Tunisia: Cabinet Reshuffle As Protests Continue, Calls for More U.S. Support

Key cabinet ministers held over from the Ben Ali regime have been replaced in an effort to appease protesters who continue to rally against the interim government.  Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi, also a holdover from the Ben Ali government, will be staying on as PM despite calls for him to step down.  He has appointed independents to the Interior, Defense, and Foreign Affairs ministries.  Kamel Morjane, the outgoing Foreign Minister, said he was stepping down, “so that the popular revolution can bear fruit.”  Michael Allen, editor of Democracy Digest, writes that Tunisia represents an opportunity for the West, “to support a democratic transition that could serve as a model for the rest of the Arab and Muslim world.”  Despite being a “home-grown” revolution, Tunisians will need U.S. support and Western assistance so that the newly empowered opposition does not fracture he argues.  Shadi Hamid says that the U.S. has found itself in a weak position reacting to rather than influencing events, particularly as the Tunisian influence spreads to Egypt and Yemen.  The State Department maintains contacts with the regimes in power but rarely with opposition parties and thus it will be hard for the U.S. to “shift gears.”  However, he states that Arab democracy is in desperate need of advocates and the U.S. needs to stop sending mixed signals to Tunisia, Egypt, and elsewhere.