7 Top African Government Officials Who Have Died From Coronavirus + Abba Kyari
The dreaded novel coronavirus has claimed many people from all walks of life, both young and old, including that of Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari’s Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari and his Guinean counterpart, Sékou Kourouma.
News Direct takes a look at some of the notable ones below:
Sékou Kourouma (Guinea)
Guinea’s Secretary General of Government and a close friend of President Alpha Conde died from the coronavirus in Conakry on Saturday, April 18, the government said in a statement on Sunday.
Kourouma was until his death the secretary general of the government and a former minister.
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This is coming less than 24-hours after the death of the head of Guinea’s electoral body, Amadou Salif Kebe, was announced on Friday, April 17. He also died of the virus.
Jacques Joaquim Yhombi-Opango (Congo)
A former president of the Republic of Congo, Jacques Joaquim Yhombi-Opango, who was ill before contracting the coronavirus, died in a Paris hospital, his family revealed.
He was president of Congo-Brazzaville from April 1977 until he was toppled in February 1979 by the current president, Denis Sassou Nguesso.
He had also served as Prime Minister between 1992 and 1997 under the government of Pascal Lissouba, until a civil war broke out that year.
He lived in exile in France until his death, though he was allowed to return to his country home around 2007. Yhombi-Opango died on March 30, aged 81.
Ms Rose Marie Campoare (Burkina Faso)
Ms. Compaore, a leading lawmaker and the first Vice President of the parliament in Burkina Faso, became the first recorded coronavirus death in West Africa on March 17, the country’s main opposition party, the Union for Progress and Change (UPC) said in a statement.
The authorities said she was a diabetic woman, aged 62 years.
“This tragic event calls us all to recognise the scale and seriousness of the problem which confronts us all. This is a very contagious illness that is potentially fatal and that for now has no treatment aside from prevention,” said Martial Ouedraogo, the Burkina Faso’s COVID-19 response coordinator.
Major Generals Shafie Abdel Halim Dawoud and Khaled Shaltout (Egypt)
Two senior Egyptian military officials died in less than 24-hours apart from the coronavirus infection, State newspaper Al-Ahram said.
The State television said that Major General Shafie Abdel Halim Dawoud “died while fighting the coronavirus”, on March 23, without giving any detail.
Also, State media had announced on Sunday, March 22 that Major General Khaled Shaltout had died for the same reason.
Mahmoud Jibril (Libya)
Mahmoud Jibril, a former Prime Minister and the interim leader of Egypt until the country held its first free elections in 2012 following the removal of Muammar Gaddafi, died of the coronavirus in an Egyptian hospital, his party confirmed on April 5.
The 68-year-old Jibril was in Cairo where he had been hospitalised for two weeks, said Khaled al-Mrimi, secretary of the Alliance of National Forces party founded by Jibril in 2012.
Media reports said he was admitted to the hospital on March 21 after suffering a heart attack, before testing positive for the new coronavirus.
He died from complications arising from his health condition, which was aggravated by the COVID-19.
Kahlif Mumin (Somalia)
Khalif Mumin, a top official of the Hirshabelle region of Somalia and Minister of State for Justice, was the second COVID-19 related death recorded in the Horn of Africa nation, following that of Nur Adde.
He died on Sunday, April 12, at Maritini Hospital in the capital Mogadishu – Somalia’s only coronavirus treatment centre, after contracting the virus two days earlier.
Media reports said the country only recently achieved testing capacity as samples were usually sent to Nairobi, Kenya for confirmation before now.
Abba Kyari (Nigeria)
Mallam Abba Kyari, the Chief of Staff to Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari, died on Friday, weeks after testing positive to the deadly coronavirus, the Presidency announced on Friday. Kyari became the first senior public official in Nigeria to die after battling with the coronavirus.
He was buried on Saturday, according to Islamic rites, at Gudu Cemetery in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
He had tested positive to COVID-19 after returning from an official visit to Germany.
