Ghana President John Atta Mills Dead At 68

Reports are circulating that that John Atta Mills is dead. The President of Ghana has been reported to have died on Tuesday after he fell ill on Monday night.

AP:

President John Atta Mills vowed to spread Ghana’s wealth stemming from newly discovered offshore oil fields, but his death Tuesday came before he could finish his first term in this West African nation long held up as a model of democracy. He was 68.

The country’s state-run television stations GTV and TV3 broke into regular programming to announce the president’s death. Chief of Staff John Henry Martey Newman told the nation that Atta Mills had died Tuesday afternoon at the 37th Military Hospital in Accra but gave no details about the cause of his death.
Information Minister Fritz Baffour later confirmed that Atta Mills had died but also declined to comment further.

According to state-run media, Ghana’s parliament was to hold an emergency meeting immediately.
Atta Mills celebrated his 68th birthday Saturday. He served as president as Ghana began grappling with how to deal with its newfound oil wealth from offshore fields discovered in the last five years. The country, whose economy has been fueled by gold, cocoa and timber exports in the past, hopes to put the oil money to good use, mindful of how nearby Nigeria suffered through military dictatorships and widespread corruption over its oil wealth.

Atta Mills traveled to the United States in March and met for a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House. He also traveled to the U.S. in April as well, as rumors about his health began to circulate Ghana.

A government official in neighboring Ivory Coast said that he saw Atta Mills around six months ago in Ethiopia during an African Union meeting.