Fmr Ivorian President, Henri Konan Bedie, Dies At 89

Former Cote d’voire President, henri Konan Bedie, is dead.

Bedie, who ruled the West African nation between 1993 and 1999 died on Tuesday.

Revered and reviled in equal measure in different parts of the country, Bedie is remebered well for his tension-inducing “ivoirite” policy that pitched those who considered themselves as bona fide natives in the southern and eastern parts of the country against foreign workers from neighbouring countries already settled in the country’s north for a long time.

Although he has managed to remain a recurrent figure in Ivorien politics after his ouster in a coup in 1999, Bedie has been in constant running but losing political race against his arch rival and current President, Alassane Outtara, as was amply demonstrated in the 2020 election.

The cause of his death has not been disclosed.