Obituaries - Jan. 27, 1993

Hedi Nouira; Second Prime Minister of Tunisia

Hedi Nouira, 82, who campaigned for Tunisian independence and headed the government throughout the 1970s. He was finance minister in the government of Prime Minister Bahi Ladgham after independence from France in 1956 and was the first governor of the Central Bank of Tunisia. Nouira was born in Monastir, the hometown of former President Habib Bourguiba, and trained as a lawyer. He began his political career with Bourguiba, helping found the Neo-Destour Party in 1934. The party campaigned for independence, and Nouira was its Paris representative. He became the North African nation’s second prime minister in 1970. Nouira left politics in 1980 after suffering a heart attack. In Tunis on Monday after what was described as a long illness.