TUNIS, July 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Tunisians bade farewell to the country’s first democratically elected president, Beji Caid Essebsi, on Saturday in a state funeral attended by leaders from France, Spain, Qatar and Algeria.
Essebsi, 92, died on Thursday almost five years after he took office. He was elected president in December 2014 and subsequently steered Tunisia through its democratic transition in the wake of the 2011 uprising that toppled long-time autocrat Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Essebsi’s coffin, draped in the Tunisian flag, was brought into a hall inside the presidential palace in Tunis, where dignitaries and family members gathered to pay their last respects.
French President Emmanuel Macron, Spain’s King Felipe VI, Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Algeria’s interim President Abdelkader Bensalah were among the heads of state and government who took part in the funeral.
Some attendees spoke to pay tribute to the late leader before the coffin was carried out and loaded onto a military carriage.
Guards of honour on horses moved on both sides of the funeral procession.
Security forces deployed along roads leading to a cemetery around 7 kilometres from the presidential palace, where Essebsi was later laid to rest. Army helicopters flew overhead.
Crowds of Tunisians, some of them holding the national flag, lined the route in the sweltering heat.
“I’ve come to pay a final farewell to him,” Najwa al-Khadhiri, said, adding she had voted for him in the 2014 election.
“Essebsi will leave a big power vacuum,” she added.
Samir al-Baghuli, another mourner, said he did not vote for Essebsi. “But I respected his frankness, love for Tunisia and ability to unify Tunisians,” he told dpa.
“We are proud of this [funeral] procession and this patriotic spirit,” al-Baghuli added.
Verses from the Koran were heard over loudspeakers at nearby mosques in remembrance of the late leader.
Security forces had fanned out across Tunis and closed several roads as part of heavy security for the funeral and the procession.
Shortly after Essebsi’s death on Thursday, parliamentary Speaker Mohamed Ennaceur was sworn in as interim president. The 2014 constitution states that the head of parliament can take office for a maximum period of 90 days.
The electoral commission also rescheduled an upcoming presidential election to September 15. The vote had been originally slated for November 17.
Tunisia is widely seen as the sole democratic success story of the 2010-11 Arab Spring revolts, but has struggled with an economic slowdown, social unrest and militant attacks.
