The remains of former Ivorian Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny, who died on September 10 in Paris of complications related to Covid-19, arrived Thursday evening September 23 in Abidjan, greeted by a crowd of crying relatives and friends, AFP noted.
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To the sounds of the talking tom-toms, the waxed wooden coffin of the deceased was exposed for a few minutes on the forecourt of the airport, in the presence of the former Ivorian head of government Daniel Kablan Duncan and several personalities.
After a brief religious service, an impressive procession moved towards the residence of the deceased in Cocody, an upscale district of Abidjan.
"A book of condolences will be open tomorrow
(Friday)
at the residence of Mr. Banny for three days"
, announced Mr. Eugène Krémien, come to welcome "the body of his friend, his brother and his neighbor".
The official program of the funeral of Charles Konan Banny will be known later.
Tuesday in Paris, a mass was said to him at the cathedral church of Saint François-Xavier, before his transfer to Abidjan.
Affected by the coronavirus in Abidjan, Charles Konan Banny was transferred in early September to the American hospital in Neuilly, in the Paris suburbs, where he died on September 10 at the age of 78.
Many tributes have flourished at the announcement of his disappearance.
Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara hailed
"a great servant of the State"
.
“Africa has just lost one of its illustrious sons.
May his soul rest in peace, ”
tweeted Umaro Sissoco Embalo, President of Guinea-Bissau.
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An executive of the Democratic Party of Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI), Charles Konan Banny was imposed as prime minister to Laurent Gbagbo by the international community in December 2005, a post he held until April 2007. In 2011, after the post-electoral crisis which left 3,000 dead, he was appointed president of the Dialogue, Truth and Reconciliation Commission (CDVR). Known as “milk soup”, this father of four had previously held the post of governor of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) from 1994 to 2005. Originally from Yamoussoukro, birthplace of Félix Houphouët -Boigny, father of the Ivorian nation and founder of his party the PDCI, Charles Konan Banny launched in 2015 in the presidential race against Alassane Ouattara but finally threw out thesponge.
