Nobel Peace Prize winner and former South African President FW de Klerk reportedly dead, he died at the age of 85.
He was diagnosed with mesothelioma, cancer that affects the tissue that lines the lungs, in March.
De Klerk headed South Africa’s white minority government until 1994, when Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress party swept to power.
He was head of state between September 1989 and May 1994.
In 1990, he ordered Nelson Mandela’s release from prison, leading to historic elections that brought the anti-apartheid leader to power.
De Klerk shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Mandela for helping to negotiate an end to apartheid. But his legacy divides opinion in South Africa.
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