German veteran leader, EU visionary Kohl dies
BERLIN: Germany’s longest serving post-war leader Helmut Kohl, the and an architect of European integration, died Friday (Saturday in Manila) at the age of 87.
Kohl helped a Germany that was split during the Cold War between a capitalist west and a communist east make the traumatic
contemporary history also worked with France’s Francois Mitterrand to shape the European project and pushed Germans to part with their cherished Deutschmarks in favor of the single European currency, the euro.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel gave a moving tribute to her mentor, declaring that “Kohl changed my life decisively.”
Merkel, who grew up in the communist German Democratic Republic, said that thanks to him, she, “like millions of other people, could leave a life of GDR dictatorship and enter into a life of freedom.”
“All that has happened in the past 27 years from then until today would have been unimaginable without Helmut Kohl,” said Merkel, dressed in black.
truly be able to measure what we have lost with his passing,” Merkel said, adding that she was “personally thankful that he was there.”
- ory,” said Merkel, who described Kohl as a “great German and great European.”
Tributes also poured in from abroad, with former US president of the greatest” post-war leaders, and European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker honoring him as the “very essence of Europe”.
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev underlined Kohl’s role in ending the Cold War, noting that “he was without doubt an exceptional personality who left his mark on German, European and international history”.
Kohl, Gorbachev said, had demonstrated “a deep interest for Russia” and had helped bridged East and West as he “warned the West against taking on a contemptuous attitude towards Russian interests.”
‘True friend of freedom’
Kohl died peacefully in his bed at home in Ludwigshafen, in the southwestern state of Rhineland - per, adding that his wife Maike Kohl-Richter was by his side.
Mourning his mentor and friend, the European house with life—not only because he built bridges to the west as well as to the east, but also because he never ceased to design even better blueprints for the future of Europe.”
friend of freedom”, said: “Helmut hated war—but he detested totalitarianism even more.”
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Friday (Saturday in Manila) cancelled his attendance at next week’s Organization of American States meeting in Mexico, opting to stay in Washington to focus on the diplomatic crisis in the Middle East.
Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan will represent the United States at the regional meeting scheduled for Monday to Wednesday in the resort city of Cancun.
“The secretary of state will continue his efforts to de-escalate tensions in the Middle East region through in-person meetings and phone conversations with Gulf and regional leaders,” the State Department said in a statement.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab others severed diplomatic and economic ties with Qatar almost two weeks ago, accusing Doha of supporting extremist groups.
Qatar—a longtime US ally—denies the accusations.
Donald Trump expressed support for the Saudi-led allegations, charging that Qatar had “historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level.”
Pentagon and State Department officials have since scrambled to reassure the emirate, which hosts the largest US airbase in the Middle East and the command headquarters for operations in
On Thursday, the United States agreed to a $ 12 billion warplane sale to Qatar, reaffirming its support.
Tillerson “has made more than a dozen phone calls and participated in several in-person meetings” in efforts to tamp down the crisis, the State Department said.