South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, icon of the struggle against apartheid, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, has passed away

South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, an icon of the struggle against apartheid and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, has died at the age of 91, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced.

On behalf of all South Africans, the President expressed his "deep sorrow" over the death of Desmond Tutu, an outstanding figure in South African history.

"The death of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu is a new chapter of sadness in our nation's farewell to a generation of exceptional South Africans who left us a liberated South Africa," President Ramaphosa said in a statement.

"A man of extraordinary intelligence, integrated and invincible against the forces of apartheid, he was at once tender and sensitive in his compassion for those who suffered oppression, injustice and violence under apartheid, and for the oppressed and oppressors throughout the world," Ramaphosa said. .

The archbishop had been weak for several months. He no longer appeared in public, but he would always greet the ever-present cameras with a smile when he moved somewhere, when he went to receive an anti-covid vaccine in a hospital or during the celebration of his 90th birthday in Cape Town in October.