Tunisian leader ousted by popular revolt

TUNIS: Tunisia's ex-president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, reportedly in a coma Thursday after a stroke, survived in power for 23 years by mixing authoritarian rule with a degree of prosperity and stability for his people before his ouster in January following deadly protests.

When on November 7, 1987, he toppled Habib Bourguiba, the ailing father of Tunisian independence who was by then reported to be senile, all Tunisians, including Islamists, hailed his bloodless, non-violent takeover.

His supporters greeted him as the saviour of a rudderless country and credited him with laying the foundation for a liberal economy and with nipping in the bud the Islamist Ennahdha party.

He went on to make Tunisia a moderate voice in the Arab world while Western governments viewed him as an effective bulwark against Islamist extremism despite criticism of his slow moves toward democracy.

He began his rule encouragingly, scrapping the title of "president for life" created by Bourguiba and limiting the number of presidential terms to three.

On the social front, he launched a "solidarity" policy, creating a special fund for the underprivileged and a social security system, while pursuing the promotion of education and women's rights initiated by his predecessor.

Such measures earned him the support of a growing middle class.

But he consolidated his rule by muzzling the opposition, keeping strong control of the media and armed forces and gradually extending the number of terms he was allowed to serve under the constitution.

Ben Ali was born into a modest family in the east-central town of Hammam-Sousse on September 3, 1936 when Tunisia was still a French protectorate. He was 19 years old when the country achieved full independence, in 1956.

A career soldier, he studied at military academies in both France and the United States.

After his military training he went into army intelligence, and was appointed minister for national security in 1985, moving up to the interior ministry the following year and the post of prime minister early in 1987.

He promised a gradual move towards democracy when he became president, organising the country's first multi-candidate presidential election in 1999 -- and winning it with an official majority of 99.44 percent of the vote.

In May 2002 he held a referendum to change the constitution so he could serve a fourth term; a second such change allowed for an unlimited number of mandates.

He was overwhelmingly re-elected to a fifth five-year term in October 2009, albeit with a score which dipped for the first time just below 90 percent.

Ben Ali, whose country is a major mass-market tourist destination for visitors from Europe, was fond of telling foreign leaders that Tunisia "does not have any lessons to receive" about human rights.

But rights groups regularly condemned his government, which they said held hundreds of political prisoners, although he denied this.

The mass revolt triggered in December was unprecedented, initially sparked by discontent over joblessness before taking on a political dimension, and rights groups said at least 66 people died in a brutal crackdown that finally failed.

In conciliatory moves he announced the creation of 300,000 new jobs, the sacking of his interior minister, the release of detained demonstrators and a pledge to investigate allegations of official corruption.

Pledging democratic reforms, Ben Ali also said he would not stand for re-election in 2014, and ordered his police not to use lethal force against demonstrators, but by then it was too late.

He fled to Saudi Arabia on January 14, and details have gradually come to light of the extent of corruption under his rule,

Ben Ali and his wife Leila Trabelsi, along with their inner circle, are suspected of having pocketed much of the country's wealth over the years and of taking personal stakes in much of the economy.

Central bank chief Mustapha Kamel Nabli said this week that Tunisian banks funded businesses linked to the families of the couple to the tune of 1.3 billion euros.

Nabli said this was the equivalent of five percent of all financing by the Tunisian banking sector, and nearly 30 percent of the cash was provided with no guarantees of repayment.

The banks funded a total of 182 businesses owned by members of the Ben Ali and Trabelsi families and others connected with them, he said.

The European Union has frozen the assets of the former first couple and 46 of their associates. Switzerland has also slapped an asset freeze on the Ben Ali entourage.

Ben Ali had six children, three daughters by a first marriage and two daughters and a son by Trabelsi.