A former president of Ghana, Jerry Rawlings, has died from complications of the deadly COVID-19.
Rawlings died at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, capital of Ghana, on Thursday morning.
A military ruler, who later joined politics, Rawlings ruled Ghana from 1981 to 2001.
He led a military junta until 1992, and then served two terms as the democratically elected president of Ghana.
After initially handing power over to a civilian government, he took back control of the country on 31 December 1981, as the chairman of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC).
Rawlings then resigned from the military, founded the National Democratic Congress (NDC), and became the first president of the Fourth Republic.
He was re-elected in 1996 for four more years.
He was born on June 22, 1947.