30/01/2011 After more than 20 years in exile, Tunisian Ennahda leader Rached Al-Gahannouchi returned from London, with thousands of supporters greeted him.
Ghannouchi walked in to the arrivals hall of Tunis, raising his arms in triumph and eyeing political future for his movement after the ousterd of Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali.
Crowds of supporters held up olive branches, flowers and copies of the holy Quran.
"When I return home today I am returning to the Arab world as a whole," he told reporters, adding that Ennahda now planned to register officially as a political party and take part in the country's first democratic elections.
The new interim government installed in the country after the fall of Ben Ali on January 14 has allowed several key exiles to return despite bans on them from the old regime.
Ghannouchi was persecuted in Tunisia ever since founding his movement in 1981.
He still officially has a life sentence hanging over his head, although the new government has drawn up an amnesty law for political convicts like Ghannouchi, which has to go before parliament for final approval.
"There is still confusion regarding the political situation.... The interim government is changing its ministers every day, it's not stable yet and its powers are not clear yet," Ghannouchi told reporters before leaving.
(AFP)
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