Powell 'unwelcome' in Tunisia

Powell 'unwelcome' in Tunisia

Tuesday 02 December 2003, 4:28 Makka Time, 1:28 GMT

 Tunisian human rights groups and opposition parties have attacked US
policies in the Middle East and say soon-to-arrive Secretary of State Colin
Powell is not welcome.


US policies towards Iraq and Palestine were denounced at a meeting of
Tunisian dissidents on Monday, the day before Powell arrives to begin a rare
North African tour.

"We do not welcome US Secretary of State Colin Powell here because the US is
occupying Iraq and continuing its support for Israel to kill Palestinians,"
said Mukhtar Traifi, chairman of the Tunisian Human Rights League, the
country's only independent rights group.

In Washington, a US official said on Sunday that Powell, who will also visit
Morocco and Algeria on his two-day tour, would try to reinforce a speech by
US President George Bush last month asking Arab states to embrace democracy
and freedom.

US 'hidden agenda'

But Tunisians speaking at the meeting said Bush's pledges to foster
democracy in the Arab world disguised a hidden agenda - to destroy the
genuine values that drive Arabs and Muslims to resist US domination of the
region.

"As Arabs we need democracy, but we do not need the American version of
democracy, which comes on top of army tanks as is happening in Iraq, where
US occupying troops kill Iraqis without discrimination, even women and
children," said Traifi.

The Tunisian government, an ally of the US, does not allow much dissident
activity. Rights groups at home and abroad accuse it of human rights abuses,
but supporters praise it for stability and strong economic growth.

Message to Washington

Najib Shabbi, who heads the legal opposition Progressive Democratic Party
and held the meeting at its offices, said the purpose of the gathering was
to send a message to the US to pull out of Iraq.

"We back the Iraqi resistance against US forces because it is a legitimate
action to force the American troops to withdraw from Iraq. The resistance is
not terrorism as the US government alleges," Shabbi said.

Abd al-Rauf Ayadi, a leader of the unauthorised opposition Congress for
Democracy, said: "The US is waging a war of mass destruction against the
Arab nation under the pretence of destroying weapons of mass destruction.
The US wants to Americanise the Arabs."

Hamma Hammami, head of the unauthorised Tunisian Communist Workers' Party
said: "This visit is a provocation to the patriotic feelings of the Tunisian
people who oppose the Iraqi occupation and back the Iraqi people's
resistance and the Palestinian uprising."


      Reuters

http://english.aljazeera.net/