Monday, January 31, 2011

Thousands of Tunisians turned out Sunday to welcome home an Islamist leader whose return from 22 years of exile indicated that his party would emerge as a major force in Tunisia after the ousting of its president.

The reception for Sheikh Rachid Ghannouchi, leader of the Ennahda party, at Tunis airport was the biggest showing by the Islamists in two decades, during which thousands of them were jailed or exiled by president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.

In his first interview since his return, Ghannouchi told the Associated Press that he is not interested in running in the elections. “I am not going to run for president of Tunisia, nor as a minister nor as a parliamentarian,” he said.
He said that critics should not compare him to the father of Iran’s Islamic Revolution and should accept that his views are more moderate. “Some Western media portray me like [Ayatollah Ruhollah] Khomeini, but that’s not me,” Rachid Ghanouchi told the AP.

Ghanouchi compared his views to those of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “Why do people want to compare me to [Osama] bin Laden or Khomeini, when I am closer to Erdogan?” Ghanouchi asked. He also said his political movement seeks to reinforce women’s rights. Ennahda likens its ideology to that of Turkey’s ruling AK Party, saying that it is committed to democracy. Experts on political Islam say its ideas are some of the most moderate among Islamist groups.

The Islamists were Tunisia’s strongest opposition force at the time Ben Ali cracked down on them in 1989 but are thought not to have played a leading role in the popular revolt.

But at Tunis airport Sunday, they were out in force. Up to 10,000 young men and veiled women packed the arrival hall and car park. Some climbed trees and electricity pylons to catch a glimpse of the 69-year-old Ghannouchi.
“Oh great people who called for this blessed revolution, continue your revolution, preserve it and translate it into democracy, justice and equality,” Ghannouchi told the crowd, to chants of “Allahu Akbar.”

Ennahda supporters embraced each other in joy. A group of men performed prayers on a grass verge, a scene unthinkable in Tunisia a few weeks ago.

The protests which dislodged Ben Ali have largely dried up in the last few days following the announcement Thursday of a new interim government purged of most of the remnants of Ben Ali’s regime.

Security forces have tried to restore order to the capital, where confrontations between shopkeepers and protesters have indicated dwindling support for protesters on the part of Tunisians who want life to return to normal.
Ghannouchi told the crowd the path to democracy was “still long.”

“Unite and consolidate, democracy cannot happen without national consensus and development can only happen with justice and democracy,” he said.

Ennahda activists wearing white baseball caps tried to marshal the crowds. Asked how they had managed to organize so quickly, one activist said: “Our activities were stopped, but you can’t disperse an ideology.” – Reuters, AP