Desmond Tutu, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights, has died aged 90.
Announcing the death, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said it was 'another chapter of bereavement in our nation’s farewell to a generation of outstanding South Africans who have bequeathed us a liberated South Africa'.
An uncompromising foe of apartheid in South Africa, Tutu worked tirelessly and peacefully for its downfall.
The buoyant, blunt-spoken clergyman used his pulpit as the first black bishop of Johannesburg and later Archbishop of Cape Town as well as frequent public demonstrations to galvanise public opinion against racial inequity both at home and globally.
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Mr Ramaphosa added: "From the pavements of resistance in South Africa to the pulpits of the world’s great cathedrals and places of worship, and the prestigious setting of the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, the arch distinguished himself as a non-sectarian, inclusive champion of universal human rights."
The Bishop of Manchester Rt Rev David Walker said Tutu 'lit up any room he walked into'.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4 the Bishop said Tutu had lived a 'long and incredible life'.
He added: "He was friend of Nelson Mandela, but never his creature, never anybody's creature, apart from God's creature.
"[He was] a great man of the bible, a man of faith. A man who lit up any room he walked into.
"Like Ghandi he was adamantly non-violent. He was equally critical of the violence committed by the apartheid regime and the violence committed by those attempting to overthrow it.
"That sense of the importance of peace at the heart of achieving justice. You can only get reconciliation if you're willing to believe in people of peace.
"Even after apartheid was no long in South Africa he continued to be a challenging critic of dictatorships in Southern Africa and people like Robert Mugabe who he felt were seriously undermining the whole liberation process."
