Tunisian president hospitalized 'in severe health crisis
Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi, 92, a major
player since the country’s transition to democracy since 2011, was on Thursday
taken to a military hospital after suffering a “severe health crisis”, the
presidency said.
One of his advisers told Reuters he was in a “very
critical” condition but was alive. No more details were immediately available.
Essebsi was hospitalized last week as well, for what
the presidency described as non-serious treatment.
Essebsi has been a prominent figure in Tunisia since
the overthrow of autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011 which set the North
African country on a path to democracy, avoiding the more violent upheavals
seen in the rest of the region.
He led the immediate transition as prime minister in
2011 and was elected president three years later. Essebsi was a senior figure
before 2011, having served as foreign minister under state founder Habib
Bourguiba and parliamentary speaker under Ben Ali.
He said in June he would not run for a second term
in presidential elections this year, despite his party’s calls for him to
stand. The party has not identified another candidate yet.
