Office of the Historian

365. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Powell) to the White House Chief of Staff (Duberstein)1

Washington, August 23, 1988

SUBJECT

  • Cancellation of Official Working Visit of Tunisian President Ben Ali

The Tunisian government formally requested on August 18 that President Ben Ali’s September 19 official working visit be postponed until later this year.2 We responded on August 23 that postponement was impossible,3 and that we were very disappointed that the GOT was unable to fulfill a commitment that it had made to us months ago. The Tunisians subsequently confirmed that they would be unable to keep the September 19 date.

Both domestic and foreign policy considerations probably influenced Ben Ali’s unfortunate decision to back away from the visit. Tunisia’s domestic calendar is overloaded this fall; Ben Ali has just reshuffled his Cabinet, and is preoccupied with completion of political reforms prior to the November 7 anniversary of his assumption of power. He is also actively involved in a would-be mediation effort on the war in Chad.

Neither of these concerns, however, has prevented Ben Ali from going ahead with a state visit to France September 12–15. What may have swung the balance against a Washington visit was the fact that it would have occurred at exactly the same time as the upcoming meeting of the Palestine National Council in Algiers. In the wake of the 1985 Israeli bombing of the PLO and the assassination of Abu Jihad in Tunis four months ago,4 the GOT may have decided that the potential gains of a Washington visit were not worth the political risk of having its President in the U.S. while the PLO was meeting to consider major issues like a declaration of independence or a government in exile.

  1. Source: Reagan Library, William J. Burns Files, Tunisia: 08/01/88–08/31/88. Secret. Copies were sent to Oglesby, Courtemanche, and Ryan.↩
  2. In telegram 8599 from Tunis, August 19, the Embassy reported that Ben Yahia had summoned the Chargé to explain that “internal political affairs have assumed a new urgency.” The Embassy further reported that “regional developments have further infringed upon Ben Ali’s schedule—notably, Moroccan-Algerian rapprochement and the ensuing progress toward Maghreb unity, developments in Tunisian-Libyan relations (Chadian leader Habré is expected in Tunis about Aug. 25) and settlement of the Western Sahara dispute.” The Embassy continued that the possibility the Palestinian National Council could move from Algiers to Tunis “would entail major security problems for the Government of Tunisia.” (Department of State, Central Foreign Policy File, Electronic Telegrams, D880730–0754)↩
  3. Not found.↩
  4. See footnote 2, Document 361.↩