Atta Mills, Ghanaian President Dies At 68

President John Atta Evans Mills of Ghana died unexpectedly at a military hospital yesterday in Accra, less than five months to a presidential election holding on December 7. He celebrated his 68th birthday last Saturday.

Mills, who is in the last months of his first term of a four-year presidency, is known to have throat cancer and took ill on Monday night, according to aides. He had returned from medical checks from the United States some weeks ago. He is the first elected Ghanaian president to die in office and the third president of Ghana’s Fourth Republic.

The statement that announced his death was signed by his chief of staff, Mr. John Henry Martey Newman. It reads: “It is with a heavy heart and deep sorrow that we announce the sudden and untimely death of the president of the Republic of Ghana – His Excellency Professor John Evans Atta Mills.

“The death occurred at the 37 Military Hospital this afternoon while receiving medical attention after being taken ill a few hours earlier. The vice president will broadcast to the nation in due course.”