Death of Bashir Ben Yahmed, founder of Jeune Afrique magazine
Béchir Ben Yahmed, the founder of Jeune Afrique, in his office in Paris, rue d'Auteuil, in 2010. Vincent Fournier / JA
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The founder of Jeune Afrique magazine, Béchir Ben Yahmed, has passed away.
He passed away this Monday morning, May 3, in Paris at the age of 93.
He had been hospitalized since the end of March, after contracting Covid-19.
Franco-Tunisian, Béchir Ben Yahmed had founded the magazine which would become "JA" in 1960, year of many African independence.
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Béchir Ben Yahmed was born in Djerba in 1928, in Tunisia under French protectorate.
Son of a trader, he campaigned for independence alongside Habib Bourguiba, of whom he was for a time Secretary of State for Information when he was only 28 years old.
He already created his first magazine:
L'Action
, in 1956. He left the government and then founded
Afrique Action
in 1960,
later renamed
Jeune Afrique
.
Béchir Ben Yahmed then left for Rome, then moved to Paris where the premises of "JA" are still located today.
Anti-colonialist journalist and columnist, Béchir Ben Yahmed met Nasser, Che Guevara, Lumumba, and interviewed Ho Chi Min.
Press boss described as very demanding and resilient, he weathered storms.
Publication bans, economic difficulties ... Over the years, around the newspaper, a group is formed: publishing house, events and
website
.
At the end of the 2000s, Béchir Ben Yahmed passed the baton to his sons, Amir and Marwane, as well as to the current editor-in-chief, François Sudan who describes Béchir Ben Yahmed as the DNA of "JA" and a great witness. from the post-colonial period.
The Jeune Afrique group plans to publish the memoirs of Béchir Ben Yahmed in the coming months.
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