egypt, Jordan, and Morocco, known as the Agadir Agreement, has also been signed. The Agadir Agreement creates a potential market of over 100 million people across North Africa and into the Middle East.

The government still retains control over certain "strategic" sectors of the economy (finance, hydrocarbons, aviation, electricity and gas distribution, and water resources) but the private sector is playing an increasingly important role. Tunisia is a founding member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and is publicly committed to a free trade regime and export-led growth. Most goods can be imported without prior licensing, although non-tariff administrative barriers sometimes delay imports of goods. Significant import duties, coupled with high consumption taxes on certain items and a value-added tax (VAT), add considerably to the local price of imported goods.

The Government of Tunisia is beginning to take a more proactive stance on intellectual property rights (IPR) enforcement and education. Tunisia's recent intellectual property rights law is designed to meet WTO TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property) minimum standards and there is on-going collaboration between the United States and Tunisian governments to promote public awareness of these rights.

Tunisia's timely completion of its IMF program (1987-1994) and subsequent fiscal conservatism have earned it investment grade ratings from a number of international institutions, although Standard and Poor has noted that ratings on Tunisia are constrained by its highly centralized political system and the need for further structural reforms. In mid-2005 the Tunisian Central Bank issued a new Euro-denominated bond on the London financial market. The issue totaled over $450 million (400 million Euros) with a maturity of 15 years. In 2004 the Government of Tunisia sold a similar bond with a total value of nearly $550 million and seven-year maturity.

The Central Bank is moving from direct management of the financial sector towards a more traditional supervisory and regulatory role. Commercial banks are permitted to participate in the forward foreign exchange market. The dinar is convertible for current account transactions but some convertible dinar/foreign exchange account transactions still require Central Bank authorization. Total convertibility of the Tunisian dinar is probably still some years away. The dinar is traded on an intra-bank market. Trading operates around a managed float established by the Central Bank (based upon a basket of the Euro, the U.S. Dollar and the Japanese Yen). The stock exchange remains under the supervision of the state-run financial market council, and lists about 50 companies. A new phase of the Mise a Niveau program aims to double this figure.

Tunisia has a relatively well-developed infrastructure that includes six commercial seaports and six international airports. The prequalification phase for a seventh airport near the coast at Enfidha was announced in April 2004. The project, a Build-to-Own 40-year concession eventually able to handle 30 million passengers per year, was awarded in May 2007 to a Turkish group and construction is expected to begin in July 2007. A tender for a deep water port in the same region is expected also.

Average annual income per capita in Tunisia is approaching $3000. The minimum monthly legal wage for a 48-hour week was recently raised to approximately $180. Tunisia's goal of pushing per capita incomes into the middle emerging market level calls for an average 6-7% growth rate instead of 4-5%. In 2006, GDP growth was 5.2%, but inflation spiked to 4.5%, from 2% the year before. Official figures claim unemployment is around 14%, but it is generally believed to be much higher in some regions. Despite the present low rate of population growth, a demographic peak is now hitting higher education and the job market. Tunisia has invested heavily in education and the number of students enrolled at university has soared from 41,000 in 1986 to over 360,000. Providing jobs for these highly educated people represents a major challenge for the Government of Tunisia.

Recorded history in Tunisia begins with the arrival of Phoenicians, who founded Carthage and other North African settlements in the 8th century B.C. Carthage became a major sea power, clashing with Rome for control of the Mediterranean until it was defeated and captured by the Romans in 146 B.C. The Romans ruled and settled in North Africa until the 5th century, when the Roman Empire fell and Tunisia was invaded by European tribes, including the Vandals. The Muslim conquest in the 7th century transformed Tunisia and the make-up of its population, with subsequent waves of migration from around the Arab and Ottoman world, including significant numbers of Spanish Muslims and Jews at the end of the 15th century. Tunisia became a center of Arab culture and learning and was assimilated into the Turkish Ottoman Empire in the 16th century. The country was one of the Barbary States (along with Tangiers, Algiers, and Tripoli), demanding tribute from the vessels of other nations engaged in commerce within the Mediterranean; the Barbary States were ultimately subdued by 1815. It was a French protectorate from 1881 until independence in 1956, and retains close political, economic, and cultural ties with France. Tunisia was briefly occupied by German forces during World War II, but was liberated in May 1943.

President Bourguiba, who had been the leader of the independence movement, declared Tunisia a republic in 1957, ending the nominal rule of the Ottoman Beys. In June 1959, Tunisia adopted a constitution modeled on the French system, which established the basic outline of the highly centralized presidential system that continues today. The military was given a defined defensive role, which excluded participation in politics. Starting from independence, President Bourguiba placed strong emphasis on economic and social development, especially education, the status of women, and the creation of jobs, policies that continued under the Ben Ali administration. The result was strong social progress—high literacy and school attendance rates, low population growth rates, and relatively low poverty rates—and generally steady economic growth. These pragmatic policies have contributed to social and political stability.

Progress toward full democracy has been slow. Over the years, President Bourguiba stood unopposed for re-election several times and was named "President for Life" in 1974 by a constitutional amendment. At the time of independence, the Neo-Destourian Party (later the PSD)--enjoying broad support because of its role at the forefront of the independence movement—became the sole legal party. Opposition parties were banned until 1981.

When President Ben Ali came to power in 1987, he promised greater democratic openness and respect for human rights, signing a "national pact" with opposition parties. He oversaw constitutional and legal changes, including abolishing the concept of President for life, the establishment of presidential term limits, and provision for greater opposition party participation in political life. But the ruling party, renamed the Democratic Constitutional Rally (RCD), continued to dominate the political scene because of its historic popularity and the advantage it enjoyed as the ruling party. Ben Ali ran for re-election unopposed in 1989 and 1994. In the multiparty era, he won 99.44% of the vote in 1999 and 94.49% of the vote in 2004. In both elections he faced weak opponents. The RCD won all seats in the Chamber of Deputies in 1989, and won all of the directly elected seats in the 1994, 1999, and 2004 elections. However, constitutional amendments provided for the distribution of additional seats to the opposition parties by 1999 and 2004. Currently, five opposition parties share 37 of the 189 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. A May 2002 referendum approved constitutional changes proposed by Ben Ali that allowed him to run for a fourth term in 2004 (and a fifth, his final, because of age limits on presidential candidates, in 2009), and provided judicial immunity during and after his presidency. The referendum also created a second parliamentary chamber, the Chamber of Advisors, and provided for other changes.

In 2011 it came to protests against Ben Ali. The protets ended in a revolution and Ben Ali fleed into Saudi-Arabia. In the democratic elections the Islamist Ennahda-party was elected.

1. ↑ http://frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/female-tunisian-artist-faces-5-years-in-jail-for-blasphemous-sculpture-of-veiled-women/
2. ↑ https://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/02/10/tunisia-pressure-grows-on-islamists-to-defuse-crisis-unleashed-by-opposition/
3. ↑ https://www.nysun.com/foreign/tunisian-tragedy-arab-spring-just-died-in/91593/
4. ↑ https://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/11/16/tunisia-condemns-israeli-attack-on-gaza/