BREAKING: Tunisia President Dies At 92

BREAKING: Tunisia President Dies At 92

A file photo taken on November 8, 2018, shows Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi giving a press conference in Carthage Palace near Tunis concerning the cabinet reshuffle. AFP

Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi, the North African country’s first democratically elected leader, died Thursday at the age of 92, his office said.

The veteran politician, the oldest head of state after Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, came to power in 2014, three years after the Arab Spring uprising toppled longtime despot Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and sparked revolts in several Arab nations.

He had been hospitalised with a severe illness in late June and was returned to intensive care on Thursday.