Abidjan, 03 August, 2023 / 9:25 PM
The National Association of Catholic Schools (CCMECCI) in Ivory Coast has eulogized Henri Konan Bédié, the country’s former president who died on Tuesday, August 1, describing him as “a peacemaker and wise man.”
Mr. Bédié passed on at the Polyclinique Internationale Sainte Anne-Marie, a hospital in Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s commercial capital and largest city aged 89.
In an August 1 message, CCMECCI members said the leader of the Democratic Party of Ivory Coast-African Democratic Rally (PDCI-RDA) was “loved and respected by Ivorians for his strong sense of peace, which he adopted as a second religion after Catholicism.”
“Ivory Coast has lost a valiant peacemaker and a wise man. A great library has just burnt down. A man of faith and love for Christ and mankind has left us,” they said.
CCMECCI members expressed their condolences “to his wife and children, his biological and political family and the entire Ivorian nation.”
“Thank you for this beautifultestimony of life,” they said, and implored, “May the unfading light of God shine in the eyes of President Henri Konan Bédié! May the Lord remember all your sacrifices for peace.”
Bédié served as Ivory Coast's second president after independence from France in 1960.
He ruled from 1993 until an economic slump and allegations of corruption led to his ousting in a military coup in 1999.
In the 2020 elections, he ran for president against longtime political rival President Alassane Ouattara.
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