Chinese President Hu Jintao invites Ghana's President John Atta Mills (L) to view an honour guard during a welcoming ceremony inside the Great Hall of the People on September 20, 2010 in Beijing, China. Ghana's President John Atta Mills are visiting to China from September 19 to 24 2010. (Photo by Feng Li/Getty Images)
ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — State-run television in Ghana is announcing that President John Atta Mills has died at age 68.
Ghanaian television stations GTV and TV3 broke into regular programming Tuesday to announce the death of the president who was in his first term in office.
Chief of Staff John Henry Martey Newman addressed the nation on TV, saying Atta Mills died Tuesday afternoon at the 37th Military Hospital in Accra.
Newman gave no details about the cause of Atta Mills’ death. The president celebrated his 68th birthday Saturday.
Atta Mills was elected in a 2008 runoff vote that was the closest in the country’s history. He was to run for a second term in December.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
