DUBAI, July 04, 2013 (AFP)
Rached Ghannouchi, who heads Tunisia’s ruling Ennahda party close to the Muslim Brotherhood, ruled out a similar scenario in his country following the ouster of Egypt’s Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, in remarks published Thursday.
“Some young dreamers may think that they can repeat in Tunisia what happened in Egypt, but their efforts would be wasted,” Ghannouchi told Saudi daily Asharq Al-Awsat, insisting the situation in Tunisia is “different” from that in Egypt.
“We have taken a serious strategy based on consensus especially between the Islamist and modernist movements, which has saved our country the risks of divisions,” he said.
Tunisians have recently launched their version of Tamarod (rebellion) campaign, which mobilised the massive protests against Morsi who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
The protests led to the Egyptian army’s ouster of Morsi overnight.
But the Ennahda chief dismissed the possibility of such a scenario in Tunisia. “Our national army is outside of politics,” unlike in “Egypt which has been ruled by the military for 60 years,” he said.
Political stability in the North African country that touched off the Arab Spring uprisings remains fragile, two and a half years after the revolution that ousted veteran strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Its political forces are now locked in debate as they seek to draw up a post-revolution constitution.
Adopting the charter is seen as key to restoring stability in Tunisia and helping overcome the political crises, social unrest and violent attacks by radical Islamist groups that have rocked the country since the revolution.
