Tunisia is seeking security assistance, Kerry says

PARIS – Tunisia’s embattled government has approached the Obama administration with a request for security assistance, Secretary of State John F. Kerry said Tuesday.

Kerry, who made a brief visit to Tunis, the capital, said at a news conference that U.S. officials were weighing a request after Tunisia’s president and prime minister “emphasized to me the importance of security at this point in time.”

Tunisia has been winning high praise from American and other Western officials for its progress in assembling a democratic system. At the end of last month, the country adopted a constitution that provides for a separation of power, protects minorities and assures women a place in government.

But Tunisia’s pro-Western elements are locked in a political struggle with conservatives and Islamists. The country has seen killings and attacks on government buildings.

The request for security help is likely to be weighed carefully by Washington, which wants to promote democracy in the country but doesn’t want to be perceived as arming one side in a political contest.

As a sign of support, U.S. officials prepared to give the Tunisians this week a mobile command post vehicle for conducting terrorism investigations, and a mobile crime lab.

Kerry sounded sympathetic to Tunisian officials, saying that “no democracy can survive or prosper in the absence of security, and we hope with this new equipment, but also with other initiatives … that Tunisians will be better prepared to address the violence and terrorism that threatens everybody in many parts of the world.”

Kerry wouldn’t disclose what specifically the Tunisian government is seeking. But he said U.S. officials had been presented a list.

“We will evaluate it thoroughly with respect to effectiveness and capacity and appropriateness,” he said.

Kerry said, without being specific, that most of the requests from the Tunisians “were focused on equipment, although there is some thought about training and assistance in other ways. But that has to be discussed thoroughly in Washington and elsewhere.”

paul.richter@latimes.com

Twitter: @richtpau