Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and veteran of South Africa's struggle against white minority rule, has died at the age of 90.
Tutu was diagnosed with prostate cancer in the late 1990s and in recent years was hospitalised on several occasions to treat infections associated with his cancer treatment.
In a statement on behalf of the Tutu family, the Office of the Archbishop of South Africa said he, 'died peacefully at the Oasis Frail Care Centre in Cape Town this morning.' They did not give details on the cause of death.
In 1984 Tutu won the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent opposition to apartheid. A decade later, he witnessed the ends of that regime and chaired a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, set up to unearth atrocities committed during those dark days.
He preached against the tyranny of white minority and even after its end, never wavered in his fight for a fairer South Africa, calling the black political elite to account with as much vigour as he had the white Afrikaners.
In his final years, he regretted that his dream of a 'Rainbow Nation' had not yet come true.
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