Tanzanian President John Magufuli dies at 61

Tanzanian President John Magufuli died Sunday at a hospital in the country's largest city, Dar es Salaam, Vice President Samia Suluhu announced on national television. He was 61. Suluhu said Magufuli died of heart failure, after a decade of heart problems.

Magufuli had not been seen in public since late February, The Associated Press reports, and government officials had previously denied he was ill. In the last year, Magufuli, who had served as president since 2015, emerged as a prominent COVID-19 denier, and Tanzania stopped reporting tallies of confirmed coronavirus infections and fatalities in April 2020.

During his presidency, BBC notes, Magufuli was known for his anti-corruption policies and slashing extravagant government spending, but he was also accused of cracking down on the opposition and curtailing certain freedoms. Read more at The Associated Press and BBC.

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