by Rachel Ogbu

Global icon and former president of South Africa, Nelson Rolihlahla is dead, the BBC has confirmed.

Mandela served 27 years in prison, more famously on Robben Island, and was the beneficiary of perhap’s the world’s most unifying campaign for the release of one prisoner. He worked with President F.W. de Klert to end apartheid and formed a Government of National Unity as well as pulled through a new constitution and the famous truth and Reconcilitation Commission.

Fondly called Madiba, his death follows a protracted illness, which took a turn for the worse after a lung infection forced him to be hospitalised, on 8 June – the fourth time this year. He was also rumoured dead at least once this year, with a fierce conflict erupting within his family and with the government over his state.

He was born on 18 July, 1919. Married three times, he is survived by his wife, Grace Machel, six children and 17 grandchildren.

President Barack Obama in a statement  said: “I cannot imagine my own life without Mandela’s example.”

More details to follow.