
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, August 1, 1993                   TAG: 9308010082
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: MOTRIL, SPAIN                                LENGTH: Short

PEACEMAKING BELGIAN KING DIES AT AGE 62

King Baudouin of Belgium, who helped hold together a country sharply divided between speakers of French and Flemish during his 42-year reign, died Saturday at age 62.

The Belgian news agency Belga quoted Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene as saying the king died about 9:30 p.m. after a heart attack at Motril.

The king and his wife, Queen Fabiola, had been vacationing in Motril on the Mediterranean coast of southern Spain since July 22.

The prime minister said a special meeting of government ministers would be held today. Government officials said the Cabinet would discuss interim arrangements for the succession of a new head of state and funeral arrangements.

Baudouin's reign began when he took over the throne from his father, Leopold III, who became unpopular after he refused government orders to leave Belgium in 1940.

- Associated Press

by CNB