By Eleanor Beardsley | NPR
In the days since the overthrow of Tunisia’s dictator, looters have ransacked a whitewashed villa in an upscale suburban neighborhood of Tunis called La Marsa. The house belonged to businessman Moaz Trabelsi, one of the 10 brothers of the ousted president’s wife, Leila Trabelsi. And it’s a scene that is playing out across the country at homes owned by relatives of president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Tunisians say they want a complete break with their former ruler, They say the president, and in particular his wife and her family, abused power and enriched themselves at the expense of the country’s people.
On Tuesday, Tunisia’s new interim government was on shaky ground. Four Cabinet ministers resigned and others threatened to do so in protest over the continued presence in the government of Ben Ali’s allies.
Portrait Of Excessive Decadence
After days of looting in that suburban villa, there’s nothing more to take away. But still, hundreds of people still come every day to visit the wrecked shell.
One of this day’s visitors is Mounir Khelifa, an English professor at the University of Tunis. He points to a burned-out Porsche Cayenne and calls the mansion a “thief’s” or “robber’s” house.
The swimming pool has a mattress floating in it. Broken furniture and women’s magazines litter the yard. Families are walking through the villa’s empty, trash-strewn rooms as if it were a real estate open house.
Khelifa says Tunisians despise the president they deposed, but they hate his wife even more. The 55-year-old former hairdresser is 74-year-old Ben Ali’s second wife.
Like the tentacles of an octopus, the Trabelsi clan wrapped itself around almost every sector of the country’s economy, their critics say. They controlled the car dealerships, the banks, the airlines, the media and the major retailers.
Amel Jertila, a 37-year-old who started her own company, says doing business in Tunisia was hell.
“It was terrible. And you are scared all the time. What if I cross them one day in my life, what will happen to me? After years of work, we are scared of phantoms that are called Trabelsi and Ben Ali,” she says.
Cables from the U.S. ambassador in Tunisia that surfaced in WikiLeaks paint a picture of a family that lived in excessive decadence, while many Tunisians lived below the poverty level. Invited to dinner at the villa of Ben Ali’s favorite son-in-law, the ambassador described ice cream imported from St. Tropez on a private jet and a pet tiger in a cage on the compound.
‘Giants With Clay Feet’
Just three days before the final wave of protests that brought Ben Ali down, writer Abdelaziz Belkhodja took the risk of distributing documents showing the extent of what he calls the mafioso activity of the president, his wife and her family.
“It reached unimaginable proportions. These people wanted to take over the country. That’s why they took the banks and the media. She appointed the ministers, because after his death, she wanted to keep control of the country,” Belkhodja says.
He estimates that in their two decades in power, Ben Ali and his extended family stole about $20 billion — twice Tunisia’s national budget.
Another magnificent villa — this one on a hillside — is the home of a simple primary school teacher whose name happens to be Adel Trabelsi.
Inside the house, Tunisians are ripping out wiring and trying to detach some electric blinds from the windows. Everyone is smiling. Khelifa, the English professor, says no one in their wildest dreams would have imagined such a sudden and ignominious collapse of the Ben Ali-Trabelsi family.
“We suspected that tyrannical power is weak. But to this extent, this kind of weakness is just amazing,” Khelifa says. “I think if there is one lesson to be learned, it’s precisely that dictatorships, they’re giants with feet of clay.”
6 thoughts on “Tunisians ransack properties of deposed president’s family”
Listen-up Azab and pm Zine Ewee bin leggese! It is very tempting to ignore this but if you are really smart, as your supporters claim, do the right thing and vanish from the face of Ethiopia.
PS: In mean time, I have a song for your family: Alegena.. Alegena.. Yemeleyame Alegena,
Yeazebem Alegena…
Yalamudaem Alegena!
Yebereket Alegena!
And we sing… Yezoat Yezoat berere .. Yezoat berer….
The International Court…sings: Anasgebam Sergegha HAGE Yetegha.
Amina
What a respite for our Tunisian brothers and sisters!!! I congratulate them for being successful in ejecting a dictator who has been menacing them for decades out of the country. In the meantime, I don’t condone vandalism. Burning homes, offices and vehicles send the wrong message even though they belong to the dictator and his cohorts. Such wanton acts will give an excuse for the military to step in and make itself the new ruler. Was it not the same excuse for that blood thirsty Mengistu and his cabals to come out of their barracks and became rulers in 1974? In a society like Tunisia, the military is the most cohesive and organized institution and which is armed to the teeth. I hope that will not be the case.
“Particular his wife and her family, abused power and enriched themselves at the expense of the country’s people”
I think the NPR reporter is confused. She meant to say First Lady Azeb but she is mixing it up.
I have few words to say. First, this would be a blessing in disguise to PM Meles and his cronies. Learn from this and cleanse your government from corruption. Ethiopians deserve freedom to elect who ever they want to and do not institutionalize everything. Stop communism now. And leave primiership at the end of your term gracefully and allow honest election to take place.
Second, for Ethiopians who will want to wish jasmin revolution, to bad you didnt earn it. Ethiopia is not Tunisia and never again. once is ok second time was bad doing it third time is craziness. 1974 is a good lesson, 1991 is even a better lesson that we don’t gain from crisis. I am not sure which Enkosilassie but one of the feudals during during Hailesellassie’s regime was among the 60 patriotic Ethiopians murdered by colonel mengistu Hailemariam. Right after the news was heard, the poor in the neihbourhood broke into the guys big compound and ransacked the place, stilling from picture frames to any thing around the house. They literally looted the place. This type of hooliganism will never happen in Ethiopia again. An organized opposition will now better on how to have a healthy revolution. What happened in Tunisia is wrong. People are destroying public property, means the property should be confiscated and become the property of the governemnt(people) and not destroyed. This is simple hooliganism. The way the Tunisian military is keeping quite is worrying me because the are allowing this to happen because they may have some one like mengistu Hailemariam watching quitely so that he can jump and say I am restoring order and curfew and all that then he will say election in a year and stuff like that. I am not hope full about Tunisia at all. I think the selfish president purposely left the people in hot water to creat unexpected crisis so that his military people take over leadership. It feels like the military is letting the steam out and take over. Well let us see if my stupid analysis is right. I hope not.
Azeb may not be her real name. Her real name is Tangut
Adding on Tezibt’s nice piece of opinion:
I consider myself “independent” of partisan politics however, to my astonishment both pro-government and opposition web-sights including ER sensor some of my views.
Having said that, listening to Dr. Berhanu’s interview [Tunisia & price-control] on ESAT the other day via Ethio-tube, he was not only making a serious comment but very entertaining one as well. The set price for meat is 52 Bir. He asks; 52 bir for what? Kitfo, Brundo, gorud-gorud or CHegwara……I can’t help but laugh my A** off. And on inflation, he didn’t understand why anyone deposits money on Ethiopian Banks. If you deposit 100 bir 4yrs ago you have 15 or 20 bir buying power today. Why not put it under the mattress? he pronounced Off course the new rich and the connected to EPRDF who borrowed money to build the sky scrappers in Addis are the beneficiaries while the average working Ethiopian are left with nothing.
Wasn’t it the same during Haile Selasseie time as well? Land lords and the connected officials lay hold of the land and cream of the imperial system while the serfs [90% Ethiopians] were left with crumbs. It was a different animal altogether in the Derg era.
I say, Ethiopian government needs a critic like Dr. Berhanu and Genbot 7.
In my humble opinion, they can meet in the middle for the sake of not having another destruction of the 3rd kind [aka Tunisia] of country and property in our life time. As Kinjit made an offer to EPRDF to continue governing during democratic transition in the past, I presume Ginbot 7 can offer similar offer that allows EPRDF to complete the 5yr “transformation term” and plan together on how to manage the next 5 yr “transformation”. That way Ethiopians will benefit of the hard work and genius of Meles, Berhanu and other Ethiopians. Otherwise, the writing is on the wall for anyone to see that Ethiopia without some kind of reconciliation seems to be going one step forward now but shall come 2 step back words sooner or later.
I wish Azeb, Meles and their close friends the same fate.