Ghana's President Atta Mills died at age 68

ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — John Atta Mills, who was elected president in the closest vote in Ghana's history and then led the West African country amid newfound oil wealth, died Tuesday just months before the end of his first term. He was 68.
Ghanaian state-run television stations GTV and TV3 broke into regular programming to announce the president's death. Chief of Staff John Henry Martey Newman told the nation that Atta Mills had died Tuesday afternoon at the 37th Military Hospital in Accra but gave no details about the cause of his death.
Information Minister Fritz Baffour later confirmed that Atta Mills had died but also declined to comment further.
According to state-run media, Ghana's parliament was to hold an emergency meeting immediately.
The president celebrated his 68th birthday Saturday. Atta Mills served as president as Ghana began grappling with how to deal with its newfound oil wealth from offshore fields discovered in the last five years. The country, whose economy has been fueled by gold, cocoa and timber exports in the past, hopes to put the oil money to good use, mindful of how nearby Nigeria suffered through military dictatorships and widespread corruption over its oil wealth.
Atta Mills traveled to the United States in March and met for a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House. He also traveled to the U.S. in April as well, as rumors about his health began to circulate Ghana.
A government official in neighboring Ivory Coast said that he saw Atta Mills around six months ago in Ethiopia during an African Union meeting.

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