Former Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has died, aged 95.
His family told the BBC that he'd been battling illness, and confirmed the death.
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"It is with the utmost sadness that I announce the passing on of Zimbabwe's founding father and former President, Cde Robert Mugabe," a post on Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa's Twitter account said.
"His contribution to the history of our nation will never be forgotten.
"May his soul rest in eternal peace."
Zimbabwe education secretary Fadzayi Mahere also offered her condolences.
"Rest in peace, Robert Mugabe," she said. "Deepest condolences to his family."
Mugabe was ousted in a military coup in 2017, ending his three-decade reign.
He was feted as an African liberation hero and champion of racial reconciliation when he first came to power in a nation divided by nearly a century of white colonial rule.
Nearly four decades later, many at home and abroad denounced him as a power-obsessed autocrat willing to unleash death squads, rig elections and trash the economy in the relentless pursuit of control.
He demonstrated his tenacity - some might say stubbornness - to the last, refusing to accept his expulsion from his own ZANU-PF party and clinging on for a week until parliament started to impeach him after the de facto coup.
Educated and urbane, Mugabe took power in 1980 after seven years of a liberation bush war and - until the army’s takeover - was the only leader Zimbabwe, formerly Rhodesia, knew since independence from Britain.
Newshub/Reuters
