Kenya Nobel laureate Maathai dies in hospital

Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize winner and environmentalist Wangari Maathai has died in hospital where she was undergoing treatment for cancer, Kenyan television channels reported.  

Maathai, who won the 2004 Nobel Prize, was the founder of Kenya’s Green Belt Movement, a civil and women rights activist and also served as a Member of Parliament.  

Kenyan media, including the country’s private Citizen TV and NTV channels, reported her death, without giving details of the source of the report. It was not immediately possible to confirm the report independently.

Radio reports later reported that she died of cancer.

She was the first African woman to win a Nobel Prize.