When Tunisia's president turned down the invitation to the recent Berlin conference on Libya, he scored points with the electorate. But senior Tunisian politicians have voiced the need for Tunisia to be a part of international dialogues and raised concerns about their new president’s competence on the world stage.
Tunisia’s invitation to the much-anticipated Jan. 19 Berlin conference on the crisis in Libya came very late, just two days before the conference. According to a Tunisian Foreign Ministry statement, the invitation was rejected not simply because of its late arrival, but because Tunisia did not participate in the preparatory meetings for the conference that began in September — during which time Tunisia had been occupied with presidential and legislative elections and has subsequently failed to form a new government.