Mystery surrounds Suha Arafat's sojourn

Mystery surrounds the status of Yasser Arafat's widow, Suha, who is in Malta after being stripped of her Tunisian citizenship.

The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that Tunisia - where she and her daughter have been living since the former Palestinian leader died in 2004 - withdrew her Tunisian citizenship.

No official explanation was given for the sudden revocation of Mrs Arafat's citizenship, nor was any reference made to Zahwa, the Arafats' 12-year-old daughter who became a Tunisian citizen on the same day as her mother.

Ms Arafat is in Malta with her daughter and other relatives, including her mother Raymonda and her brother, Jubran Taweel, who is the Palestinian ambassador to Malta.

The Maltese government had been informed in advance of Ms Arafat's visit, a government source told The Times.

She entered the country a few weeks ago with her Tunisian passport. However, once here local authorities were informed by Tunis that Mrs Arafat's passport was no longer valid.

It is understood that the Tunisian government has sent a communiqué to inform all the countries with which it has diplomatic ties that her travel documents have been revoked.

Nonetheless, as far as the government is concerned, for the time being Ms Arafat is a tourist and so far no request for diplomatic assistance or asylum has been made.

The Palestinian and Tunisian embassies were unavailable for comment.

Reports in the international press have suggested that her dispute with the Tunisian government is linked to her alleged secret marriage to Bilhassan Tarabulsi, whose sister is the wife of Tunisian President Zein El-Abidin Bin Ali.

Ms Arafat has reportedly denied the claims and attempts to contact her have so far proved futile.