Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Rachid Ghannouchi	Rachid Ghannouchi	Islamic Tendency Movement	Africa North				20060304	Link
	Rachid Ghannouchi	Al-Nahda	Africa North				20060304	Link

Africa North

Turkish Affairs Expert: Erdogan Seeks to Exploit Tunisia’s Ennahda to Cross Turkish Arms to Libya

2020-05-02

[ALMARSAD.CO] In exclusive remarks to the Egyptian satellite channel Extra News, Karam Saeed indicated that many ~~Ottoman~~ Turkish soldiers have been killed in Libya. Due to huge losses that Erdogan’s forces had suffered in Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
it has resulting in growing criticism by ~~Ottoman~~ Turkish opposition to Erdogan’s policy on military interference in Libya.

Moreover, he pointed out that ~~The Sick Man of Europe~~ Turkey
<del>The Sick Man of Europe</del> Turkey

<del>The Sick Man of Europe</del> Turkey

...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire...
attempted to exploit Algeria and to make it a crossing border to smuggle weapons to terrorist militias in Tripoli, yet the plan failed thanks to categorical by Algerian.

Saeed revealed that Turkey is now trying to use Tunisia as a crossing point for ~~Ottoman~~ Turkish arms to Libya, taking advantage of the Tunisian Islamist Ennahda Movement’s privilege at the Tunisian Parliament to pass needed resolutions. The Ennahda party, led by Rachid Ghannouchi who is currently the Speaker of the Tunisian Parliament, is affiliated to the Moslem Brüderbund.

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Africa North

Tunisia: Ennahda Party threatened with more resignations

2020-03-20

[al-Monitor] Prominent leader and member of the Ennahda Shura Council Abdelhamid Jelassi announced his resignation from the Ennahda party in a long post on his official Facebook page March 7, in which he said that his political experience with Ennahda is completely over.

Observers said his resignation caused a tremor within Ennahda, as did the previous resignation of then-Prime Minister and Ennahda leader Hamadi Jebali on Dec. 11, 2014.

On Nov. 28, 2019, then-Secretary-General of Ennahda Ziad Ladhari announced his resignation and justified this decision by saying that he was convinced that Ennahda’s choices related to government formation do not live up to Tunisians’ expectations.

In his interview with al-Monitor, Jelassi accused Ennahda leader Rachid Ghannouchi of intentionally postponing the preparations for Ennahda’s 11th National Congress due in May 2020. The congress aims to elect a new head of the movement to succeed Ghannouchi who was elected speaker of parliament for five years on Nov. 13. 2019.

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Africa North

Tunisia Islamists congratulate secular rivals on vote win

2014-10-28

[Al Ahram] The leader of Tunisia's main Islamist party on Monday called his rival in the secular Nidaa Tounes party to congratulate him for winning a weekend parliamentary election, his daughter said.

"#Ennahda president Rachid Ghannouchi congratulates B Sebsi (Beji Caid Essebsi) on his party's win... a few moments ago," Soumaya Ghannouchi said on Twitter after her father's Ennahda party admitted it had finished behind Nidaa Tounes in Sunday's election.

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Africa North

Tunisia pursues mosque neutrality

2014-02-15

[MAGHAREBIA] Tunisia's new non-partisan government wants mosques to take a neutral stance with regard to political activities.

"Political leaders are going to be prevented from making political speeches in mosques," Religious Affairs Minister Mounir Tlili said Monday (February 10th).

The ministry's press officer, Najet Hammami, told Magharebia that authorities were "going to address the issue of mosques and see how to implement the guidelines of the roadmap, especially through reviewing the appointment of some imams".

The Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT), the Tunisian Union of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts (UTICA) and the Tunisian Bar Association have joined the call for Acting Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa to rid places of worship of the influence of hardline salafist movements.

The religious affairs ministry estimates that 20 mosques are still under the control of such salafists.

After the revolution, Tunisian mosques witnessed chaos, from the spread of now-outlawed bad boy group Ansar al-Sharia
...a Salafist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends. There are groups of the same name in Libya, Tunisia and Yemen, with the Libyan and Tunisian versions currently most active...
to takfir
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed...
ist speeches against political opponents.

Some political figures, including Ennahda leader Rachid Ghannouchi, used mosques to deliver Friday sermons.

In the latest developments, terror suspect Ahmad al-Maliki confessed during interrogation that he killed opposition political figure Mohammed Brahmi after the issuance of a fatwa in an Ariana mosque, Akher Khabar reported on February 11th.

Charges of apostasy had also been levelled in some mosques against slain leftist politician Chokri Belaid.

The imam of Lakhmi Mosque in Sfax is also known to be a turban with speeches inciting against the UGTT.

Meanwhile,
...back at the dirigible, Jack stuck the cigar in his mouth, stepped onto the gantry, and asked Got a light, Mac?
Von Schtinken stopped short, lowering the dagger and trying to control his features.
If you light that thing, Herr Armschtröng, he pointed out, his voice tense, we all die!...
security forces on Tuesday forced members of radical religious groups, who sell perfume, jihad books and Afghani shirts near al-Fath Mosque in the capital, to vacate the site.

The same day, the director general of the religious affairs ministry, Abdesattar Badr, said that some 289 imams and mosque curators had been sacked "during the last quarter of 2013."

"We are periodically ending the assignments of imams, especially because of their failure to respect the terms of the mosques and because of partisan or personal sermons," he said.

The presence of radical imams has led some citizens to avoid or change mosques.

Murad Korbi, a 54-year-old public employee, said he stood clear of mosques because of imams who advocated for Islamist parties.

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Africa North

Tunisia awaits independent cabinet to oversee new elections

2014-01-11

[Al Ahram] Tunisia was waiting Friday for the president to task premier designate Medhi Jomaa with forming a cabinet of independents to lead the country to fresh elections after the Islamist-led government finally quit.

Outgoing Prime Minister Ali Larayedh's resignation on Thursday, under an agreement to end months of political deadlock and get Tunisia's democratic transition back on track, comes nearly three years after veteran strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's overthrow in the first Arab Spring uprising.

The new premier, who is a relative political novice, will have to confront mounting social unrest and the persistent threat of jihadist violence, in a political climate that remains tense.

President Moncef Marzouki is now expected to ask the head of the ruling Islamist Ennahda party, Rachid Ghannouchi, to submit a candidate, with Jomaa nominated as the consensus choice to head the interim administration during crisis negotiations last month.

The little-known industry minister will have 15 days to form his cabinet, which must be then approved by the national assembly.

Link

Africa North

Tunisia compromise may head off govt crisis

2013-08-23

Tunisias ruling Islamists have agreed to an initiative by the countrys main labour union to avert the brewing political crisis by eventually forming a government of technocrats, a top union official said on Thursday.

The assassination of an opposition politician in late July plunged the country into crisis, with the opposition demanding the government and assembly elected in 2011, be dissolved demands backed up by demonstrations and sit-ins. There were even fears that Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab Spring, might go the way of Egypt, where dissatisfaction with Islamist rule resulted in a military coup and the bloody suppression of the Muslim Brotherhood, killing more than 1,000 people.

Tunisia, however, has managed to avoid the persistent bloodshed and cycle of unrest that has roiled Egypt after the overthrow of its president just a month after Tunisia deposed theirs on January 14, 2011. Despite a rocky transition, the Islamist-dominated government and the secular opposition parties have always been able to reach a compromise.

Mouldi Jendoubi, the assistant secretary-general of the General Union of Tunisian Workers, known as the UGTT, told the state news agency that the moderate Islamist Ennahda Party had agreed to a government of technocrats to get the country out of its current crisis.

The announcement follows talks between Ennahda leader Rachid Ghannouchi and the powerful union head Houcine Abassi. The union, long a bastion of left-wing politics, has generally sided with the opposition against the government, but in the latest crisis took on a role as a mediator.

A subsequent statement by Ennahda said the party accepted the unions initiative as a starting point for dialogue and the current government would remain until an agreement was reached.

The coalition government will not resign and will continue its duties until national dialogue reaches a consensus agreement that guarantees the completion of the democratic transition and the organisation of free and fair elections, the statement said.

Opposition reaction to the announcement was mixed, with Nejib Chebbi, head of the liberal Jomhouri (Republican) party, welcoming it as a positive step to relaunch the national dialogue as soon as possible and find an end to this crisis.

Other parties, however, stuck by their initial demands for the dissolution of the assembly and the government before any talks.

We are committed to dialogue, but only after the resignation of the government, Ayda Klibi, spokeswoman for the right of centre Nida Tunis (Tunisia Calls) party, told The Associated Press.

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Africa North

Tunisia political isolation law divides Ennahda

2013-06-22

[MAGHAREBIA] Lawmakers are ready to hold a plenary session on the draft "Law for the Protection of the Revolution in Tunisia", Transitional Justice Minister Samir Dilou said on Thursday (June 20th).

But the bill may look much different from its original version. In a surprise move, Ennahda leader Rachid Ghannouchi said his "party would seek to reduce the number" of those impacted by the "political isolation law".

The draft measure prevents anyone who served in the former government or the dissolved Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD) party from returning to political life.

The bill bans these allies of former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali from politics for seven years.

But if former regime members apologise to the Tunisian people, they will receive exemptions, Ghannouchi told Shems FM on June 11th. The judiciary will continue to handle corruption cases.

Politicians from the Congress for the Republic (CPR) pushed the bill to exclude those seen as contributing to the Ben Ali dictatorship. CPR politician Samir Ben Amor even threatened a hunger strike if the National Constituent Assembly (ANC) did not soon debate the bill.

Ennahda, however, is divided over the measure.

"The law to protect the revolution must go through judicial mechanisms," the Islamist party's secretary-general said.

Speaking earlier this month to Mosaique FM, Hamadi Jebali pointed out that the exclusion of RCD politicians would be no different than what Ennahda and other opposition suffered under Ben Ali.

Yet those described as the "hawks" of Ennahda defend the law by saying that such a measure is commonplace in all countries undergoing a democratic transition.

"The conflict regarding this law is because a large number of former members of the dissolved RCD joined Ennahda," Ettakatol party member Habib Hamdi told Magharebia.

Moreover, during the Tunisia national dialogue last month, Ennahda welcomed "figures from the former regime, such as Kamel Morjane, who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Defence during the time of Ben Ali", Hamdi noted.

Nidaa Tounes party leader Beji Caid Essebsi is among those opposed to the draft law. In his view, it targets him for exclusion from Tunisian politics.

"The law to protect the revolution, in the event it is ratified by the Constituent Assembly, is an affront to Tunisians and will be like a fissure in the history of Tunisia and in its image abroad," the former interim prime minister and newly declared presidential candidate said.

The Union for Tunisia, a coalition of opposition parties led by Nidaa Tounes, discussed the proposed law at a recent meeting.

"The issue of the protection of the revolution is decisive," opposition politician Abdul Razzaq al-Hammami said.

"We are against any law that would prevent serious electoral competition," he said.

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Africa North

Thala residents heckle Ennahda chief

2013-03-05

[MAGHAREBIA] The leader of Tunisia's ruling Islamist party was forced to flee Thala on Sunday (March 3rd) after angry residents hurled stones at his car, Mosaique FM reported.

Residents reportedly shouted "Get out!" when they spotted Rachid Ghannouchi and then threw rocks at his vehicle, breaking a window.

The leader of the Ennahda party was in the Kasserine town with Religious Affairs Minister Noureddine Khademi and other officials for the reburial of Ahmed Rahmouni, executed in 1963 under the Habib Bourguiba regime.

Last December in Sidi Bouzid, President Moncef Marzouki and parliament speaker Mustapha Ben Jaafar were heckled and pelted with stones.

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Africa North

Ennahda to surrender sovereign ministries

2013-03-02

[MAGHAREBIA] Tunisia's ruling Ennahda party on Wednesday (February 27th) agreed to give up key ministries to independents.

"We agreed to maintain neutrality of the four ministries of illusory sovereignty, including the Interior Ministry which will be led by an independent person," Ennahda party leader Rachid Ghannouchi told Radio Kalima on Wednesday.

The new government will "be formed by five or six parties instead of the three parties that participated in the formation of the previous government", he said.

"We see that it is in the interests of the Tunisian government, in the transitional period and for the period to come, to bring together Islamists and secularists... even though we are the majority," Ghannouchi added.

The politician had previously declared that the ruling Islamist party would "never give up power" secured through "the legitimacy of the ballot".

The Islamist party has controlled the interior, justice and foreign ministries since Tunisia's first free elections in October 2011. The defence portfolio was already in the hands of an independent, Abdelkarim Zbidi.

With this decision, Ennahda meets the demands of Tunisian opposition parties and the two members of the ruling troika -- Ettakatol and Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki's Congress for the Republic.

"The concession made by Ennahda with regard to the sovereign ministries is a positive thing," Ettakatol Party front man Mohamed Bennour said.

The same day as the Ennahda concession was announced, however, the ruling party refused to sign a charter governing proper conduct between political parties.

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Africa North

Ennahda supporters rally in Tunis

2013-02-18

[MAGHAREBIA] Roughly 15,000 people rallied on Saturday (February 16th) in Tunis to support the Ennahda-led government and against Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali's plans to form a government of technocrats aimed at resolving Tunisia's political crisis, AFP reported.

"Ennahda... will never give up power, as long as it benefits from the confidence of the people and the legitimacy of the ballot," party leader Rachid Ghannouchi told the crowd at the end of the rally.

On Friday evening, Jebali said his consultations with political parties on the new Tunisian government showed "encouraging results" and that progress was made "on all the items discussed". A new meeting was scheduled for Monday to "carry on discussions", he added.

"Time is not important. What is more important is the interest of Tunisia and the search for a way out and a solution for the people and the revolution," he told news hounds.

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Africa North

Ennahda vows unity as Tunisia impasse lingers

2013-02-15

[MAGHAREBIA] Tunisia's ruling Islamist party and three of its allies on Wednesday (February 13th) reiterated their support for a cabinet composed of politicians.

Ennahda, the Congress for the Republic (CPR), Wafa Movement and the Liberty and Dignity bloc issued a joint statement rejecting Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali's proposal for a non-partisan cabinet of technocrats.

"The current stage requires a coalition government open onto parties and independent figures with a large parliamentary, political and popular support," TAP quoted the joint declaration as saying.

The stance directly contradicts a proposal by Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali, himself a member of Ennahda. Jebali has threatened to resign if his proposal for a technocrat government is rejected. He originally floated the idea to end the political crisis following the assassination of leftist leader Chokri Belaid.

In view of the growing tensions and disputes within Ennahda, observers believe that the unity of the Islamist party, which withstood shocks under Bourguiba and Ben Ali, is now at risk.

Samir Bettaib, spokesperson for al-Massar Social Democratic Party, said that the dispute between the hard-line wing in Ennahda, represented by Ghannouchi, and the moderate wing led by Jebali and Interior Minister Ali Larayedh, was currently witnessing a truce.

He claimed that this was due to Ghannouchi's interference in the government's work and his obstruction of its activities; something that caused disputes between him and Prime Minister Jebali.

Despite the conflict, Ennahda leaders have vowed to maintain party unity.

"We may be wrong, we may even be criminally stupid but, by Allah! we are unified!" Also, something about shoulder to shoulder forward into the glorious future we go...

"There are always differences and different viewpoints in any democratic movement," Jebali said. "This is what is happening right now in our movement."

For his part, party leader Rachid Ghannouchi said divisions were unlikely in the movement. "God willing, there won't be any splits in Ennahda," he said.

"Ennahda is committed to its institutions and is firm about its unity. However, there is a flow of opinions within it; all opinions are expressed freely and, therefore, I don't believe that Ennahda's unity is threatened," Ghannouchi added.

Internal conflicts have begun to appear within Ennahda since it came to power, according to Riadh Sidaoui, director of the Arab Centre for Research and Policy Analysis.

The most prominent of these conflicts are those between Ennahda leaders in Tunisia and their colleagues overseas, and the provincial conflicts between Ennahda members in southern and inland areas and leaders in coastal areas, the analyst said.

He added that the other conflict that is threatening Ennahda was the division between leaders who lived in Tunisia under Ben Ali's regime and those who lived in exile.

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Africa North

Ruling Tunisian Party Calls a Rally

2013-02-09

[VOA News] Supporters of Tunisia's ruling Islamist party have called for a huge rally in the capital Saturday, a day after police clashed with mourners during the funeral of a slain secular opposition leader.

The ruling Ennahda party says its demonstration in Tunis is aimed at showing support for the constitutional assembly whose work on a new constitution was disrupted when opposition leader Chokri Belaid was bumped off earlier this week outside his home.

Belaid's family has accused the ruling party of being complicit in the murder, an accusation the ruling party denies.

On Friday, festivities between police and protesters broke out during Belaid's funeral.

Tens of thousands of mourners converged on the main cemetery in Tunis for Belaid's funeral procession. Police used tear gas at the cemetery to make way for the procession.

Many mourners chanted anti-Islamist slogans and some held banners denouncing Rachid Ghannouchi, leader of the Ennahda party, as an "assassin." Witnesses say some protesters threw stones at the police.

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