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Tunisia: Countries
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Tunisia, - officially the Tunisian Republic - is a country situated on the Mediterranean coast of North Africa. It is the northernmost African country and the smallest of the nations situated along the Atlas mountain range, bordering Algeria, to the west, and Libya to the south east. Around forty percent of the country is composed of the Sahara desert, with much of the remainder consisting of particularly fertile soil, and a 1300-km coastline. Both played a prominent role in ancient times, first with the famous Phoenician city of Carthage, and later, as the Africa Province, which became known as the bread basket of the Roman Empire.
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Tunisia was a colony of France from 1881 until it gained independence in 1956. Habib Bourguiba, considered the founder of modern Tunisia, led the country to independence and served as its president for 30 years. Since independence Tunisia has been an oasis of stability in North Africa. Islam is the state religion and nearly all Tunisians are Muslims, but the government has resisted efforts of Islamic fundamentalists to become a political force as they have done in neighboring Algeria and Libya.
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Initially, Italy was the country that demonstrated the most desire to have Tunisia as a colony having investment, citizens and geographic proximity as motivation. However this was rebuffed when Britain and France co-operated to prevent this during the years 1871 – 1878 ending in Britain supporting French influence in Tunisia in exchange for dominion over Cyprus. France still had the issue of Italian influence and ... decided to find an excuse for a pre-emptive strike. Using the pretext of a Tunisian incursion into Algeria, France marched an army of about 36,000 personnel which quickly advanced to Tunis and forced the Bey to make terms in the form of the 1881 Treaty of Bardo (Al Qasr as Sa'id), which gave France control of Tunisian governance and making it a de-facto French protectorate.
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Tunisia has open borders with Libya and Algeria. Please refer to the Country Specific Information and other international travel safety and security information for those countries. During late 2002 and early 2003, a number of tourists, several of whom crossed into Algeria from Tunisia, were kidnapped in the Sahara desert areas of southeastern Algeria. Travelers should remain particularly alert in areas near the Algerian border.
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[R]elations with Israel then improved, and in 1993, Tunisia welcomed an official Israeli delegation as part of the peace process. Joint naval exercises between the two countries took place in March 1994. The PLO offices in Tunis were closed in 1994 as the new Palestinian Authority (PA) took up residence in Gaza. In 1996, following PA elections, Tunisia moved to establish low-level diplomatic relations with Israel as it ... announced its decision to recognize PA passports. However, with the slowing of the peace process and the election of the Netanyahu government in Israel, improving relations between Israel and Tunisia cooled and remained on hold.
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Relations between Tunisia and Algeria deteriorated after the latter gained its independence from France in 1962, and border disputes between the two countries were not settled until 1970. Bourguiba’s support for a negotiated settlement with Israel in the Arab-Israeli conflict caused strains in its relations with other Arab countries. Domestically, Bourguiba’s policies emphasized modernization and planned economic growth. An agrarian reform plan, involving the formation of cooperatives, was begun in 1962, but it was halted in 1969 due to harsh implementation and corruption.
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