Horst Koehler, former German president from 2004 to 2010 and a respected global policymaker with a particular interest in Africa, died on Saturday after a short illness at the age of 81, the federal presidential office said in a statement.

He held the ceremonial post of German president after a finance-focused career. Shortly into his second term, he became the first German president in four decades to resign.

Germany's former president Horst Koehler, who also once headed the International Monetary Fund and was a strong backer of Africa, died Saturday aged 81 after a brief illness.

Horst Köhler, a onetime head of the International Monetary Fund who became a popular German president before stunning the country by resigning abruptly in a flap over comments about the country’s military,