Bulgarian President Hmfor Jivkov attended anniversary celebrations marking the withdrawal of French troops from Bizerta and Tunisia's independence as part of his state visit to Tunis on Wednesday (15 October).

President Jivkov joined in the celebrations which mark the 12th anniversary of Tunisia's independence from the French.

The country won independence in 1956, but it wasn't until 1963 that the last French force quite the county ... withdrawing from their giant military base at Bizerta, near Tunis.

Bloody fighting just prior to the withdrawal cost 800 Tunisian lives...and President Jivkov laid a wreath at a memorial to the dead.

But Before joining in the Bizerta celebrations, the Bulgarian President addressed Tunisia's National Assembly and delivered proposal for peace in the Middle East.

Mr. Jivkov said that the Bulgarian solution for lasting peace in the Middle East required total withdrawal by Israel from all territory taken since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.