US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reminded governments Friday of their "solemn duty" to protect diplomatic missions, amid a wave of anti-American unrest in the Muslim world. "As I have said before and as is embodied in the Vienna Convention and other international agreements, all governments have the duty, the solemn duty, to defend diplomatic missions, Clinton said.
"They must be safe and protected places," she said before talks with Tunisia's Foreiign Minister Rafik Abdessalem Tens of thousands took to the streets after Friday prayers in the Middle East and Asia to vent their anger over an anti-Islam film and the publication in France of blasphemous cartoons. US and French diplomatic missions were bracing for the unrest, after the US outpost in Benghazi was attacked by militants last week in an hours-long siege in which the US ambassador to Libya and three other Americans were killed.
Tunisia had banned all demonstrations amid fears of violence and Libya's second city Benghazi was braced for rival demonstrations by a jihadist militia and its opponents. Worshippers emerging from weekly prayers at a mosque in central Tunis hurled insults at journalists, while riot police and armoured vehicles were deployed around Al-Fatah mosque, just a few hundred meters (yards) from the French embassy.
"We are monitoring events closely today. There is no higher priority for President Obama and myself than the safety of our people," Clinton added. "We have taken a number of steps around the world to augment security and to protect our personnel at diplomatic posts and we are working closely with host governments in this effort."
Clinton praised efforts by Tunisia to step up security around the US missions and stressed the US had discussed with Tunis "the imperative of bringing to justice those responsible for these violent attacks." Abdessalem again voiced Tunisia's regrets for demonstrations last week in which the American embassy was stormed and the international school gutted by fire. "This event does not reflect the real image of Tunisia as a new-born democracy," he insisted.
"We are in the process to dismantle the heavy legacy of political despotism and to set up, you know, the foundations of a new democracy," he said. "We have the heavy, urgent responsibility to succeed in this process of democratisation, and I'm sure if we succeed at this, we send a positive message to the region that democracy is possible in that part of the world." The Tunisian foreign minister added he was sure Tunisia had "the ability and the capability to protect" all private and public institutions. "I hope that we prove by reality that democracy is possible in the Arab world, to be democrat, Arab and Muslim at the same time," he added.