Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's former president, had died in Singapore. He was 95.

Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa announced the passing on Friday.

“It is with the utmost sadness that I announce the passing on of Zimbabwe's founding father and former President, Cde Robert Mugabe,” Mnangagwa messaged on Twitter. “Cde Mugabe was an icon of liberation, a pan-Africanist who dedicated his life to the emancipation and empowerment of his people. His contribution to the history of our nation and continent will never be forgotten. May his soul rest in eternal peace.”

Mugabe was ousted from power in 2017 after ruling the country since it gained independence in 1980 from Great Britain.

Mugabe's opposition to LGBT rights was extreme.

Mugabe in 1995 described gay men and lesbians as “dogs and pigs.” In 2013, he threatened to “chop off” the heads of gay men who fail to reproduce.

After then-President Barack Obama lauded the Supreme Court's ruling that led to nationwide marriage equality, Mugabe sarcastically asked for Obama's hand in marriage.

“I've just concluded since President Obama endorses the same-sex marriage, advocates homosexual people and enjoys an attractive countenance thus if it becomes necessary, I shall travel to Washington DC, get down on my knee, and ask his hand,” Mugabe is quoted by Newsweek as saying during his weekly radio interview.

LGBT activists in the country celebrated his ouster.

“When he took over, we thought that it would usher in a new independent country,” Ricky “Ricki” Nathanson of the Trans Research, Education, Advocacy and Training (TREAT) told the Washington Blade in 2017. “Certainly members of the LGBTI community felt the brunt of his homophobia as evidence by his outspokenness on them.”