Former President Le Duc Anh passes away

VGP - Former Politburo member and former President Le Duc Anh passed away at 8:10 pm on April 22 at his house on Hoang Dieu street in Ha Noi due to illness and old age, according the Board of Healthcare Services for Senior Officials.

April 23, 2019 12:10 PM GMT+7

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 Viet Nam 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 Viet Nam and China and the U.S.

Information about his funeral will be announced later.