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MARSHALL CENTER CONFRENCE GARMISH MUNICH
THE REGIONAL IMPACTS OF NATO MEDITERRANEAN DIOLOGUE
RETHINKING THE EURO-MEDITERRANEAN SECURITY PARTRNERSHIP

KAMEL BEN YOUNES

TUNIS UNIVERSITY
BBC CORRESPONDENT
ASSABAH DAILY TUNIS


INTRODUCTION :


The future as well as the stability of the south Mediterranean region appears uncertain and even misty ten years after Euro Mediterranean Barcelona conference, fifteen years after the second Gulf war, Madrid peace conference (1991 ) and over three years after September eleventh and the beginning of the world war against terrorism.
Actually, the EU and NATO countries are still concerned with issues of illegal Immigration, security, intelligence cooperation, terrorism and the war against Muslim extremists.
On the other hand, the public opinion in the Arab Muslim world is still frustrated and vexed by the US and EU allies foreign policy .
This situation stems back not only because of Bush’s and Blair’s mistakes in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine, but also because of the American, British transgressions of Human rights in Iraq.
So, what are the suitable solutions to put an end to the misunderstanding?
Shall we rethink seriously about the perception and the way of the NATO EU south Mediterranean dialogue and partnership?

I THE ADVANTAGES OF NATO MED DIALOGUE AND SECURITY

We should admit that there is a concrete progress in the med EU NATO dialogue in the domains of security, democratisation and political reforms.
This process took a new form after the Middle East partnership initiative MEPI, the Great Middle East project, the Georgia G8 summit, Istanbul NATO summit.
The Tunis Euro Med 5+5 (December 2003) and Arab Summits of May 2004 supported an ambitious plan for democratisation, political reforms and regional and international security cooperation especially to face illegal Immigration, drug traffic, terrorism networks.
Last November, the seven military heads of NATO states met in Brussels with their peers from seven Mediterranean countries including Israel. It’s the first time that such a meeting is held with a high military cooperation.
This meeting was the outcome of a decision taken by the NATO countries during their summit in Istanbul to promote the cooperation with the Mediterranean countries.
In the same respect, senior officials and NGO s from the NATO, Europe, G8 and the Arab world met last week in Morocco by the occasion of the Future conference.
In this occasion, Human rights and Arab NGO’s activists organised a parallel conference.
They criticised the American British Nato political and military mistakes in the MENA region in general and in Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq in particular.
Among the harshest criticisms to NATO leaders was against the prioritisation of security reactions in solving political, cultural, social, religious and economic challenges.
The meeting of the heads of the major states of the NATO aims at promoting the cooperation in the military and defence
So, all these conferences and meetings prove that the security cooperation between the NATO and Mediterranean governments is advancing in several fields.
Now, the question which emerges what about the public opinion in the Arab Muslim world??.


II THE ROOTEDENESS OF TOLERANCE AND DIOLOGUE IN SOUTH MED REGION

First of all, I want to highlight that I am coming from a southern country and that the south was and still is the bosom of religious and cultural plurality.
Certainly, the majority in North Africa (from Egypt to Morocco) are Muslims and Arabs but other religions and cultures are coexisting with the local religions and cultures in such a way as to prove the openness and toleration of this society.
Historically speaking since the Carthaginian era (from 9th century BC to 5th century AC) the North African region in general and especially Afriqya (the actual Tunisia) has been the country of tolerance and toleration.
In fact, the well known Carthaginian priest St Augustine was one of the founders of an international catholic school which influenced Christianity in Africa, Europe and America. Moreover, he took part, among other great Carthaginian priests, in the first translation of the Bible and the Christian scripts from Greek to Latin.
That’s why the actual Latin version of the Bible used in Europe, America and other Christian countries since 16 centuries is originally Carthaginian.
In this respect, in an interview with me (for BBC and Assabah newspaper), Mr.Fathi Bjaoui, researcher and director in the National Institute of Patrimony states that historical documents show that a conference was held in Carthage in the beginning of the third century A.C with the presence of over 80 catholic priests representing different churches and cathedrals which means that the number of churches and priests in the Carthaginian Tunisia was more than those of the whole Europe in that time.
These historical facts assert that Tunisia and North Africa in general has tolerated the plurality of religions since a long past time.
Not only did Tunisia tolerate the Christian religion, but also the Jewish religion.
Actually, Jewish people discriminated against in the middle East took refuge in Tunisia, precisely in the city of Tunis and the isle of Jerba.
In addition to that, the Jews expelled from Spain after the withdrawal of Muslims were welcomed in North Africa.
We can add also the coming of 1000 Russians as refugees who escaped the Bolsheviks and settled especially in the cities of Tunis and Bizerta.
Furthermore, during the past three thousand years, the peoples of North Africa held tolerably many different civilizations, even those who came as colonizers.
They resisted colonization and at the same time profited from the other in terms of culture, sciences and politics in an exceptional manner which mirrors their noble, generous nature.


III THE PROSPECTS OF THE DIOLOGUE IN THE SECOND TERM OF BUSH’S PRESIDENCY

Despite Bush’s administration and its ally’s mistakes there is still an optimistic reliance on Bush’ second term presidency to introduce some political reforms to the MENA region through democracy.
But these reforms cannot be realized only if:
+ The resolution of the Iraqi case. The success of the Iraqi model can be in the medium and long terms an encouraging factor for democratization as a suitable way to eradicate the deep causes of frustration, extremism, violence and terrorism.
+ the serious support to the peace issue in the Middle East in general and in Palestine and Israel in particular.
+ The concrete realization of Bush’s promises for establishing an independent Palestinian state is an urgent necessity.
+ After Arafat’s death, Bush’s administration EU and Nato have to exert more pressure on the Israeli government to withdraw all its troops from West Bank and Gaza Strip, to release all the Palestinian detainees and to help Abu Mazin and the new Palestinian political leaders to build a real bridge peace arrangements with Israel.
There is no chance for stability and security in the region without a just resolution of the Palestinian problem.
This conflict which has a global dimension since 1947 cannot be resolved bilaterally but rather internationally.
The pressures on the Arab countries and PLO leaders which led to many concessions should be exerted also on the other side.

It’s true that the EU, G8 and NATO governments usually relate the issue of terrorism with the failure of economic, educational and political policies but they require a better understanding of the south Mediterranean situation.
The next stage needs a prioritization of the dialogue between the civil societies and NGO’s in both sides
My view is that the public opinion in the MENA region is anti US and anti West because there is ignorance about the American and European societies, media and the whole political arena.

IV PROMOTING DEMOCRATISATION

1. The simplistic vision?

If the “old” Al-Qaeda has been attacked and seriously damaged, this security and military conception of fighting terrorism gave birth to more and more anti-Americanism and “anti-neo colonialism” as well as to some signs of new international, more radical and violent terrorist groups such as in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Gulf countries, Egypt, North Africa, Indonesia and Palestine.
USA and NATO may have served the world and the region’s peoples by overthrowing the regimes of Taliban and Saddam Hussein with big military costs.
But it is also time to spend hundreds of billions of dollars in the sectors of education, media, cultural and political debate, democracy enhancing programs and the reinforcement of the role played by the civil society.
These programs should not only imply MENA populations but equally the tens of thousands of US journalists, university people, diplomats, as well as the American security and military staff
who do not know the Arab-Muslim world or know it badly, while pretending to be specialists of ARAB MUSLIM WORLD issues.
It is these fake specialists who are responsible of the wrong conclusions and the simplistic researches that had led the American intelligence services and decision-makers astray.
A new strategy is needed to allow the biggest decision-makers in USA , NATO and EU to understand the reality of the region’s peoples as well as their cultures and religions, including Islam worshipped by more than a billion persons, in majority young.
These young Muslims often confuse between colonialism on one part, and Western cultures and civilizations on the other.
US and EU policy-makers, including military officials, have also to learn Arabic and other Eastern languages.
The strategy of change starts by the conviction that the two parties do not know each other well today.
The content of the south med media proves that most Arabs and Muslims do not know the USA and the EU.
And the content of the American and UE media reflects that most of American and European journalists and policy-makers have a wrong or simplistic vision of the Muslim world.

2. Serious political reforms?

Repression, corruption, dictatorship, life presidency, monarchy in several South Mediterranean…have been justified by the building up of the modern independent state, on one hand, and the “fight for the legitimate” causes such as Palestine…
But the reports published by the UN (the UN Human Development Reports) and the World Bank revealed the failure of all of the Arab regimes, on the political, economic, social, educational, cultural levels.
Regional conflicts, by which these regimes have always justified their difficulties have not been resolved but persisted and even became more complicated in some cases. This is particularly true in the case of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
This context has resulted in an increase of the new generations’ frustration and despair.
Thus, this situation also makes a fertile land for the apparition and the growing-up of extremisms, violence, and terrorist movements from Morocco to Turkey..
It is in this context that the importance of the US,NATO and EU initiatives on political, economic and cultural reforms in the MENA region is situated.
Even if the present US administration and EU structures have not reached the democratization of MENA, their efforts are founding the bases and structures of a new process of reforms and political liberalization including in some regimes known for their tyranny and ferocity..



CONCLUSION




I think it’s time to cut with the outdated perception of the dialogue between EU and NATO states with the south Mediterranean countries from the perspective of preserving the American and European political, economic and military interests.
It’s rather a time to rethink about the dialogue as a means to preserve the interests of the peoples from both sides, particularly their security and rights.
It’s Impossible for EU NATO and US to be an enclosed, fortress arsenal of democracy and development in the age of globalization…

KAMEL BEN YOUNES


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