Zine El Abidine Ben Ali

For more information on Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, visit Britannica.com.

A member of the struggle for Tunisian independence, Zine el Abidine Ben Ali (born 1936) held many posts in the new government, rising to the position of prime minister in 1987. On November 7, 1987, he removed the aging and infirm President Habib Bourguiba from office, assuming the position of president.

On November 7, 1987, Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, prime minister of Tunisia, announced on state television that he had assumed the duties of president. He had removed the aged, ill Habib Bourguiba from the presidency, citing mental infirmity as the main reason for his action. Bourguiba had been the chief architect of Tunisian independence from France in 1956 and had led the moderate Arab state as its president since that time. However, the Tunisian ship of state seemed to flounder as Bourguiba aged and lost control of the governmental and political mechanisms which made Tunisia a respected Arab nation. There appeared to be no real successor to Bourguiba, and the party which had guided Tunisia's destiny since independence had atrophied. Tunisia was being swept along with North African and Middle Eastern events. Into this void stepped Zine Ben Ali.

Zine el Abidine Ben Ali was born on September 3, 1936, in the village of Hamman-Sousse in the Sahel, only a few kilometers from the city of Sousse, near the eastern coast. Coming from a modest but respected family, Zine Ben Ali had the opportunity to attend school in Sousse, where he engaged in anti-French, pro-independence activity. Basically, he acted as a runner between local Neo-Destour (Destour was a liberal, constitutional political party) activists in Sousse and members of guerrilla bands operating nearby. When his Neo-Destour activities came to the attention of the French colonial administration, Zine Ben Ali was expelled from school and denied admittance to any French-administered school in the colony. After independence in 1956, he was rewarded for his support of the now victorious Neo-Destour Party by being selected for advanced education. There was never any question about Zine Ben Ali's intelligence or his great interest in military matters. Ironically, Zine Ben Ali was selected to go to France, the former colonizer, to study at the difficult, respected Inter Arms School at Saint-Cyr.

After attending Saint-Cyr, Zine Ben Ali was chosen to attend the well-known French artillery school at Ch Élonssur-Marne, and then attended various military courses in the United States. Known as an electronic engineer, he began his rise within the structure of the Tunisian government. Zine Ben Ali organized and administered the Tunisian Military Security Department from 1964 until 1974.

This was an important step in his rise to prominence in that it served to make Zine Ben Ali aware of the many internal problems faced by Tunisia as part of the North African and Arab Islamic world. He also gained great insights into the workings of Tunisian politics at the local level, and he became acquainted with those party officials, civil servants, and army officers who would be important in November 1987.

In 1977 Zine Ben Ali was appointed as the director general of national security, a post which he held for three years. It was during this three-year tenure that he became aware of the deteriorating conditions within the Tunisian government and of the outside forces which were threatening Tunisian internal security. There was increasing interest in the charismatic, troublesome Libyan strongman Muammar Qaddaffi (Gaddafi), whose anti-Western, anti-Israeli posturing attracted the attention of many Tunisian youth. There was a rising tide of feeling in support of the Palestinian cause as many Palestinians migrated to Tunisia. Zine Ben Ali tended to interpret his own support for the Palestinian homeland in the light of his anti-colonialist activities prior to Tunisian independence. He became very much aware of the strength of Islamic revivalism in Tunisia, which, in reality, was little different from other Arab states. As the national security chief for Tunisia, Zine Ben Ali was able to see that there were many problems pressing in on a state which appeared to have less and less direction from the top.

From 1980 to 1984 Zine served in an important post as Tunisian ambassador to Poland, and in 1984 he was recalled to Tunis to assume the post of head of national security. One year later, Zine Ben Ali became the minister of national security, and in 1986 he took over the vitally important portfolio of the Interior Ministry. Between 1986 and November of 1987, Zine consolidated his political power, and in October 1987 he became prime minister as well as the secretary general of the PSD, the Destourian Socialist Party. As prime minister he replaced Muhammad Mzali, the man who had been designated to replace the now failing Bourguiba. Mzali had come to the prime ministership with high hopes, but found that external pressures and internal economic, political, and religious discord kept Tunisia from developing viable programs. Bourguiba's health was at a point where he could no longer make rational decisions on a continual basis, and on November 7, 1987, Zine Ben Ali simply removed the old man, placing him under house arrest. Mzali and a few supporters fled to France, but there were few violent reactions to the change of government.

A severe drought in 1988, followed by a locust invasion, resulted in major crop damage and widespread food shortages. Zine took steps to deal with the crisis and ensured domestic order without resorting to massive police or army intervention or repression. In 1989 the French Center for Political and Society Studies gave to Zine Ben Ali the "Man of the Year" award for his work in promoting human rights in Tunisia. The following year, the U.S. State Department asked Congress for authorization to increase funds for assistance to Tunisia for fiscal year 1990. The American perception, as expressed by official opinion, was that Zine Ben Ali was trying to revitalize a nation that had been in serious trouble.

From 1990 to 1992 President Zine emphasized Tunisia's stand against extremism and terrorism. In what he described as measures "beyond simple considerations of security", he used swift and effective police actions to deal a defeating blow to militiant Islamic groups, sending their leaders into exile. In 1994 Zine was re-elected president in an unopposed election.

For his long time support of youth sports and promotion of olympic values, Zine was presented the Olympic Merit Award in 1996 by the Association of National Olympic Committees. During the same year he welcomed the visiting Pope John Paul II to Tunisia and also received the "Health for All" Gold Medal from the World Health Organization. During a speech on the 9th anniversary of his accession to the presidency, Zine announced the creation of a political academy thay would help increase popular participation in national domestic issues. In a speech to dedicate the academy, President Zine said; "Accomplishing the tasks ahead, ensuring the success of the comprehensive upgrading of the national economy, and meeting the challenges imposed by competition are all goals that can only be achieved if the political forces assume their mobilizing role."

Further Reading

There have been a few articles which bear upon him, including L.B. Ware, "Ben Ali's Constitutional Coup in Tunisia," and Dirk Vandewalle," From the New State to the New Era: Toward a Second Republic in Tunisia," both in The Middle East Journal (Fall 1988), and "Ben Ali Tackles Reforms in Post-Bourguiba Tunisia," Africa Report (January-February 1988). Information on Zine and Tunisia can be found in the Encyclopaedia Arabica.

Ben Ali, Larbi (b. 1949). Tunisian poet living in Paris. Mostly self-taught, anti-intellectual, he has written two major volumes of poetry: Prophéties insoumises (1973) and Le Porteur d'eau (1976). His poetry, self-deprecating at times with touches of ironic humour and moving nostalgia, is a search for roots, identity, and meaning in a world that is itself in a constant state of flux.

[Ethel Tolansky]

1936 -

President General of Tunisia, replaced Habib Bourguiba in a bloodless six-day constitutional coup in November 1987.

A member of the Destour movement since his teens, Zayn al-Abidine Ben Ali pursued a military career, receiving training in France (St. Cyr Academy and Châlons-sur-Marne) and the United States (Ft. Bliss, Texas). He was the head of Tunisian military security from 1964 to 1974, when he became a military attaché in Morocco. Returning to Tunisia three years later, he became the head of national security, and ambassador to Poland in 1980. In 1984 he was appointed state secretary for national security and a cabinet minister in 1985. He suppressed riots in 1978 and 1984; in 1986, when he became minister of the interior, he set out to eliminate the Mouvement de Tendance Islamique (MTI; Islamic Tendency Movement), a group that opposed President Habib Bourguiba's secularist reforms. Despite two periods of disfavor between 1974 and 1984, Bourguiba appointed him prime minister in October 1987. He also served as secretary-general of the Parti Socialiste Destourien (PSD; Destour Socialist Party). Many considered Bourguiba, who had ruled Tunisia for thirty years since independence from France in 1956, unfit to govern; a month after Ben Ali became prime minister, he ousted Bourguiba in a peaceful coup.

Initially Ben Ali claimed he would ease some of Bourguiba's stern political measures concerning opposition movements, particularly the Mouvement des Démocrates Sociaux (MDS; Social Democrat Movement) and the MTI. His interest in a multi-party system led to the signing of a national pact with opposition leaders in 1988. Nevertheless, he maintained strong ties with the ruling party, the old PSD, renamed the Rassemblement Constitutionelle Démocratique (RCD; Constitutional Democratic Rally) in 1987. He pursued strong links with other North African states through the Arab Maghreb Union, founded in 1989. As head of the RCD, he won reelection in 1994 and 1999 with more than 99 percent of the vote. Although the constitution limits the president to three terms, it seemed it might be amended as the central committee of the governing RCD requested he run again in 2004.

In 1991 Ben Ali banned the Hizb En Nahda (Renaissance Party), an offshoot of the MTI that tried to legalize its party status, and severely restricted the actions of its leader, Rached Ghannouchi. On 12 July 1992 one of the harshest court cases in Tunisian history was launched against Hizb En Nahda's members; 280 were accused of taking part in a plot and fifty were threatened with the death penalty. This case caught the attention of Western countries and international human rights groups, who exerted pressure to release the defendants. Thirty defendants were sentenced to life in prison.

Ben Ali's repression of Islamist and opposition leaders as well as human rights activists increased through the 1990s. In 1994 Moncef Marzouki, General of the League of Human Rights, was jailed for considering a run against Ben Ali, the only presidential candidate. When press agencies such as Le Monde and Libération showed concern, they were banned. Despite Ben Ali's promise to improve human rights and his introduction of a more liberal press law, Human Rights Watch continued to denounce the government's human rights record. Tunisia had more than 1,000 political prisoners, was listed as one of the ten countries in the world most hostile to a free press, and is among the U.S. State Department's list of countries that use excessive "stress and duress" interrogation tactics. Ben Ali's government defends its policies. After the terrorist attacks in the United States on 11 September 2001, Foreign Minister Habib Ben Yahia visited London, where he spoke on the alleged danger of Tunisian Islamists abroad and called for the extra-dition of Hizb En Nahda leadership.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Tunisia faced serious economic problems, such as chronic unemployment, a balance of payment deficit, and an unwieldy state subsidy and price control system. Despite drought conditions, Tunisia's economy has improved, with gross domestic product up 6 percent in 2001, tourism up 3.5 percent in 2000, and direct foreign investment up 144 percent to $768 million. Despite the privatization of thirty-five of forty-one firms, with an average 5 percent improvement in their turnover, unemployment remains high at 15.6 percent.

Bibliography

Alexander, Christopher. "Authoritarianism and Civil Society." Middle East Research and Information Project no. 205, vol. 27, no. 4 (1997): 34 - 38.

Burgat, François, and Dowell, William. The Islamic Movement in North Africa, 2d edition. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1997.

Shaikh, Farzana. "Tunisia." In Islam and Islamic Groups: AWorldwide Reference Guide. Essex, U.K.: Longman Group, 1992.

"Tunisia." Human Rights Watch: Middle East and North Africa. Available at http://www.hrw.org/mideast/tunisia.php.

— MATTHEW S. GORDON UPDATED BY MARIA F. CURTIS

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (June 2009) (Find sources: Zine El Abidine Ben Ali – news, books, scholar)

This article's introduction section may not adequately summarize its contents. To comply with Wikipedia's lead section guidelines, please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of the article's key points. (June 2009)

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali زين العابدين بن علي
President of Tunisia
Incumbent
Assumed office  7 November 1987
Prime Minister	Hédi Baccouche Hamed Karoui Mohamed Ghannouchi
Preceded by	Habib Bourguiba
Prime Minister of Tunisia
In office 2 October 1987 – 7 November 1987
President	Habib Bourguiba
Preceded by	Rachid Sfar
Succeeded by	Hédi Baccouche
Born	3 September 1936 (1936-09-03) (age 73) Hammam-Sousse,  Tunisia
Political party	RDC
Spouse(s)	Leila Ben Ali

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali (Arabic: زين العابدين بن علي‎ Zayn al-‘Ābidīn bin ‘Alī), (born 3 September 1936) has served as the President of Tunisia since 7 November 1987. He took power from President Habib Bourguiba by a bloodless coup, after serving briefly as Prime Minister.

Contents 1 Government appointment 2 Work as President 3 Family 4 References 5 External links

Government appointment

Ben Ali was born in Hammam Sousse. He was appointed to establish and manage the Defense Ministry's Military Security in 1964, which he ran until 1974. He was promoted to director-general of National Security at the Ministry of the Interior in 1977 after serving as military attaché to the Kingdom of Morocco. He returned from four years as Ambassador to Poland to become once again head of National Security at the Ministry of the Interior but this time with Cabinet rank. For his success in dealing with the political opponents and their threat to the regime, he was promoted to Minister of the Interior, and retained this position until he was appointed Prime Minister, though many Tunisians believe that he never completed high school.

Ben Ali was appointed Prime Minister by President Habib Bourguiba on 1 October 1987; in this position, he was the President's constitutional successor. Five weeks after becoming head of the government, he had President Bourguiba declared medically unfit for the duties of the office and assumed the presidency on 7 November 1987, in what was a medico-legal coup. The constitutional destitution of President Bourguiba was popular and legitimately based on Article 57, that allowed the procedure.^{[citation needed]} Since then many Tunisians have become disillusioned by the lack of democracy in the country, the growth of the police and security services, and the uneven distribution of wealth.^{[citation needed]}

He then retained his predecessor's pro-western foreign policy and supported the economy which has been growing since the early 1990s. Growth in 2002 slowed to a 15-year low of 1.9% due to drought and lackluster tourism. Better conditions after 2003 have helped push growth to about 5% of GDP. Privatization, increasing foreign investment, improvements in government efficiency and reduction of the trade deficit are challenges for the future.^[1]

Work as President

Ben Ali's Constitutional Democratic Rally (formerly Neo-Destour party) continues to dominate the national politics. In 1999, although two alternative candidates were permitted for the first time to stand in the presidential election, Ben Ali was reelected with 99.66% of the vote. He was again re-elected on 24 October 2004, officially taking 94.48% of the vote, after a controversial constitutional referendum in 2002 which allowed him to seek reelection.

Following calls from his own political party, the Constitutional Democratic Rally, for him to run again in the 2009 presidential election, Ben Ali said at a party congress on 30 July 30 2008 that he would stand for re-election as the party's candidate.^[2]. Unfortunately, there is little critical reporting (some in French, see Le Monde) and almost nothing in English that challenges Ben Ali's claims of promoting democracy. [1] On October 25, 2009, he was re-elected for a fifth term with an overwhelming 89 percent of the vote.^[3]

Freedom of the press is officially guaranteed and condoned. However, human rights organization Reporters Sans Frontieres states that "Tunisians have no access to independent news in the local media and the press, radio, TV and the Internet is under the president’s control. Journalists and media are actively discouraged from being more independent by means of bureaucratic harassment, advertising boycotts and police violence."^[4]. Ben Ali has particularly targeted internet activists creating forums for discussion and dissent, the most notable cases of these are Zouhair Yahyaoui and the Zarzis Affair.^[5]

Many political prisoners remain in jails or in exile in and out of the country. Many disappearances, deaths and torture cases have been reported by human rights organisations. Many arrests are a result of individuals venturing into the internet to bypass government propaganda and controlled press.^[6] Ben Ali introduced a law that exonerates him from future prosecution and thus gave himself an amnesty.

Family

Ben Ali was first married to Naima Kefi, the daughter of General Kefi, Tunisia's first Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and had three daughters (Ghazwa, Dorsaf and Cyrine); he divorced her in 1992 and married Leila Trabelsi - a former hairdresser - whom he met when he was President Habib Bourguiba's minister of the Interior. With her, he has two daughters (Nessrine and Halima) and a son (Mohamed Zine El Abidine) who was born in 2004 (source: Encyclopedia of the Orient at [2]).

In its January/February 2008 issue, the Foreign Policy Magazine reported that Tunisia's First Lady had been using the 737 Boeing Business Jet^[7] of the government to make "unofficial visits" to European Fashion Capitals, such as Milan, Paris and Geneva. The report mentioned that the trips are not on the official travel itinerary. Bloggers tracked the official airplane on spotting webpages as Airliners.net. The first lady has been described as a shopaholic.^[8][9] The Trabelsi family controls much of the business sector in the country.

Rumors have been circulating that Ben Ali's son-in-law Sakher al-Materi (the husband of Zine and Leila's daughter Nessrine) is being primed to eventually take over the country. As of October 2009, he has used family privileges and connections to create a place for himself in the country's economy, and is making his political debut. [3]

References

1. ^ CIA - The World Factbook - Tunisia
2. ^ "Tunisian president to seek re-election", Reuters (IOL), July 30, 2008
3. ^ De Montesquiou, Alfred (2009-10-26). "Tunisian president wins 5th term in landslide". Associated Press. http://dailyme.com/story/2009102600000446/tunisias-ben-ali-wins-mandate.html. Retrieved 2009-10-26. 
4. ^ Reporters sans frontières - Tunisia
5. ^ http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=10915
6. ^ Tunisia: Free Jailed Website Moderator (Human Rights Watch, 16-3-2006)
7. ^ Picture of the official plane http://www.airliners.net/photo/Republic-of-Tunisia/Boeing-737-7H3-BBJ/0485035/L/
8. ^ Foreign Policy Magazine. Jan/Feb 2008. page 104
9. ^ Story Online http://www.foreignpolicy.com/users/login.php?story_id=4090&URL=http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4090

External links

• Official Website
• Tunisia: President Ben Ali stresses need to intensify cooperation to combat terrorism
• Tunisia Economy in CIA WorldFactbook
• Call by Ben Ali to establish 'World Solidarity Fund' UN Website
• "Tunisia's Experience" World Solitary Fund website
• 'Predators' page on Reporters Sans Frontieres
• Press Release from Human Rights Watch
• Who is Zine El Abidine Ben Ali? - Radio France Internationale (English)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Zine El Abidine Ben Ali

Political offices
Preceded by Habib Bourguiba	President of Tunisia 1987–present	Incumbent
Preceded by Rachid Sfar	Prime Minister of Tunisia 1987	Succeeded by Hédi Baccouche

v • d • e Presidents of Tunisia Habib Bourguiba • Zine El Abidine Ben Ali

v • d • e Prime Ministers of Tunisia Grand Viziers al-Tabi (1800-15) · Khoja (1822-29) · al-Taba'a (1829-37) · Mustapha Khaznadar (1837-73) · Pacha (1873-77) · Mohamed Khaznadar (1877-78) · Ben Ismail (1878-81) · Mohamed Khaznadar (1881-82) · Bouattour (1882-1907) · M. Djellouli (1907-08) · Djait (1908-15) · T. Djellouli (1915-22) Prime Ministers Dinguizli (1922-26) · Bouhageb (1926-32) · Lakhoua (1932-42) · Chenik (1943) · S. Baccouche (1943-47) · Kaak (1947-50) · Chenik (1950-52) · S. Baccouche (1952-54) · Mzali (1954) · Dupoizat (1954)* · Ben Ammar (1954-56) · Bourguiba (1956-57) · Ladgham (1969-70) · Nouira (1970-80) · Mzali (1980-86) · Sfar (1986-87) · Ben Ali (1987) · H. Baccouche (1987-89) · Karoui (1989-99) · Ghannouchi (1999-) * interim

v • d • e Chairpersons of the Organization of African Unity and the African Union (AU) Selassie · Nasser · Nkrumah · Ankrah · Selassie · Mobutu · Boumédienne · Ahidjo · Kaunda · Daddah · Hassan II · Gowon · Barre · Amin · Ramgoolam · Bongo · Nimeiry · Tolbert · Senghor · Stevens · Moi · Mengistu · Nyerere · Diouf · Nguesso · Kaunda · Traoré · Mubarak · Museveni · Babangida · Diouf · Mubarak · Ben Ali · Meles · Biya · Mugabe · Compaoré · Bouteflika · Eyadéma · Chiluba · Mwanawasa · Mbeki · Chissano · Obasanjo · Nguesso · Kufuor · Kikwete · al-Gaddafi

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)