Former president of Angola, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who ruled for nearly four decades, has died at the age of 79, the nation’s presidency announced on Friday.

Dos Santos died at 11.10am Spanish time at the Barcelona Teknon clinic following a prolonged illness, the presidency said.

It added that dos Santos, who ruled Angola for almost 40 years from 1979, was “a statesman of great historical scale who governed … the Angolan nation through very difficult times.”

According to AFP, Dos Santos had mostly lived in Barcelona since stepping down in 2017 and he reportedly had been undergoing treatment there for health problems.

Angola’s current head of state, Joao Lourenco, announced five days of national mourning starting on Friday, when the country’s flag will fly at half-staff and public events are canceled.

However, one of Dos Santos’ daughters demanded an autopsy be carried out on the body on suspicion of foul play.

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While the former president was lying in hospital earlier this week, Tchize Dos Santos filed suit with the Catalan regional police, alleging her father’s condition was the result of attempted murder.

According to the complaint, she believed her father’s wife, Ana Paula, and his personal physician were responsible for the deterioration in his health, one of her lawyers said.

He was hospitalised in Spain and placed in intensive care after suffering a cardiac arrest on June 23.

One of Africa’s longest-serving leaders, dos Santos came to power four years after Angola gained independence from Portugal and became enmeshed in the Cold War as a proxy battlefield. His rule was marked by a brutal civil war lasting nearly three decades against US-backed UNITA rebels and a subsequent oil-fuelled boom.

The Star