Former Tanzanian President Ali Hassan Mwinyi, credited with ushering the East African nation into free market economics, has died at age 98, current President Samia Suluhu Hassan said on Thursday in a television broadcast.
āIām saddened to announce the deathā¦ around 5:30 in the evening,ā President Samia Suluhu Hassan said on state television TBC1, adding that he had been receiving treatment for lung cancer.
Mwinyi had been hospitalised in London in November last year before returning to continue treatment in the main Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam, Hassan said.
“On behalf of the government, I would like to convey my condolences to the family, relatives, friends and all Tanzanians for this loss,” President Hassan said.
Tanzania will observe seven days of mourning with national flags flown at half-mast.
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