Former Angolan president Jose Eduardo dos Santos dies at 79

Former Angolan president José Eduardo dos Santos has died in a clinic in Barcelona, Spain after an illness, the Angolan government said

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Former Angolan president José Eduardo dos Santos died Friday in a clinic in Barcelona, Spain after an illness, the Angolan government said.

He was 79 years old and died following a long illness, the government said in an announcement on its Facebook page.

The announcement said dos Santos, who ruled Angola for almost 40 years from 1979, was “a statesman of great historical scale who governed ... the Angolan nation through very difficult times.”