Tunisia Islamist leader eyes political role

Tunisian Islamist leader Rached Ghannouchi told AFP Sunday his movement wanted to play a political role in Tunisia, upon returning to his homeland from more than 20 years in exile after the fall of the old regime.

He said Ennahda (Awakening) would join the government formed after president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's downfall if asked to do so, although he emphasized that it would not field a candidate in planned presidential elections.

"If we feel that the government satisfies the expectations of those who have led this revolution, then why not," Ghannouchi said, speaking in a room decorated with a Tunisian flag as his aides offered tea and sweets to visitors.

"We were not consulted on the formation of the government. They want to forge Tunisia's future without allowing other political forces to take part," said Ghannouchi, who was greeted by thousands earlier on Sunday in Tunis.

A veteran opposition leader, Moncef Marzouki, who has also returned from exile since Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia on January 14, was one of the dozens of people who came to pay his respects and he embraced Ghannouchi.

"The country needs all political forces, it needs a national unity government in which everyone can take part," Ghannouchi said.

"I myself will not run for the presidency," he said, adding that he did not have ambitions for a ministerial or other type of official role.

He also dismissed fears among some Tunisians that his movement could seek to roll back women's rights, saying these were the fruit of Ben Ali's "propaganda machine" and he said he was "ready for dialogue" on issues such as abortion.

"People must accept that there are different versions of political Islam. We are much closer to the AKP of Turkey than we can ever be to the Taliban or (Osama) Bin Laden," he said, referring to Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party.

Thousands of supporters

There were emotional scenes at the airport on Sunday as thousands of supporters held up olive branches, flowers and copies of the Quran to welcome Ghannouchi, who had not been in his native land since fleeing persecution by Ben Ali in 1989.

"God is great!" Ghannouchi cried out, raising his arms in triumph as he walked into the arrivals hall, the crowd around him intoning a religious song in honour of the Prophet Mohammed and singing Tunisia's national anthem.

"I am like a child who has returned to his mother's arms," he said.

The reception for Ghannouchi at Tunis airport was the biggest showing by the Islamists in two decades, during which thousands of them were jailed or exiled by president Ben Ali.

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

But there were also dozens of people protesting his arrival at the airport, holding up placards that warned against Islamic fundamentalism.

"There's a lot more sentiment in his favor than most people realize. But they're only going to be a player, not a dominant force," said George Joffe, a lecturer in international affairs at Cambridge University.

The interim government installed in the north African state after the ouster of Ben Ali amid a wave of protests has granted unprecedented freedoms and allowed key exiles to return despite the bans from the old regime.

Ghannouchi still officially has a life sentence hanging over his head for plotting against the former president, although the government has drawn up an amnesty law for convicted activists that now has to go before parliament.

"I have come to pay homage," said Mohammed Mahfoud, 37, a trade unionist who had come to welcome Ghannouchi at the airport.

Najwa, a teacher who said she was imprisoned for wearing an Islamic veil, said: "Everything that's said about him are lies... He's a moderate Islamist."

But the views on the streets of Tunis were far more critical.

"He has not said what he plans to do. He could cause trouble and destabilize the upcoming elections," said Amenallah Darwish, a 29-year-old lawyer.

I am like a child who has returned to his mother's arms

Tunisian Islamist leader Rached Ghannouchi

Only want participation

Ennahda and its supporters say they do not seek an Islamic state and want only the right to participate in politics.

"We want a democratic state," said Mohammed Habasi, an Ennahda supporter who said he had been jailed four times since 1991 for "belonging to a banned group".

"We suffered the most from a lack of democracy," he said.

Abdel Bassat al-Riyaahi, another Ennahda activist who returned from exile, said: "We were banned for 21 years ... but we came back with our heads held high.

Ghannouchi fled Tunisia two years after Ben Ali came to power in a bloodless coup in 1987. In elections in 1989, which were heavily falsified, an Islamist-backed coalition still managed to win 17 percent of the vote.

Shortly after that, persecution of leading Islamists began and Ghannouchi went first to Algeria and then to Britain in 1991. Hundreds of Islamist activists who stayed behind were thrown into prison, often on flimsy charges.

We suffered the most from a lack of democracy

Mohammed Habasi, an Ennahda supporter