Former US Secretary of State Collin Powell dies aged 84
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At the age of 84, Colin Powell, the first black person to become Secretary of State, died of COVID-19.
According to a Facebook post, Powell had received a full vaccination against the disease.
“We have lost an extraordinary husband, father, grandfather and great American today,” the family said in a statement.
In the United States, Powell was one of the most prominent African Americans.
Three Republican presidents have appointed him to senior positions, and he served as the top commander of the U.S. military.
From 1987 to 1989, Powell served as Ronald Reagan’s national security adviser after being wounded in the Vietnam War.
During George H.W. Bush’s presidency as well as the 1991 Gulf War, he served as commander-in-chief of the American armed forces.
Powell was appointed Secretary of State in 2000 by George W. Bush, a position he held until 2004.
Powell will be remembered for allegedly providing false information to the UN Security Council on February 5, 2003, to justify the US-led invasion of Iraq that toppled Saddam Hussein.
He later admitted that the information was inaccurate and was based on false intelligence.
