Côte d'Ivoire's former president Henri Konan Bédié, who had not excluded a possibile return to power in recent years, has died aged 89.
According to a statement released by the former president's PDCI-RDA party, it was "deeply saddened to announce the sudden death" of Bédié in hospital in Abidjan on Tuesday.
Following news of Bédié's death, crowds reportedly gathered outside his residence in the economic capital.
A career politician born in 1934 to a family of cocoa planters, Bédié was the chosen successor to Côte d'Ivoire's founding father Felix Houphouet-Boigny, who ruled the country from independence from France in 1960 until his death in 1993, aged 88.
Bédié served as president from 1993 until 1999 when he was overthrown by the military in the country's first-ever coup.
🇨🇮Peu de temps après le décès d'Henri Konan Bédié hier soir, de nombreux membres et militants du Parti démocratique de Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI-RCA) sont venus saluer la famille du président défunt dans sa résidence à Abidjan, et l'émotion y était vive.
— RFI Afrique (@RFIAfrique) August 2, 2023
🎧Reportage @YouennGourlay… pic.twitter.com/FllFLdX68M
Political survivor
Dubbed the "Sphinx of Daoukro" after his native town and economy with words, Bédié demonstrated a skill for political survival.
He tried unsuccessfully to return as president in 2000, 2010 and 2020.
"For us in the PDCI, age is an asset. Age unites experience and also competence," Bédié told journalists ahead of the October 2020 presidential election, which was won by incumbent President Alassane Ouattara following an opposition boycott.
Bédié came third with 1.7 percent of the vote.
Bédié whose rivalry with Ouattara dates back three decades, had not ruled out running in the country's next presidential election in 2025.
A divisive Ivorian nationalist
The former president's main influence on national politics had been to promote "Ivoirité" or "Ivorian-ness" – the notion of a national identity and national economy in a country with dozens of ethnic groups.
The nationalist policy discriminated against immigrants in favour of people born with two Ivorian parents, affecting countless workers on the country's cocoa plantations.
Bédié and other political leaders had tried to use the measure to prevent Ouattara – who was held to have a father from neighbouring Burkina Faso – from running for president in 1995.
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.
In 2010, Bédié came third in the presidential elections, behind Ouattara and the then 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.
