FORMER Tunisian president Habib Bourguiba has died aged 96. Bourguiba died in Monastir, 160km south of Tunis. The former president, who led his country to independence from France in 1956, had been ill for some time. He was removed from power in 1987 following allegations that he had become senile. Bourguiba created a moderate, pro-western regime that sought to reduce the influence of religion on society, in particular guaranteeing the rights of women economically, in marriage and in everyday life. After studying law in Paris he became a barrister in Tunis at the age of 24. Five years later, in 1932, he founded a nationalist newspaper in French, and in 1934 founded the Neo-Destour party, becoming from that point on the key figure in Tunisia’s independence struggle.