C-upi
1/26/2011 2:45:00 PM
TUNIS, Tunisia, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- The United States will
provide support, if requested, to help Tunisia conduct an election
after the ouster of its longtime leader, the State Department said.
Jeffrey Feltman, assistant secretary of state for Near
Eastern affairs, said Washington offered the African country's new
government "whatever support is appropriate and requested" for an
election after the ouster of Tunisia's longtime ruler, Zine
el-Abidine Ben Ali, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Even as the transitional government promised to conduct
balloting in six months, it faces mounting opposition to including
Cabinet members of former president, who fled Tunisia for Saudi
Arabia Jan. 14.
Feltman, who served as a diplomat in Tunisia from 1998 to
2000, said the political schism "symbolizes a new spirit" in the
country, the Times reported Tuesday.
"What's going to give any government real credibility are
elections," Feltman said from the U.S. Embassy in Tunis. "To get to
credible elections after having a system that so restricted the role
of civil society and political parties is going to take some time
and effort."
He said he informed Tunisian ministers that Washington backs
efforts to release political prisoners, end media restrictions and
remove bans on political parties before the election.
"We have long called for greater political space in
Tunisia," he said.