Ivory Coast: burial of the deceased prime minister

The late Ivorian Prime Minister Hamed Bakayoko, who died on March 10 at the age of 56, was buried in family privacy this Friday in his town of Séguéla (North), after a week of national mourning.

Read also: Ivory Coast: death of Prime Minister Hamed Bakayoko in Germany

Previously, many personalities, including President Alassane Ouattara, all dressed in white, took part in the funeral prayer in the city's mosque, in the presence of 400 imams.

“

”wrote the columnist, Alafé Wakili, director of the (independent) daily L'Intelligent d'Abidjan.

This Wednesday, the national tribute to Hamed Bakayoko took place inside the presidential palace in Abidjan, in the presence of President Ouattara and his wife Dominique, as well as several heads of neighboring states, including the Burkinabè Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, the Ghanaian Nana Akufo-Addo and the Guinean Alpha Condé.

Hamed Bakayoko, who was also Minister of Defense, was evacuated to France on February 18 by special plane for "

", before being transferred to a hospital in Germany at the time of the legislative elections in his country. .

Despite his absence, he was largely reelected as a deputy in his stronghold of Séguéla.

In July 2020, he succeeded Amadou Gon Coulibaly, who died a few days after his return from hospitalization and a two-month convalescence in France for heart problems.

Opponents wished to salute the memory of Hamed Bakayoko, appreciated in all camps in a country marked by strong political tensions.

Former President Laurent Gbagbo, on parole in Brussels after his acquittal at first instance by the International Criminal Court (ICC), has thus "

" his return to the country scheduled for mid-March, said in a statement by the secretary General of the Ivorian Popular Front, Adou Assoa.

He thus intends "to

" of Hamed Bakayoko, according to the text.