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Former Ivorian Nationalist President Henri Konan Bedie Dies at 89

Former Ivory Coast president Henri Konan Bedie, a nationalist who had not ruled out a return to office even in his final days, died at the age of 89, according to his party.

The “Ivory Coast Democratic Party-African Democratic Rally (PDCI-RDA) is deeply saddened” to announce Bedie’s “sudden death” in Abidjan on Tuesday, according to a statement.

A crowd had begun to gather outside his residence in the capital, an AFP journalist said.

Bedie, a career politician born in 1934 to a cocoa farmer family, was chosen as the successor to Ivory Coast’s founding father, Felix Houphouet-Boigny, who controlled the west African nation from its independence from France in 1960 until his death in 1993, aged 88.

Bedie was president from 1993 to 1999, when he was deposed by the military in the country’s first coup.

Bedie, dubbed the “Sphinx of Daoukro” for his native town and word economy, displayed political survival skills. He ran unsuccessfully for president again in 2000, 2010, and 2020.

“For us in the PDCI, age is an asset. Age unites experience and also competence,” Bedie told journalists ahead of the October 2020 presidential election, which was won by current President Alassane Ouattara amid an opposition boycott. Bedie came third with 1.7 percent of the vote.

Bedie, who has been at odds with Ouattara for three decades, has not ruled out standing in the country’s next presidential election in 2025.

Bedie’s main influence on national politics was to promote “Ivoirite” (Ivorian-ness) – the concept of a national identity and economy in a country with dozens of ethnic groupings.

The nationalist stance favored persons with two Ivorian parents over immigrants, affecting numerous employees on the country’s cocoa farms.

Bedie and other political leaders had attempted to exploit the measure to prevent Ouattara from running for president in 1995, claiming that he had a father from neighboring Burkina Faso.

The measure was contrary to Houphouet-Boigny’s sustained efforts to uphold unity, and played a part in the armed conflict and turmoil that erupted in 2000 and ended in 2011.

Bedie came third in the 2010 presidential elections, behind Ouattara and the incumbent Laurent Gbagbo.

He supported Ouattara in the post-election crisis, and for his first six years in power, but fell out with him again.

The wily octogenarian had been able to discourage all attempts by younger generations to replace him within his party, which had nominated him as its candidate for the 2020 ballot.

A party executive said he was “a fine tactician who weathered all storms” and was able to convince “the young guns” of the PDCI to support him again.

Written by PH

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