Former Malian president Toumani Touré dies

Toure passed away on Monday in a hospital in Turkey, his family said.

He was 72.

Touré was president of Mali from 2002 to 2012 before being overthrown in a military coup.

He was recovering from a heart operation he had in Bamako before his condition deteriorated, prompting his evacuation to Turkey, according to his doctor.

Amadou Toumani Touré, a former soldier who came to power through an election was pushed out by mutinous soldiers angry at his government’s inability to stop a militant insurgency in the north of the country.