The prime minister of Ivory Coast, Amadou Gon Coulibaly, who was a candidate for president in a coming election died suddenly on Wednesday.
The death of Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly, 61, cast uncertainty on the West African country’s presidential election in three months, in which he was to be the ruling party’s candidate. The cause of death was not immediately clear.
KAFTAN Post gathered that the late prime minister had just returned from two months of medical treatment in France.
According to the press statement issued by President Alassane Ouattara, the 61-year-old, who had heart surgery in 2012, became indisposed during a weekly cabinet meeting and was rushed to a hospital where he passed away on Wednesday.
“Fellow compatriots, Ivory Coast is mourning. It is with deep pain that I announce to you that Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly has left us,” Ouattara said in the statement.
It would be recalled that in March, Coulibaly announced his self-isolation following contact with a person who tested positive for COVID-19. He later tested negative twice.
In May, Gon Coulibaly decided to seek medical care in France in May, saying it was only for a checkup. He was allowed to travel abroad despite Ivory Coast’s airports being closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
He eventually returned to Ivory Coast on July 2, after two months in France for medical check-up.
Coulibaly was Ouattara’s right-hand man. He previously served as minister of agriculture under Laurent Gbagbo, the former president who was tried and, last year, acquitted of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Gbagbo’s refusal to give up power when he lost an election in 2010 to Ouattara led to a civil war in which thousands died.
Ouattara designated Gon Coulibaly as the candidate of the ruling Rally of Houphouetists (RHDP) for Democracy and Peace for the October 2020 presidential election following President Alassane Ouattara’s decision not to run for another term.
“He embodied this young generation of Ivorians of great skill and extreme loyalty to the nation,” the president wrote.
