Obituaries - Jan. 5, 1988

Gaston Eyskens, Former Belgian Prime Minister

Gaston Eyskens, 82, who headed six post-war Belgian governments. As prime minister from 1949 to 1973, Eyskens led the Belgian government during two of his country’s most difficult post-war periods--when Belgium granted independence to the Congo (now Zaire) and during serious social unrest, both in 1960. He also led the government that initiated the 1970 constitutional revision giving some autonomy to Flanders and Wallonia, the two different linguistic regions in Belgium. In Leuven, Belgium, on Sunday of unannounced causes.