TUNIS: Tunisia’s prime minister said exiled former autocrat Zine el Abidine Ben Ali would be allowed to return home if he was critically ill as reported by his lawyer.
“I will give my green light for his return. It’s a humanitarian case. If he’s ill as rumored, he can return to his country like any other Tunisian,” Youssef Chahed said late Thursday on Hannibal TV.
“If he wants to return to be buried here, I give my green light,” added Chahed, who is also a candidate in Tunisia’s presidential election on Sunday.
Ben Ali’s lawyer, Mounir ben Salha, said hours earlier that Tunisia’s leader who was ousted in a 2011 revolt when he fled to Saudi Arabia following two decades of iron-fisted rule, was “in critical condition.”
“He’s not dead but the condition of his health is bad. He has left hospital and is being treated at home. His condition is stable,” the lawyer said on Oxygene FM radio.
Tunisian courts have condemned Ben Ali, 83, in absentia to several prison sentences, including life terms, for abuse of power, graft and involuntary homicide.
Tunisia’s exiled Ben Ali can return if sick: PM
Tunisia’s exiled Ben Ali can return if sick: PM
- Ben Ali’s lawyer, Mounir ben Salha, said hours earlier that he was “in critical condition”
- Tunisian courts have condemned Ben Ali, 83, in absentia to several prison sentences, including life terms, for abuse of power, graft and involuntary homicide
US resumes food aid to Somalia
- The United States on Thursday announced the resumption of food distribution in Somalia, weeks after the destruction of a US-funded World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse at Mogadishu’s port
NAIROBI: The United States on Thursday announced the resumption of food distribution in Somalia, weeks after the destruction of a US-funded World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse at Mogadishu’s port.
In early January, Washington suspended aid to Somalia over reports of theft and government interference, saying Somali officials had “illegally seized 76 metric tons of donor-funded food aid meant for vulnerable Somalis.”
US officials then warned any future aid would depend on the Somali government taking accountability, a stance Mogadishu countered by saying the warehouse demolition was part of the port’s “expansion and repurposing works.”
On Wednesday, however, the Somali government said “all WFP commodities affected by port expansion have been returned.”
In a statement Somalia said it “takes full responsibility” and has “provided the World Food Program with a larger and more suitable warehouse within the Mogadishu port area.”
The US State Department said in a post on X that: “We will resume WFP food distribution while continuing to review our broader assistance posture in Somalia.”
“The Trump Administration maintains a firm zero tolerance policy for waste, theft, or diversion of US resources,” it said.
US president Donald Trump has slashed aid over the past year globally.
Somalis in the United States have also become a particular target for the administration in recent weeks, targeted in immigration raids.
They have also been accused of large-scale public benefit fraud in Minnesota, which has the largest Somali community in the country with around 80,000 members.
