Former deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland Martin McGuinness has died, aged 66.
His passing comes just weeks after the controversial politician – the former commander of the Provisional IRA – was diagnosed with a rare incurable disease.
It emerged last week McGuinness’ health had seriously deteriorated after he was rushed into hospital a fortnight ago – and that close friends had been ‘praying for him’.
He stunned the political world when he appeared frail and dramatically announced his retirement from politics at a press conference in January ‘due to illness’.
Sinn Féin previously said McGuinness’s health is a private matter – and that they would not discuss it further.
It is understood however that he was suffering from an extremely rare condition that attacks the heart and other vital organs.
He was also rumoured to have been suffering from severe side effects of his treatment where he was being cared for at the Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry.
A pivotal figure in Irish republicanism over the last 40 years, McGuinness will likely be remembered in Northern Ireland as Sinn Féin’s chief negotiator during the peace proces.
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When Martin McGuinness met the Queen
But on the UK mainland he will likely be more famously remembered as a former leader of the Irish Republican Army – who for decades believed that political violence was necessary to achieve the goal of a united Ireland.
However McGuinness established a warm friendship with the DUP founder Ian Paisley when power sharing was restored in 2007.
He was recently replaced as Sinn Féin’s leader in Northern Irealnd by Micheele O’Neill.