Martin McGuinness, Northern Ireland’s former deputy first minister, died Tuesday of a rare health disease. He was 66.
A key figure in the Northern Ireland peace process, McGuinness had been suffering from amyloidosis, a rare genetic disease, according to the Irish Times.
The former leader of the Sinn Fein political party died at the Altnagelvin hospital in the northern Irish city of Derry surrounded by his family.
“It is with deep regret and sadness that we have learnt of the death of our friend and comrade Martin McGuinness who passed away in Derry during the night,” Sinn Fein said in a statement released early Tuesday.
His death came two months after he resigned as Northern Ireland’s deputy first minister, citing his health and the breakdown in relations with the rival Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) as the reasons for his withdrawal from the power-sharing arrangement.
Sinn Fein refused to appoint a replacement for McGuinness in January due to a row with the DUP, its partner in a power-sharing government set up to bring peace to the province.
That triggered local elections in which Sinn Fein made major gains against the DUP and the two parties are currently deadlocked, meaning that the British government could impose direct rule of Northern Ireland from London.
Ten years ago in May, McGuinness had made history by entering a government with his once bitter foe, Ian Paisley of the DUP.
The decision to share power was a key part of the peace process in Northern Ireland, after enduring three decades of violence in which more than 3,500 people died.
McGuinness was a commander in the IRA paramilitary group that fought for the province to leave Britain and join the Republic of Ireland to the south.
In a memorable gesture that would once have been unimaginable, he shook hands with Queen Elizabeth II during her visit to Belfast in 2012.
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