Tunisia's best-known Islamic movement said Friday his long-banned group isn't seeking a role in the nation's transitional government, and instead is working with other opposition groups to purge former members of the country's previous regime.
Rachid Ghannouchi, the 69-year-old founder of the Ennahdha movement, said his religious group is eager to rejoin political life inside the North African country following a decision by the interim government to overturn a ban on all opposition movements, following last week's surprise removal of former President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.
The veteran opposition leader said he wants to offer Tunisians a political choice he said would be similar to Turkey's Islamic-leaning Justice and Development Party, but that he has no personal political ambitions himself.
"I am 69 years old and will not accept any public position in Tunisia—I have no personal political ambitions whatsoever," Mr. Ghannouchi told The Wall Street Journal. "[We've] started rebuilding the party but in a very limited way. We're not a religious party, we're a democratic civil party which is inspired by Muslim values."
The past week in Tunisia has seen a bloom of political parties and movements, following the removal of Tunisia's ban on most opposition groups. Across the broader region, others have apparently been emboldened by middle-class Tunisians' successful ouster of their former leader.
In neighboring Algeria, which has a much larger population than Tunisia but shares some of same problems of unemployment and economic discontent, several citizens have set themselves on fire, according to media reports, echoing an incident in Tunisia that is credited with setting off protests there.
Algerian opposition groups have used events in Tunisia as a backdrop for demonstrations, including a pro-democracy rally planned for Saturday. Algeria's state news agency urged citizens not to heed the call to protest.
In Jordan, several thousand people participated in demonstrations last week, including what left-wing groups and trade unions yesterday called a "day of rage" over rising food and fuel prices. There were also demonstrations in restive southern Yemen, where protesters said recent government reforms didn't go far enough.
Governments in some cases have responded by boosting subsidies or salaries. On Thursday, the Jordanian government increased the monthly pay for civil servants and said it would continue providing subsidies on heating and cooking gas it had hoped to reduce.
In Tunisia, Islamist organizations were noticeably absent from the month-long protests that helped push Mr. Ben Ali from power on Jan. 14. The country's first president, Habib Bouguiba, instituted a strict secularization program during the 1960s. Islamist movements as well as most opposition movements were banned under his successor, Mr. Ben Ali
Yet in a country in which Islam is the official religion and in a region where Islamic politicians hold great sway, the role that religious movements will play in the developing political landscape is being closely watched by regional leaders.
The streets of Tunis, the capital, again filled with well-heeled and energetic protesters demanding the removal of key figures in the interim government named earlier this week to run the country ahead of fresh elections. Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi, no relation to the Islamic leader, has promised polls within six months.
Tunisia's previous regime characterized Ennahdha and Mr. Ghannouchi as Islamic extremists. But analysts and diplomats say that the Islamic scholar espouses a moderate religious philosophy that renounces violence and promotes modernity.
Mr. Ghannouchi has lived in exile in London since 1993, after being convicted in absentia to plotting a coup against Mr. Ben Ali's government. Mr. Ghannouchi denies the charges.
Mr. Ghannouchi's party has no formal membership structure inside Tunisia. But members running as independents won roughly 17% of the vote in 1989 parliamentary elections, in a result that analysts and diplomats say sparked a crackdown against the movement by Mr. Ben Ali.
The caretaker government's prime minister nodded to Ennahdha's stature when he met with members Thursday to discuss democratic reforms and the group's political rehabilitation. The interim cabinet, in its first meeting, overturned the ban on all political groups and declared an amnesty for all political prisoners, paving the way for Mr. Ghannouchi and other exiled opposition figures to return to Tunisia.
Speaking by telephone in a conversation translated by his daughter Soumaya, Mr. Ghannouchi said he was preparing to return to Tunisia to rebuild his movement, but he was coy about his exact return date. "In the coming few days I shall be returning to the country," said Mr. Ghannouchi. "I'm not announcing the date yet, but we've already decided when it will be."
Mr. Ghannouchi said the group has joined with Tunisia's myriad opposition parties and trade union groups to demand that the interim government be purged of former members of Ben Ali's regime. He said the goal of the opposition's effort is to install a more democratic governing body that better reflects the nation's desire for more aggressive political reform.
Write to Margaret Coker at margaret.coker@wsj.com
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