Habib Bourguiba his election as head of the assembly, to form a cabinet. On 15 April, Bourguiba introduced his cabinet including one deputy prime minister, Bahi Ladgham, two state ministers, eleven ministers and two secretaries of state. Furthermore, Bourguiba combined the offices of Minister of Foreign Affairs and Defense. Therefore, he became the 20th Head of government of Tunisia and the second of the Kingdom of Tunisia. He expressed, once officially inaugurated as Prime minister, his will to "enforce sovereignty bases by perfecting the means inside the country and abroad, put this sovereignty only under the service of Tunisian's interests, implementing a
Habib Bourguiba Bourguiba was rushed to the Tunis military hospital, following a pneumonitis. His condition deemed critical, he underwent thoracentesis ICU. His health improved, he left hospital on 13 March to get back to his house in Monastir. He died there at officially 96 years old, on 6 April 2000 at 9:50 pm . President Ben Ali, therefore, proclaimed a seven days national mourning while Algeria announced a three days one. Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika stated that Bourguiba was "One of the Maghreb most influential personalities of the 20th century, which Africa and the entire world can boast". Meanwhile, the Secretary-General of