Former Ivory Coast president Henri Konan Bédié dies at 89
Between 1993 and 1999, Henri Konan Bedie presided over Cote d’Ivoire. Image: AFP
Henri Konan Bedie, a former president of Cote d’Ivoire, passed away.
Bedie’s death was verified by a family on Tuesday, according to the Reuters news agency.
The former president passed away in Abidjan, the capital and largest city of the nation. Bedie was in poor health.
He served as the President of Cote d’Ivoire between December 1993 and December 1999.
Bedie, who was the leader of Cote d’Ivoire’s National Assembly, assumed the presidential role after the then-office holder, Felix Houphouet-Boigny, died in office on December 7, 1993.
Bedie announced on state television that he would be the country’s new head of state a few hours after Houphouet-Boigny’s death.
Power struggle
Bedie managed to overcome a brief power struggle between him and the then-prime minister, Alassane Ouattara.
After Bedie won the battle, Ouattara resigned as prime minister on December 9, 1993.
During his reign, he championed national stability. He was, however, accused of condoning graft.
In a subsequent election in 1995, he was re-elected after getting 96% of the votes. The main opposition parties, however, boycotted the election.
Bedie was deposed through a military coup on December 24, 1999 after he declined to heed the demands of soldiers who had rebelled against him the day before.
He, thereafter, fled to Togo and then France with his family members.
Bedie remotely registered as a presidential candidate in the 2000 Cote d’Ivoire election, but the court barred his candidature over alleged corruption.
Laurent Gbagbo, the winner of the 2000 presidential election, met with Bedie in France and asked him to return to Cote d’Ivoire. He heeded the call and returned on October 15, 2001.
Former Ivory Coast president Henri Konan Bédié dies at 89
