The president of the West African nation of Ghana, John Evans Atta
Mills, has died, his chief of staff said in a statement Tuesday.
He died at a military
hospital Tuesday afternoon a few hours
after becoming ill, according to
the statement, signed by John Henry Martey Newman. The vice president
will address the nation soon, the statement said.
He was 68.
Mills was a former law professor and a tax expert. He was Ghana's vice president from 1997 to 2000.
Before his political
career, he taught at the University of Ghana and also was a visiting
lecturer at Temple University in Pennsylvania and Leiden University in
Holland.
Mills ran for president unsuccessfully in 2000 and 2004 before narrowly winning a runoff in 2009.
U.S. President Barack
Obama met with Mills when he visited Ghana in July 2009. Obama praised
the country as a model for democracy and stability when Mills visited
Washington this year.
"Ghana has become a
wonderful success story economically on the continent," Obama said. "In
part because of the initiatives of President Mills, you've seen high
growth rates over the last several years. Food productivity and food
security is up. There's been strong foreign investment."
Part of a former British
colony, Ghana was among the first African countries to gain
independence, in 1957. It endured a series of coups before a military
dictator, Jerry Rawlings, took power in 1981. Rawlings led Ghana through
a transition to democracy about 10 years later.
Vice President John
Dramani Mahama, 53, is a former member of Ghana's Parliament who has
served as director of communication for the National Democratic Congress
party.