Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, April 2000, pages 101-103

Diplomatic Doings

Kuwait Opposition Leaders Meet Washington Journalists

The Kuwaiti government’s information office in Washington, DC hosted a Feb. 23 press conference for two members of the Kuwait Democratic Forum, Kuwait’s newest liberal opposition party. Introduced to U.S. and Middle Eastern journalists by Information Office director Dr. Shafeeq N. Ghabra (an action that testified to the existence of freedom of information in Kuwait as eloquently as anything said at the press conference), they were Dr. Ahmed Bishara, secretary-general of the Forum, and Dr. Shamlan Al Issa, a founder of the Forum who writes a daily column in Kuwait’s Al Siyasseh newspaper.

Dr. Bishara, a former vice president of Kuwait University who resigned over a matter of principle, was, before the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, a central figure in a democratic movement known as the “Monday Diwaniya,” which agitated in 1989 and 1990 for democracy and the rule of law. Since then things have changed in Kuwait, which he described as “one of the few emirates in the region where the Sabah family rule of 300 years is enshrined in the constitution [of 1962]. The problem we face now is how to interpret these things and move ahead, modernize and open the process, and make it fair.

“The emir is the only member of the government who is exempt, by law, from criticism,” Dr. Bishara explained. He added that in his opinion freedom of association in Kuwait “falls short when it comes to political association. The constitution does not legitimize and does not penalize formation of political parties. There is no de jure status for political parties.”

Dr. Bishara also explained that “women’s issues have always been on the back burner.” Over the years many members of parliament have tried to change the law to give women equal rights. In 1999, however, legislation to provide complete equality of the sexes was voted down. “Next year we’ll have another round on this issue,” Dr. Bishara said, “and I predict success.”

He said his party also supports as a human rights issue the right of foreign workers in Kuwait to “equal pay and equal treatment” with Kuwaiti nationals. Despite failures to enact such legislation, he said, “no one is penalized for being in the opposition. There is no imprisonment, no exile” for such political activity.

Listing “challenges to democracy in Kuwait,” Bishara said the “ruling family’s commitment to democracy goes up and down. There are members of the ruling family who do not like democracy and they will always try to short-circuit it.” Another challenge, he said, is the “encroachment of fundamentalism,” which he charged has “lower standards of human rights.”

Another limitation, he said, is the “Iraq factor. The external threat is used by everyone who wants to use it.” Similarly, he charged, “Saudi Arabia doesn’t like what it sees in Kuwait. This puts limits on what can be done.” Finally, Dr. Bishara said, “without a peace settlement in the Middle East, we are giving a free hand to fundamentalists unless we have some change and some success in that area.”

Dr. Shamlan Al Issa, a professor of political science at Kuwait University who is spending a year as a scholar in residence at the Middle East Institute in Washington, DC, said the “bad news about democracy in Kuwait is the rejection [by parliament] of women’s right to vote.” He noted that the negative vote in parliament took place despite the fact that “the emir himself wants to give women the right to vote.”

On the positive side, he said, is the long history of democracy in Kuwait, thanks to “enlightened leaders in 1961,” when the constitution was being drafted.

He noted that Kuwait now has five major political parties, which he listed as the Muslim Brotherhood, which “operates in Kuwait as the Social Reform Society and is best organized in terms of information, education and planning.”

Islamic fundamentalists, called the Heritage Society, “are not as strong as the Muslim Brotherhood,” Dr. Al Issa said. The Reform Cultural Society attracts Shi’i Muslims, he continued, and the leftists and Arab nationalists “tend more toward the Liberals.”

“Membership in our own party, the Democratic Forum, is mostly American-educated young people,” he said. At present two of its members hold seats in the cabinet. They are the minister of education and the minister of information.”

Dr. Al Issa said the Kuwaiti government was “very late” to realize the danger posed by successful recruiting among Bedouin tribes by “fundamentalists.” He said that this kind of work by fundamentalists is behind present problems in Jordan, Yemen and Algeria. He noted that in Kuwait there are two Islamist movements among Sunni and Shi’i citizens.

In answer to a question, Dr. Bishara charged that “Kuwait has made little progress in privatization.” Elaborating, he described Kuwait as “the last bastion of socialism. Everything is free and Kuwaitis get paid for doing nothing in government jobs.”

He added, “Privatization brings new forces that eventually acquire political power. Parliament does not have the stomach for privatization. But we have to do it.” He charged further that “we have a long way to go toward personal freedom and freedom of expression”.

Despite their specific criticisms, both men were upbeat when asked about the future of Kuwait.

“I’m naturally optimistic,” Dr. Bishara said. “We have all of the requirements to succeed as a society…Now, through the media and the Internet, everyone has access to everything.”

Dr. Al Issa added: “After the Iranian election, I’m very optimistic. Kuwait will be a more open, liberal society.”

—Richard Curtiss

State Department Permits Travel of Libyan Ambassador to U.N.

After two decades of frozen diplomatic relations between the United States and Libya, the U.S. State Department granted permission to Libya’s permanent representative to the U.N., Ambassador Abuzed Dorda, to travel to Washington, DC in February to attend the U.N.-hosted National Summit on Africa. The significance of the event cannot be overemphasized. It seemingly represents a break with the policy of “no talk” with what the U.S. has consistently labeled a “rogue state.”

Since the 1980s, the U.S. has imposed economic sanctions coupled with a ban on travel to Libya by U.S. citizens. In 1986, after an explosion in a Berlin nightclub frequented by U.S. military personnel in which two U.S. soldiers and a Turkish woman died, President Ronald Reagan ordered U.S. bombing raids on Libya which targeted the living quarters of Libya’s leader, Muammar Qaddafi. While Qaddafi accused the U.S. of violating its own law banning attempts to assassinate foreign political leaders, Washington in turn accused the Qaddafi regime of creating impediments to a peaceful settlement of the Arab-Israeli dispute and of threatening international security by harboring and funding international terrorist groups.

Tension between the two countries intensified after 1988 as a result of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in which 270 persons, including many Americans, perished. The tragedy became the focal point of confrontation between the two states. For its part, Libya refused to hand over two Libyan intelligence officers accused by the U.S. of implementing the terrorist attack, while the U.S. insisted that international isolation of Libya continue until the two suspects were surrendered by their government for trial.

Finally, after years of claiming that Libya’s constitution prevents its government from extradicting Libyan nationals to a foreign entity, Qaddafi agreed last year to hand over the two Libyans for trial under Scottish law in The Hague by the International Court of Justice. Although the trial will not begin until May, Libya meanwhile seems to be moving purposefully to cement closer relations with the West, and particularly with the U.S.

Although the travel authorization for Ambassador Dorda was for the purpose of representing Libya at the Africa summit, he wasted no opportunity to make the case for resumption of diplomatic ties at three additional speaking engagements in the U.S. national capital. He spoke at the Woodrow Wilson Center, Georgetown University, and the Middle East Institute. “Normalization of relations is in the benefit of the two countries and their people,” he told one of the audiences. “In fact, we [Libyans] wish to open a new page of cooperation.” He also assured representatives of American businesses of the safety and security of their operations and personnel in Libya.

Despite Libya’s apparent eagerness to put its relations with the U.S. on a new track, serious obstacles remain, at least pending the outcome of the trial in The Hague. The opposition comes from three main groups: 1) families of Pan Am Flight 103 victims who have become a well-organized pressure group; 2) members of the Libyan-American community, many of whom have relatives imprisoned or missing in Libya; 3) friends of Israel aware that Qaddafi’s Libya has been a leader and major source of funds for the Arab “rejectionist” camp for the past 30 years.

Dorda’s short visit stirred up opposition from all of these groups, which can be expected to bitterly oppose the normalization of U.S.-Libyan relations. From the perspective of the Pan Am victims’ families, any move in the direction of normalization before a ruling is made in the Lockerbie case would be considered a betrayal of the victims’ rights.

As for the small but increasingly active Libyan-American community, it opposes friendly gestures offered by the U.S. that may undermine attention given to human rights violations within Libya. The mere suggestion that Libya may be permitted in the future to reopen its diplomatic mission in Washington also poses security concerns within a community made up mostly of political dissidents.

The community charges that Libya still is pursuing a policy of “physical liquidation” of opponents of the Libyan regime living abroad. Interestingly, the Libyan-American community sought to use Mr. Dorda’s visit to call attention to the plight of the Libyan people, even though some feel that such activism may endanger the safety of their relatives back home.

A Libyan opposition member present at Dorda’s Georgetown audience pressed him for information on Libya’s policies of “physical liquidation” and its new “law of honor.” The first policy is designed to track down political dissidents and assassinate them, and the latter is designed to punish individuals suspected of assisting political dissidents. Mr. Dorda’s less-than-reassuring answer was that individuals who oppose his government deserve to die, because they probably are “agents of the CIA.”

In response to protests by the American opponents of the Qaddafi regime, the institutions that hosted Mr. Dorda issued statements disassociating themselves from Libya’s human rights violations, and calling for serious investigations into cases of “disappearances” of political dissidents such as Mansour El-Kekhia, a Libyan-American human rights activist whose family believes he was kidnapped in Cairo and taken against his will to Libya.

Policy analysts and academics opposed to the resumption of U.S.-Libyan relations insist that the Libyan regime has not redeemed itself in the eyes of the international community with respect to its well-known history of violations against other countries. Although the Libyan regime has publicly renounced ties with terrorist organizations, whether Libya actually has severed relations with all such groups remains unclear. Critics contend that Libya’s own activities have landed it in its current state of diplomatic and economic isolation, and that only after its irrevocable cessation of these activities should it be allowed back into the company of legitimate states.

—Asma Benyoussef

Ambassador Appeals to Lebanese Americans For Help After Israeli Attacks

Twice in 10 months, following devastating air attacks on his nation, the Lebanese ambassador to the United States has reached out for financial aid to repair the hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal Israeli destruction of his country’s infrastructure as well as injury to civilians.

The response to the earlier appeal, Ambassador Farid Abboud said, was “very gratifying. Aid came in not only from U.S. respondents but from many parts of the Middle East and a few nations in Europe.”

The latest appeal, in the form of solicitations mailed February to Lebanese Americans and other friends of Lebanon, is a double-barreled request which reflects a developing sophistication about American public opinion. The appeal contains a sample letter-to-the-editor as well as a sample letter to congressmen and presidential candidates.

The appeal condemns Israel for destroying major power stations in Beirut, Baalbeck and Tripoli, and candidly admits that Lebanon is suffering “an acute shortage of means” to repair the damage, which will cost hundreds of millions in an already-pinched economic climate.

“By attacking civilian targets in Lebanon, Israel has violated international law, moral principles, the U.N. charter, and the 1996 U.S.-brokered April Understanding between Lebanon and Israel,” which expressly forbids civilian attacks, the latest letter states.

The ambassador condemns the Israeli actions as “collective punishment” against all Lebanese civilians for Hezbollah’s operations against Israeli occupiers of southern Lebanon, as well as a gross violation of the U.S. Arms Export Control Act, which limits the use of American arms to defensive purposes. “Your contribution to this [fund-raising effort],” the letter continues, “would expedite the process [of repair] and would be an eloquent expression of your solidarity with Lebanon and with the Lebanese. Together we can prove that Lebanon is capable of resisting aggression and rebuilding itself.”

For committed parties, the following is the bank account listed for contributions:

Account for Contributions #700362123, The Central Bank of Lebanon, Beirut, Lebanon.

—Mitchell Kaidy

Tunisian Foreign Minister Ben Yahia Meets Journalists

Tunisian Foreign Minister Habib Ben Yahia, accompanied by Tunisian Ambassador Noureddine Mejdoub, met with journalists Feb. 25 in the course of a brief visit to Washington to consult with State Department and Pentagon officials and meet with members of Congress. Since his own tour as Tunisian ambassador to the United States, Ben Yahia has served as foreign minister, then defense minister, and recently began a second term as foreign minister in Tunis.

In his luncheon session in Washington, DC’s Madison Hotel, Ben Yahia gave a quick summary of his country’s situation, and then answered journalists’ questions until an alarm clock he had placed on the table sounded, signaling it was time to move on to his Pentagon appointment.

“On the domestic front, Tunisia is in good shape,” the foreign minister said. “Sixty-five percent of Tunisians are in the middle class. Eight of 10 own their own homes. Nine of 10 have electricity and potable water. Further, by 2008 Tunisia will be under the free-trade agreement with Europe. We have signed the Arab League agreement for free trade, and we have bilateral agreements with Morocco, Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

“We have moved from a protected economy to a competitive economy,” Ben Yahia continued. “Sacrifices we resisted, however, were World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and European Union recommendations to speed up privatization. We said we are moving at our own pace, step by step. The economy is behaving well and the reaction of the people is fairly positive.

“In foreign affairs, Tunisia is very active in the peace process.” Ben Yahia said. “We are supporting, as usual, the Palestinians, because they lived with us for 12 years and we have shared our bread and butter with them.

“We regret what is happening in Lebanon. Targeting of civilians has been tried before, without any luck…What was the result of the invasion and bloodshed in Lebanon in 1982? The only result was to bring the Palestinians to Tunisia.” He expressed Tunisian “solidarity with the Lebanese people who have suffered from the indiscriminate bombing, and solidarity with the Lebanese reasserting themselves as a sovereign nation after years of war.”

Ben Yahia paid tribute to President Bill Clinton’s “constant attention to the peace process.” He said that some previous presidents “would work for a couple of years” on an Arab-Israeli settlement, “and then stop. Only the initiative of March 1991 was followed assiduously, and it brought results. This is what we call the last quarter-hour of negotiations. The last quarter-hour may take years, but it must bring results.

“We are consulting with the U.S. regarding the peace process and Iraq,” Ben Yahia continued. “We’re concerned with the humanitarian catastrophe of the Iraqi people. We cannot understand how you can impose a famine on the children of Iraq.”

Ben Yahia said 74 percent of Tunisia’s trade is with Europe, but “Japan is becoming a very important market.” Noting that Tunisia, with fewer than 10 million people, already is the third largest producer of olive oil in the world, he said that Tunisia is seeking “similar good quality with its other exports. Trade with Europe is our challenge.”

Asked about tourism, Ben Yahia said Tunisia now receives five million tourists a year, of whom one million are Germans, 800,000 French, 500,000 Italians, 250,000 British, and 250,000 Scandinavians. “Tourism has created more jobs than all other economic sectors combined,” he noted, and nets Tunisia $2 billion in foreign currency annually.

Noting that for many years European tourists have flocked to Tunisia’s beaches, Ben Yahia said, “Sahara tourism is now becoming popular as well. We are even building a hotel on the site where George Lukas made his “Star Wars” film. Tourists also come to Tunisia for its archeological and historical sites, and now there are 243 local festivals in the summer for both Tunisians and tourists.”

Turning to Tunisia’s brief brush with terrorism several years ago, Ben Yahia said, “We studied where the fundamentalists were recruiting and found it was mostly in poor rural areas. We concentrated on development in such areas. The army was told to build roads and schools. We made electricity, potable water and telephones available in even the remotest corners of the country.”

Asked about progress toward economic and political integration of the North African (Magreb) nations, Ben Yahia said progress has been frozen awaiting a U.N.-supervised plebiscite in Western Sahara, and resolution of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. “I’m more optimistic to see Lockerbie solved from a legal point of view.” Ben Yahia said. “Hopefully before the end of the year we’ll get to a summit and see the [Maghreb] project reactivated.”

Concluding, Ben Yahia said, “It’s time now for the Western world to look at the Arab and Muslim countries not as a source of terrorism and upheaval. Democratic progress is tied up with the degree of education, respect for the opinions of others, and respect for free debate. Based on the most recent developments there, Iran may be another example that democracy can develop and flourish in the Islamic world.”

—Richard H. Curtiss