Tanzania President John Pombe Magufuli has died, aged 61.
The news was confirmed by the Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan in a televised statement.
She said that Mr Magufuli died on Wednesday at 6p.m. from heart complications, at a hospital in Dar es Salaam.
The two week absence of the president from public functions had ignited speculations across social media, though local media had reported last week Mr. Magufuli had been admitted in the hospital.
Mr. Magufuli was last seen in public on February 27 at the swearing-in ceremony of his chief of staff at the State House government offices in Dar es Salaam.
