Former President Le Duc Anh passes away, aged 99

Former President and Politburo member Le Duc Anh passed away Monday evening at his home in Hoang Dieu Street, Hanoi due to illness and old age, according to the board of healthcare services for senior officials. 

Former President and Politburo member Le Duc Anh
Former President and Politburo member Le Duc Anh

Le Duc Anh was born in 1920 in Phu Loc District, Thua Thien-Hue Province. 

At the time of the General Offensive and Uprising in the spring of 1968 (Tet Offensive), Anh was the Chief of Staff of the Command of the South Vietnamese Liberation Army. He served as the second-in-command of the Ho Chi Minh Campaign, the military campaign that put an end to the three-decade conflict in Vietnam and unified the country on April 30, 1975. 

Anh served as Minister of Defence from 1987 to 1991, then served as President until September 1997, playing an important role in normalising diplomatic relations between Vietnam and China and the US.

Information about his funeral will be announced later.

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