TUNIS, Jan 31 (Saba) - The leader of Tunisia's main Islamist movement Rachid Ghanouchi and about 70 other exiled members has returned home after 22 years in exile following the ousting of President Ben Ali earlier this month.

Thousands of people went to the airport to welcome Rachid Ghannouchi, 69, as he arrived in Tunis from London.

Ghanouchi has stated he will not run in the next presidential poll but his party will contest a parliamentary election.

Mr. Ghannouchi told the BBC in a interview last week that officials from Mr Ben Ali's former party, the RCD, should leave the transition government, and that Tunisia could benefit from a coalition government that would build consensus, at next for the next few years.

Mr. Ghanouchi, 69, left the country as Ben Ali came to power in 1987. In 1991, he was convicted in absentia to life in prison, as were most of the party's leaders.

MD
Saba