Desmond Tutu, foe of apartheid, dies at 90

JOHANNESBURG－South Africa's former archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and veteran of the country's struggle against white minority rule, died on Sunday aged 90, the presidency said.

Tutu won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his nonviolent opposition to apartheid.

The outspoken Tutu was considered the country's conscience by both black and white, an enduring testament to his faith and spirit of reconciliation in the nation.

Tutu was diagnosed with prostate cancer in the late 1990s and in recent years he was admitted to hospital on several occasions to treat infections associated with his cancer treatment.

The presidency gave no details on the cause of death.

"The passing of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu is another chapter of bereavement in our nation's farewell to a generation of outstanding South Africans who have bequeathed us a liberated South Africa," President Cyril Ramaphosa said.

Tutu preached against the tyranny of the white minority, and even after its end he never wavered in his fight for a fairer South Africa, calling the black political elite to account with as much feistiness as he had the white Afrikaners.

"Ultimately, at the age of 90, he died peacefully at the Oasis Frail Care Centre in Cape Town this morning," Ramphela Mamphele, acting chairperson of the Archbishop Desmond Tutu IP Trust and Coordinator of the Office of the Archbishop, said on behalf of the Tutu family.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Sunday said that he was "deeply saddened" by the death of Tutu.

"He was a critical figure in the fight against apartheid and in the struggle to create a new South Africa－and will be remembered for his spiritual leadership and irrepressible good humor," Johnson tweeted.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Sunday joined fellow world leaders in mourning Tutu saying his death is "a big blow" to the entire African continent.

A frail-looking Tutu was seen in October being wheeled into his former parish at St George's Cathedral in Cape Town, which used to be a haven for anti-apartheid activists, for a special Thanksgiving service marking his 90th birthday.

His courage in defending social justice, even at great cost to himself, always shone through and not just during apartheid, Reuters says.

He often fell out with his erstwhile allies at the ruling African National Congress, or ANC party over their failures to tackle poverty and inequalities that they promised to eradicate.

Just 1.68 meters tall and with an infectious giggle, he helped rouse grassroots campaigns around the world that fought for an end to apartheid through economic and cultural boycotts.

Talking and traveling tirelessly throughout the 1980s, Tutu became the face of the anti-apartheid movement abroad, while many of the leaders of the ANC, such as Nelson Mandela, were behind bars.

Agencies - Xinhua