Tunisian president cites signs of UMA reactivation
Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali said there are clear signs heralding the reactivation of the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA) and the overcoming of the inactive phase that marked the union.
President Ben Ali, who was addressing on Thursday the central committee of the Tunisian ruling party, the Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD), said there are clear signs for the reactivation of the UMA, since the official visit he paid to Morocco last March 15-16.
The Arab Maghreb Union that was set up in Marrakesh in 1989 by Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia, has been paralyzed since 1994 due to strained relations between Morocco and Algeria and due to Libya's criticism of the other UMA members' attitude in the Lockerbie crisis opposing Tripoli to some western countries.
During Bin Ali's official visit to Morocco, Rabat and Tunis renewed aspiration to revive the Arab Maghreb Union that they described as "a strategic option, a historic gain, and a civilizational project laying the bases for a common future...and able to fulfil Maghreban peoples' aspirations to consolidate brotherly ties, foster solidarity and join efforts to take up challenges."
In his speech before the RCD, Ben Ali said Libya's success in settling the dispute opposing it to some western countries kindles optimism as to the revival of the Maghreban Union. The latest developments will undoubtedly have a positive incidence on the reactivation of the Maghreban process, he said.
Touching on the early presidential elections in Algeria, Ben Ali, who is also president of the RCD, said he was confident that the Algerian people's wisdom, and the leadership to stem from this people's will shall be a major contribution to the efforts made to construct the Maghreb and foster brotherhood, cooperation and solidarity among Maghreban peoples.
The RCD central committee which held an ordinary session on Wednesday and Thursday underlined in a final statement "the great success" of Ben Ali's official visit to Morocco and the impetus this visit gave to bilateral relations and to the revival of the Maghreban Union.
The committee renewed the party's attachment to the UMA and voiced satisfaction over the honorable settlement reached by Libya in the conflict opposing it to some western countries.
Ben Ali will be the RCD candidate to the coming presidential elections in Tunisia slated for October 24, 1999.