Tunisia's Islamist leader pleads for calm
Source: Agencies |
October 29, 2011, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE leader of the Islamist party which won Tunisia's first free election appealed for calm in the town where the "Arab Spring" began, accusing forces linked to the ousted president of fanning violence there.
Troops fired into the air yesterday to disperse a crowd trying to attack government offices in Sidi Bouzid, where vegetable seller Mohamed Bouazizi set fire to himself in protest last December and since ignited revolts around the Arab world.
The Ennahda party, which was banned for decades and its leaders forced to flee abroad, will lead Tunisia's new government after an election victory likely to set a template for other Middle Eastern states rocked by uprisings this year.
Ennahda has tried to reassure secularists nervous about the prospect of Islamist rule in one of the Arab world's most liberal countries by saying it will respect women's rights and not try to impose a Muslim moral code.
Speaking at his first news conference since the election, Ennahda leader Rachid Ghannouchi said the party would respect all Tunisia's international treaties when it forms a new government.
He blamed the Sidi Bouzid clashes on forces connected with ousted president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.
The unrest was not linked directly to the Ennahda win, but to the fact that a party headed by a businessman popular in the town had been eliminated from the ballot over allegations of campaign finance violations.
Late on Thursday, after election officials announced it would cancel several seats won by the Popular List party, a crowd in Sidi Bouzid set fire to an Ennahda office and the office of the local mayor.
Troops fired into the air yesterday to disperse a crowd trying to attack government offices in Sidi Bouzid, where vegetable seller Mohamed Bouazizi set fire to himself in protest last December and since ignited revolts around the Arab world.
The Ennahda party, which was banned for decades and its leaders forced to flee abroad, will lead Tunisia's new government after an election victory likely to set a template for other Middle Eastern states rocked by uprisings this year.
Ennahda has tried to reassure secularists nervous about the prospect of Islamist rule in one of the Arab world's most liberal countries by saying it will respect women's rights and not try to impose a Muslim moral code.
Speaking at his first news conference since the election, Ennahda leader Rachid Ghannouchi said the party would respect all Tunisia's international treaties when it forms a new government.
He blamed the Sidi Bouzid clashes on forces connected with ousted president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.
The unrest was not linked directly to the Ennahda win, but to the fact that a party headed by a businessman popular in the town had been eliminated from the ballot over allegations of campaign finance violations.
Late on Thursday, after election officials announced it would cancel several seats won by the Popular List party, a crowd in Sidi Bouzid set fire to an Ennahda office and the office of the local mayor.
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