Former Ivory Coast President, Konan Bedie Dies Aged 89
Former President of Ivory Coast, Henri Konan Bedie, part of an old guard of politicians who dominated politics in the West African nation for a generation, has lost his life at the age of 89, a close relative announced on Tuesday.
He was long remembered – and in some parts reviled – for his role in promoting the issue of “ivoirite“, or Ivorian identity, which fueled tensions between those who considered themselves natives in the south and east, and the many foreign workers from neighboring countries long settled in the country’s north.
Bedie remained in politics until the end. At 86, he ran a losing race against longtime political rival President Alassane Ouattara in elections in 2020.
The cause of Bedie’s death was not immediately known. His spokesman could not be reached for comment.
The son of a low-income farmer, Bedie was born on May 5, 1934, at Dadiekro, 300 kilometers (190 miles) east of the commercial capital Abidjan.
He excelled at school and was among 100 promising students picked in the early 1950s to study in France, where he gained a doctorate in economics at Poitiers University.
In 1959, he joined the French diplomatic service and was posted as a counselor to the French embassy in Washington. When Ivory Coast won independence in 1960, Bedie was appointed as its ambassador there.
Six years later, aged 32, he was put in charge of the economy during a period of rapid growth buoyed by the expansion of the coffee and cocoa sectors, which remain the country’s main economic drivers.
