Updated | Kenya Nobel laureate Maathai dies in hospital, AD expresses condolences

Alternattiva Demokratika expressed its condolences for the death of Wangari Maathai.

AD's spokesman for international affairs Arnold Cassola described her death as a loss for humanity:

"It has been a great honour for me to work closely with Wangari Maathai, especially in the organisation of the first Global Greens Congress in Canberra in 2001.  Her untimely death is a loss for humanity since the 2004 Nobel Prize winner was not only the founder of the Green Belt Movement, but also a civil and women rights activist and an excellent Member of Parliament, fighting for the rights of the underdogs and the under privileged.

“She also remained humble and close to the common people until the very end.  She will remain for us a true example of what real politics are all about".

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

"It is with great sadness that the Green Belt Movement announces the passing of its founder and chair, Prof. Wangari Muta Maathai, after a long illness bravely borne," the organisation said in a statement on its website.

"Prof. Maathai passed away on the 26 September 2011 in Nairobi. Her family and loved ones were with her at the time," the statement, signed by the movement's Executive Director Karanja Njoroge, added.

Wangari Maathai, who was also a veterinary anatomy professor, rose to international fame for campaigns against government-backed forest clearances in Kenya in the late 1980s and 1990s.

She branded the clearances a political ploy that caused irreversible environmental damage. The courts blocked her suits and Green Belt lawyers complained that their cases were dismissed on technical grounds or their files were mysteriously lost.

"Her departure is untimely and a very great loss to all of us who knew her – as a mother, relative, co-worker, colleague, role model, and heroine – or those who admired her determination to make the world a peaceful, healthy, and better place for all of us," Green Belt said in its statement.