Top Tanzanian diplomat and cabinet minister Ambassador Mahiga dies at 75

01 Mai 2020

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania,  May 1 (Infosplusgabon) - Tanzanian seasoned diplomat and cabinet minister, Ambassador Augustine Philip Mahiga, died at dawn on Friday in the capital Dodoma after a short illness. He was 75.

President John Magufuli said in a statement that Ambassador Mahiga, who until his death was the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, fell sick suddenly while at home. He was rushed to the hospital only to be declared dead on arrival.

He described the late Ambassador Mahiga as "a hard working, upright, patriot and prominent diplomat" who represented Tanzania at the international level for many years.

“Despite his old age and his experience of holding various posts at the national and international levels, the late Ambassador Mahiga was humble and submissive in all the duties I assigned him,” stated the President on Friday morning.

He served as Tanzania’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 2003 to 2010, before he was appointed UN Special Envoy for Somalia between June 2010 and June 2013.

When President Magufuli came to power in 2015, he nominated Ambassador Mahiga as a Member of Parliament and thereafter appointed him to the cabinet as Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

In a cabinet reshuffle in 2019, he was moved to the Justice and Constitutional Affairs portfolio.

FIN/ INFOSPLUSGABON/MPO/GABON2020

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