PARIS (AP) - Chadian Prime Minister Pascal Yoadimnadji died Friday at a Paris hospital following a brain hemorrhage, the African nation's ambassador to France said. He was 56.
Yoadimnadji died shortly after midnight at Val de Grace military hospital in Paris. He had been evacuated to France on Wednesday after falling ill and slipping into a coma in Chad, Ambassador Moukhtar Wawa Dahab told The Associated Press.
His wife, who accompanied Yoadimnadji to Paris, will repatriate his body to Chad, the ambassador said. He said they had no children.
``On Wednesday, he felt ill. He fell into a coma,'' he said. He added that Yoadimnadji received medical attention in Chad before being evacuated on an ambulance plane.
Chadian President Idriss Deby appointed Yoadimnadji, a lawyer, as head of government in 2005. He replaced Moussa Faki Mahamat, who had resigned.
Deby seized power in a 1990 coup. Chadian rebels aiming to topple him have clashed sporadically with government forces since 2005. The competition for power in the central African nation has become more intense since Chad began exporting oil in 2003. In April 2006, a rebel group reached the capital, N'djamena, before it was crushed by government forces.
There are fears Chad's conflict is being worsened by a spillover of violence from Sudan's western region of Darfur.
Yoadimnadji had served in several government posts, including as agriculture minister. In 1996, he directed the Independent National Electoral Commission for the country's first multi-party elections. He also presided over the country's Constitutional Council, which judges whether laws are constitutional.
``The prime minister was a great statesman,'' said Chad's Foreign Minister Ahmad Allam Mi. ``He was also a great unifier of the Chadian people.''
No comments:
Post a Comment