Obama highlighting Tunisia’s emerging democracy

President Obama on Thursday will showcase the United States’ increased support for Tunisia, as the country continues its shift to democracy following the Arab Spring.

{mosads}Obama will hold a meeting at the White House with Tunisian President Béji Caïd Essebsi, who became his country’s first democratically elected leader in December.

In a joint op-ed published in The Washington Post, Obama and Essebsi praised Tunisia’s progress and pledged closer cooperation on security and economic issues.

“Tunisia shows that democracy is not only possible but also necessary in North Africa and the Middle East,” the two leaders wrote.

“We can do more together to help Tunisians consolidate their democratic gains,” they added.

Obama’s effort to highlight the emerging democracy comes as he grapples with how to handle turmoil elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa, including the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and the Syrian civil war.

The Arab Spring began in Tunisia in 2011, when a street vendor lit himself on fire to protest government harassment. That triggered an uprising that toppled the country’s leader, and the protests spread across the region.

But Tunisia has also faced challenges in its democratic transition, including high youth unemployment and a deadly terrorist attack at the National Bardo Museum in March, for which ISIS claimed credit.

Obama and Essebsi noted the fact that Tunisians have voted in multiple elections and that “today’s national unity government includes secularists and Islamists, proving that democracy and Islam can thrive together.”

But the two leaders acknowledged more needs to be done. The U.S. has committed more than $570 million in assistance since the 2011 revolution, and the funds will increase to $134 million next year, they wrote.

Obama and Essebsi wrote they would focus on building up civil society, sparking job growth, expanding educational collaboration and training the Tunisian military to carry out counterterrorism missions. The U.S. is working to double military assistance to Tunisia next year, according to the leaders.