Germany's ex-Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle dies at 54

PanARMENIAN.Net - Germany's former Foreign Minister, Guido Westerwelle, has died aged 54 after suffering from cancer.

The politician, whose liberal FDP was in government with Angela Merkel's party from 2009-13, died in a Cologne hospital, his foundation said, according to BBC News.

He became ill with leukaemia just months after leaving government.

Guido Westerwelle was the first openly gay man to hold high office in Germany, serving as vice chancellor from 2009-11.

In a statement on the website of the Westerwelle Foundation, the couple said they were "thankful for an unbelievably good time together. Love remains."

Westerwelle became leader of the FDP in 2001, aged just 39. He led the party into government in 2009 as the junior coalition partner to the Christian Democrats, stepping down as party leader and vice chancellor in 2011 after poor state election results, but remained foreign minister until the federal elections in 2013.

In those elections the FDP failed to reach the 5% threshold needed for parliamentary representation and as a result had no seats in Bundestag for the first time since 1949.

German media reported that Westerwelle had been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia and had undergone a bone marrow transplant.

His foundation said he died as a result of complications associated with his treatment.