Country Profile: Tunisia

ByABC News
September 20, 2001, 7:53 PM

— -- The tiny nation of Tunisia slightly smaller than the state of Missouri has been a relatively stable country in an otherwise troubled region.

Tunisia has had little political unrest since a surge of nationalism, led by Habib Bourguiba, freed the nation from its status as a French protectorate in 1956. And unlike Algeria to the west and Libya to the southeast, Tunisia underwent sweeping changes.

Under Bourguiba's rule as president, the republic repressed Islamic fundamentalism and established rights for women unmatched by any other Arab nation. Public education, medical care and family planning were prominent in Bourguiba's social reform programs.

Tunisia established a constitution in 1959 which called for elections every five years but Bourguiba ran unopposed in the elections that followed. In 1974, he was named president-for-life by a constitutional amendment and guided Tunisia for nearly 31 years.

Amid rumors of an Islamic takeover, Bourguiba was succeeded in 1974 by Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia's interior minister, in a bloodless coup. The takeover by Ben Ali from octagenarian Bourguiba was justified by constitutional provisions for replacing an incapacitated president.

Human Rights Reforms Enacted

Under Ben Ali, human rights reforms including granting amnesty to thousands of political detainees were enacted. Laws governing political parties and the press were liberalized as well. Ben Ali was formerly elected president in open elections in April 1989.

The United States relations with Tunisia have been close since the nation's independence and Bourguiba's rule. Both nations were at odds over the U.S. intervention in Kuwait following Iraq's invasion in 1990, however, relations quickly warmed over again.

Ben Ali aims to maintain those close ties to the U.S. and the West while reaching out to other Arab and African nations.

Approximately 98 percent of Tunisia's estimated 9.7 million people are Muslim. It's estimated GDP is nearly $63 billion.