JUST IN: Ex-president of Congo dies of coronavirus

The Democratic Republic of Congo has lost its former president, Jacques Joaquim Yhombi-Opango, who died after contracting the deadly coronavirus.

Aljazeera reports that the 81-year-old died in a Paris hospital on Monday, 30th March 2020.

Yhombi-Opango was ill before he contracted the virus, his sonJean-Jacques told AFP news agency.

Yhombi Opango led Congo-Brazzaville from 1977 until he was toppled in 1979.

The ex-president was ousted by the country's current leader, Denis Sassou Nguesso.

Born in 1939 in the country's northern Cuvette region, Yhombi-Opango was an army officer who rose to power after the assassination of President Marien Ngouabi.

Yhombi-Opango fled into exile in France after a civil war broke out in Congo in 1997 but returned home in 2007.

Until his death on Monday, he divided his time between France and Congo because of his health problems.

Aljezeera