Ex-Tunisian president Ben Ali faces charge of incitement to murder

Zine el Abidine Ben Ali and the former first lady, Leila Trabelsi, are wanted on 20 charges including inciting disorder, murder or pillaging on Tunisian soil.

The former Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his wife Leila Trabelsi are wanted on 20 charges.

TUNIS // Tunisia's toppled dictator and his wife are facing charges of inciting violence in connection with a crackdown after his overthrow in January, the official TAP news agency has reported.

The report cited a justice ministry statement on Wednesday that Zine el Abidine Ben Ali and the former first lady Leila Trabelsi were wanted on charges including "plotting against the interior security of the state" and "inciting disorder, murder or pillaging on Tunisian soil."

The latest charges come on top of 18 others already filed against Mr Ben Ali, who fled along with much of his family to Saudi Arabia on January 14 amid a popular uprising.

The charges stem from an incident in the town of Ouardanin the day after his deposition, when four youths were killed as a crowd tried to prevent Mr Ben Ali's nephew, Kais Ben Ali, from fleeing the country. The victims' families allege the former president ordered the security forces to open fire on the youths.

A United Nations mission has said at least 219 people were killed in the protests that rocked the nation for weeks. A women's group has also alleged that security forces raped, tortured and robbed during the upheaval.

The Ben Ali and Trabelsi extended families were notoriously corrupt, with business interests in nearly every sector of the Tunisian economy, and the target of much public outrage after the regime fell.

Tunisia has asked Saudi Arabia to extradite Mr Ben Ali, but the request has gone unanswered. Tunisian authorities also asked the Saudis for details on the deposed president's health after rumours surfaced he had been ill or possibly died.

The country's tourism-dependent economy has struggled in the wake of the upheaval. The revolution in Egypt and continued fighting in Libya, which has occasionally spilled over into Tunisia, have only made matters worse.

The World Bank president, Robert Zoellick, on Wednesday announced the bank had granted Tunisia $500 million in "urgent budgetary aid". Speaking at a conference that capped a two-day visit to Tunis, he said the African Development Bank had agreed to provide marching funds.

The money is aimed at supporting "reforms to improve governance, transparency, laws on freedom of association, and on efforts to create jobs and promote poor regions," Mr Zoellick said. He added that he considered the country's transitional period a "really historical moment for Tunisia and for the entire region."

Tunisia's revolution, the first of many revolts that have spread throughout the Arab world this year, began in late December.