Tunisians, world leaders bury Arab Spring president who died in office

Tunisians and world leaders paid their final respects yesterday to the country’s first democratically elected president, Beji Caid Essebsi, who died in office at 92, leaving the North African nation facing new political uncertainty.

Thousands of people lined the route of the funeral cortège, crying ‘Long Live Tunisia!’ and waving red-and-white Tunisian flags. Some wept openly.

The king of Spain, president of France and emir of Qatar were among several world leaders attending the ceremony at the presidential palace in Tunis.

Exceptional security measures were in place after threats linked to the ‘Islamic State’ terrorist group. The 20-kilometre cortège route was closed to traffic, from the palace to the Jellaz cemetery on the other side of the city.

Essebsi won Tunisia’s first free election after the 2011 uprising that brought democracy to the country and unleashed similar uprisings around the Arab world.

Upon his death, parliament chief Mohamed Ennaceur took over as interim president pending a new election on 15 September.

A tearful Ennaceur praised Essebsi for “defending the values of liberty, the law and the prestige of the state, and making dialogue, consensus and peaceful transitions prevail.”

“You will remain at our sides as a symbol and a model,” Ennaceur added, promising to pursue a democratic path.

The centrist Essebsi was seen as a unifying figure after the upheaval of the 2011 uprising, though he did not manage to pull Tunisia out of economic troubles or stem sporadic extremist attacks.

International speakers described his death as a loss for the Arab-Muslim world and the Mediterranean region.

President of Malta George Vella attended the funeral yesterday, where he spoke and saluted the memory of President Essebsi in the name of the government and the Maltese people.

Vella observed how Essebsi had played a major role in the political life of Tunisia by paving the way towards a constitutional democracy that guarantees fundamental human rights and democratic elections.

Vella said the world, and the Mediterranean region in particular, lost a statesman, but that his memory will live on.

President George Vella at the funeral