The Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire (PDCI of the late President Henri Konan Bédié) is still in mourning: General Gaston Ouassénan Koné, vice-president of the party, died on Tuesday August 8, 2023 in Abidjan, a week after the death of ex-president Henri Konan Bédié, of whom he was one of the faithful companions.
General Gaston Ouassénan Koné is dead. The vice-president of the PDCI joined Henri Konan Bédié, exactly one week after the departure of the latter. This is another hard blow for the old party which thus sees the departure of two of its important figureheads. General Ouassénan Koné, also nicknamed GOK, was the soldier who lowered the French flag to hoist the Ivorian flag on August 7, 1960, the day of the proclamation of the independence of Côte d’Ivoire.
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On April 24, 2023, he celebrated his 84th birthday. Since 2018, the year when strong rumors announced his poisoning in northern Côte d’Ivoire, he had been in fragile health. However, he had been seen alongside Henri Konan Bédié, in Daoukro, a few days before the death of the latter. He was one of the pillars of the PDCI of which he is vice-president.
Death of Ouassénan, a week after the death of Bédié
Gaston Ouassénan Koné was born on April 24, 1939 in Katiola, in the north of Côte d’Ivoire, a region where he had real roots and where he built a camp bearing his name, Ouassénankaha. In 1962, he created the presidential guard on the instructions of the “founding father” Félix Houphouët-Boigny, of which he was the first pilot for helicopter flights.
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In February 2022, he was appointed chairman of the committee of wise men of the Hambol region. He had then declared that he considered “that this organization will allow everyone to meet regularly and work for our region to move forward”.
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