Bedie was born in 1934 at Dadiekro, 300 kilometres east of Abidjan, the commercial capital of Ivory Coast
Former Ivory Coast President, Henri Konan Bedie has passed away.
According to Reuters, the ex-president who was ousted in 1999, died at the age of 89.
Bedie was part of an old guard of politicians who dominated politics in the West African nation for a generation.
He was born on May 5, 1934 at Dadiekro, 300 kilometres 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.
After joining politics, he served as Ivory Coast’s second ever president after independence from France in 1960.
ALSO READ: MC Oluomo says Lagos transport operators won’t join NLC protest
He ruled from 1993 until an economic slump and allegations of corruption led to a military coup that ousted him in 1999.
He later ran for the position of president in 2020, at the age of 86, but lost against his long-time political rival, President Alassane Ouattara.
As of the time of this report, it is not clear how Bedie died.
But he would be long remembered – and in some parts reviled – for his role in promoting the issue of “ivoirite”, or Ivorian identity.