Tunisia Ready to Offer Asylum to Assad, report

Share:

Tunisia’s president has told a local paper he is ready to offer asylum to Syria’s leader Bashar Assad as part of a negotiated solution to end the Syrian conflict, the paper’s website announced said Tuesday.

President Moncef Marzouki said the offer would also extend to Assad’s associates, in the interview set to appear Wednesday in the French-language daily La Presse.

Tunisia would be a surprising choice for Assad’s retirement as it was the first Arab nation to topple a longtime autocrat when its former president fled the country a year ago in the face of protests.

Pro-democracy demonstrations in Syrian towns and cities have been violently repressed, provoking world condemnation of the government.

Tunisia was the first country to recall its ambassador from Syria in protest at the violence and it also hosted an international conference Friday which called for an immediate cease-fire and the delivery of humanitarian aid to the country.

Assad’s forces continue to bombard a number of cities and opposition activists say more than 8,000 people have died in the last 11 months.

AP/ABC

Share:

Comments

10 responses to “Tunisia Ready to Offer Asylum to Assad, report”

  1. Rabih Hmaydani Avatar
    Rabih Hmaydani

    i used to see this guy on aljazeera calling for a revolt in 2005 and thought he was insane and now he is president 🙁

    1. rzah deve Avatar

       he would always go on that show itijah moakis with faysal kassim. I remember him saying the arabs would rise over and over and they all said he was crazy until it happened.

  2. Rabih Hmaydani Avatar
    Rabih Hmaydani

    i used to see this guy on aljazeera calling for a revolt in 2005 and thought he was insane and now he is president 🙁

    1. rzah deve Avatar

       he would always go on that show itijah moakis with faysal kassim. I remember him saying the arabs would rise over and over and they all said he was crazy until it happened.

  3. 5thDrawer Avatar

    What you have to do is paint a rosy picture of Tunisia for him. And his gang, of course.
    It’s a few miles south … warmer …
    Get a picture of that extra-large grass shack and some palm trees near a blue ocean .. sandy beach … some girls in bikinis .. that sort of thing. Tunisian-style of course.

    Tell him it’s a model ‘enclave’ – gated community … where they can all fit in fine … miles from any Tunisians, but amenities (Bou Kahlil/Al Rifai) close by. 
    (Hair-dresser for wife is important … New Wallymart going in next year … stuff like that.)
    Sell him the property next door for a golf course, and let him run it … 
    Build a bunker out of concrete to stack his money in so he can count it every day.
    You need to make it attractive … right?

    Be a salesman. Do a presentation right.  Off to the side a picture, for comparison, of Homs.
    Don’t forget electricity & bathroom with clean water.
    Need to get him thinking …

  4.  Avatar

    What you have to do is paint a rosy picture of Tunisia for him. And his gang, of course.
    It’s a few miles south … warmer …
    Get a picture of that extra-large grass shack and some palm trees near a blue ocean .. sandy beach … some girls in bikinis .. that sort of thing. Tunisian-style of course.

    Tell him it’s a model ‘enclave’ – gated community … where they can all fit in fine … miles from any Tunisians, but amenities (Bou Kahlil/Al Rifai) close by. 
    (Hair-dresser for wife is important … New Wallymart going in next year … stuff like that.)
    Sell him the property next door for a golf course, and let him run it … 
    Build a bunker out of concrete to stack his money in so he can count it every day.
    You need to make it attractive … right?

    Be a salesman. Do a presentation right.  Off to the side a picture, for comparison, of Homs.
    Don’t forget electricity & bathroom with clean water.
    Need to get him thinking …

  5. Why in gods name would Tunisia get rid of one dictator and want to host another? This has become a circus… The Saudis and qataris are preaching democracy ?? Saudis Arabia sent troops to Bahrain to crush the protests

    1. It is simple… If Bashar is cornered more people will die. So they offer the cat a way out. Besides do not forget that in Tunisia the majority share one religion so civil war was unlikely. In Syria, the situation is very much like in Lebanon, when the shit hits the fan, polarization follows and every clown will side with his/her sect and we all know what happens after. I think Bashar should step down and allow a real democratic process to happen lest Syria AND Lebanon will spiral into a civil war nobody can afford. Besides, after the Lebanese civil war we all saw that it was hard to mend the wounds and build trust. That scenario won’t be any different. It will take years before we can have a nation after civil unrest. The mentality of us vs. them still exist today. A Sunni Lebanese will fraternize with a Saudi Sunni before looking into the eyes of a Shiite Lebanese neighbor and vice versa. If Assad steps down he can save face and save this nation. If not we will be sent to the stone age and more of our bright minds will leave and the brain drain continues. What’s left is thugs and gangs with AK47 and the gorillas will rule the jungle.

  6.  Avatar

    Why in gods name would Tunisia get rid of one dictator and want to host another? This has become a circus… The Saudis and qataris are preaching democracy ?? Saudis Arabia sent troops to Bahrain to crush the protests

    1. It is simple… If Bashar is cornered more people will die. So they offer the cat a way out. Besides do not forget that in Tunisia the majority share one religion so civil war was unlikely. In Syria, the situation is very much like in Lebanon, when the shit hits the fan, polarization follows and every clown will side with his/her sect and we all know what happens after. I think Bashar should step down and allow a real democratic process to happen lest Syria AND Lebanon will spiral into a civil war nobody can afford. Besides, after the Lebanese civil war we all saw that it was hard to mend the wounds and build trust. That scenario won’t be any different. It will take years before we can have a nation after civil unrest. The mentality of us vs. them still exist today. A Sunni Lebanese will fraternize with a Saudi Sunni before looking into the eyes of a Shiite Lebanese neighbor and vice versa. If Assad steps down he can save face and save this nation. If not we will be sent to the stone age and more of our bright minds will leave and the brain drain continues. What’s left is thugs and gangs with AK47 and the gorillas will rule the jungle.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *