APA-Abidjan (Cote d’Ivoire) Former Ivorian president, Henri Konan Bédié has died in Cocody, Abidjan, at the age of 89 family sources confirmed.
According to sources Bedie was flown by helicopter from his native village of Daoukro, in the east of the country to the Sainte Marie International Polyclinic (PISAM), but passed away shortly afterward on Tuesday.
Henri Konan Bédié, nicknamed “HKB”, succeeded Cote d’Ivoire’s founding president the late Félix Houphouët-Boigny.
Bedie was president from December 7, 1993 to December 24, 1999 and led the Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire (PDCI), founded by Mr Boigny.
President of the National Assembly from 1980, he was elected during presidential election but later overthrown in a coup by General Robert Guéï in 1999.
Backed by the PDCI, of which he is president, he ran for president in 2010 and came third in the first round.
He then rallied behind the candidacy of Alassane Ouattara, who emerged victorious from the 2010-2011 crisis.
He again backed President Ouattara for a second term in 2015.
Later, the PDCI fell out with Mr Ouattara after refusing to join the Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP), a party chaired by the current head of state.
WN/as/APA