Former Ivory Coast president Henri Konan Bedie, a veteran of a generation of politicians who have dominated West African politics, has died at the age of 89, a close relative told Reuters on Tuesday.
Bedié was his second president of Ivory Coast after independence from France in 1960. He ruled from 1993 until he was overthrown in a military coup in 1999 due to an economic downturn and corruption allegations.
He promotes the issue of the “ivority“, an Ivorian identity that kindles tensions between people who consider themselves indigenous in the south and east and many foreign workers from neighboring countries. Long settled in the north of the country.
Bedie remained in politics until the end. The 86-year-old lost the 2020 election to his longtime political opponent, President Alassane Ouattara.
The cause of Bedie’s death was not immediately known. A spokesman for him was not immediately available for comment.
Bedie was born on May 5, 1934, in Daoukro, 300 kilometers (190 miles) east of the economic capital of Abidjan.
Good student, he will be one of his 100 promising students selected to study in France in the early 1950s, earning a doctorate in economics from the University of Poitiers. bottom.
Became a French diplomat in 1959 and seconded to the French Embassy in Washington as an advisor. When Côte d’Ivoire became independent in 1960, Bedie was appointed ambassador to the country.
Six years later, at the age of 32, he was appointed economy minister during a period of rapid growth fueled by the expansion of the coffee and cocoa sector, still the country’s main economic engine.
