Béchir Ben Yahmed ( ar, البشير بن يحمد) (2 April 1928 – 3 May 2021) was a Tunisian-French journalist. He founded the weekly news magazine ''

Jeune Afrique ''Jeune Afrique'' (English: ''Young Africa'') is a French-language pan-African weekly news magazine, founded in 1960 in Tunis and subsequently published in Paris. It is the most widely read pan-African magazine. It is also a book publisher, un ...

'' and served as its CEO. He also founded the newspaper '.

Biography

The son of a trader, Ben Yahmed was born in

Djerba Djerba (; ar, جربة, Jirba, ; it, Meninge, Girba), also transliterated as Jerba or Jarbah, is a Tunisian island and the largest island of North Africa at , in the Gulf of Gabès, off the coast of Tunisia. It had a population of 139,544 ...

in 1928. After earning a diploma from

HEC Paris HEC Paris (french: École des hautes études commerciales de Paris) is a business school, and one of the most prestigious and selective grandes écoles, located in Jouy-en-Josas, France. HEC offers Master in Management, MSc International F ...

, he served on a Tunisian delegation for autonomy and negotiation on independence. In April 1955, he founded the weekly newspaper ''L'Action'', which closed in September 1958. On 15 April 1956, he was nominated to be Secretary of State of Information in the cabinet of

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Habib Bourguiba Habib Bourguiba (; ar, الحبيب بورقيبة, al-Ḥabīb Būrqībah; 3 August 19036 April 2000) was a Tunisian lawyer, nationalist leader and statesman who led the country from 1956 to 1957 as the prime minister of the Kingdom of ...

. He never sat on the due to the fact that he did not meet the age requirement. After Bourguiba became

President of Tunisia The president of Tunisia, officially the president of the Tunisian Republic ( ar, رئيس الجمهورية التونسية), is the head of state of Tunisia. Tunisia is a presidential republic, whereby the president is the head of state ...

, Ben Yahmed resigned from government. On 17 October 1960, he founded ''Afrique Action''. He then founded ''Jeune Afrique'' on 21 November 1961. In May 1962, he emigrated to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

and subsequently

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

in 1964. On 2 April 1969, he married his wife, Danielle, in Rome, with whom he had two sons: Marwane and Amir. Their sons served in executive positions at ''Jeune Afrique''. Relations between Ben Yahmed and Tunisian President

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali Zine El Abidine Ben Ali ( ar, زين العابدين بن علي, translit=Zayn al-'Ābidīn bin 'Alī; 3 September 1936 – 19 September 2019), commonly known as Ben Ali ( ar, بن علي) or Ezzine ( ar, الزين), was a Tunisian politician ...

were very good. President Ben Ali saved ''Jeune Afrique'' by injecting millions of

Tunisian dinar The dinar ( ar, دينار, french: Dinar, ISO 4217 currency code: ''TND'') is the currency of Tunisia. It is subdivided into 1000 milim or millimes (). The abbreviation ''DT'' is often used in Tunisia, although writing "dinar" after the amount ...

s into the company. Satirical newspaper ''

Le Canard enchaîné (; English: "The Chained Duck" or "The Chained Paper", as is French slang meaning "newspaper") is a satirical weekly newspaper in France. Its headquarters is in Paris. Founded in 1915 during World War I, it features investigative journalism a ...

'' reported that "helping ''Jeune Afrique'' is not a wish, it is a presidential instruction", referring to the financial operation to save the magazine. Ben Yahmed served as CEO of ''Jeune Afrique'' until 14 October 2007, when he was succeeded by François Soudan. By then, the magazine had been a well-established source of information on the entire African continent. He had also founded Éditions du Jaguar and ''La Revue''. Béchir Ben Yahmed died of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

Lariboisière Hospital Lariboisière Hospital (french: Hôpital Lariboisière) is a hospital in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, France. The hospital was one of several built following the second cholera pandemic, which had reached Paris in 1832, and which led to ...

in Paris on 3 May 2021, at the age of 93.

Publications

*''Ce que je crois, tome 1 : Les années d'espoir 1960-1979'' (1998) *''Ce que je crois, tome 2 : Face aux crises 1980-1996'' (1998) *''Ce que je crois, chroniques 2001'' (2002) *''Ce que je crois, chroniques 2002'' (2003)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yahmed, Bechir Ben 1928 births 2021 deaths Tunisian journalists French journalists Tunisian emigrants to France HEC Paris alumni People from Djerba Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in France