Zine El Abidine Ben Ali

President of Tunisia

(AllRefer.com, Encylopedia of the Orient)

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was born on 9 September 1936 in Hammam Susa, Tunisia. After being educated in France and the United States, he entered the army and became a director of military security in 1958 and military attaché to Morocco in 1974. His political career started in 1977 when he became a director of national security in the Ministry of the Interior. Ben Ali became ambassador to Poland in 1979 and returned to his previous security position in 1984, being promoted to secretary of state of security later in the year. His next political posts were Minister of National Security in 1985 and Interior Minister and Minister of State for Internal Affairs in 1986. A month after becoming prime minister in 1987, Ben Ali became president of Tunisia in a 7 November bloodless coup against Habib Bourguiba. From the time he took power until 1990, he negotiated with Islamists and allowed the religion to become a major part of Tunisian life. But from 1990 to 1992, he destroyed Islamist groups causing leaders to seek exile. On the economic level, Ben Ali has utilized a social democracy-type model with uneven success, with corruption remaining a major problem. Internationally, the president is seen as one of the most reliable Third World leaders, taking a pragmatic approach to issues. He often assumes the role of mediator, as evidenced by being the leader of the Organization of African Unity. The lack of democracy has not prevented Tunisians from giving Ben Ali widespread support, though claims that he received 99 per cent of the vote in 1999 and 95 per cent in 2004 are considered dubious.