Following national tributes paid in Abidjan at the end of the week, the remains of former President Henri Konan Bédié were transported from the economic capital on May 26th, 2024. The funeral procession will escort him to his hometown of Daoukro in the central-east region of the country, where members of his party, the Democratic Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI), are invited to pay their final respects throughout the week.
Early Sunday morning, at 7:00 a.m., a long convoy of vehicles assembled behind the silver hearse stationed outside Bédié’s residence in Cocody. The street, secured by law enforcement, was filled with family members of the deceased, senior PDCI officials, and party supporters, who were transported by buses. “The president’s body is departing with his entire delegation, with his family, with everyone! We are all heading to Daoukro. We have a week to complete the funeral rites, and we are going to Daoukro with his body,” exclaimed a woman in the crowd.
By 7:30 a.m., the procession began its journey. In the neighboring commune of Yopougon, groups of supporters lined the boulevard. The passing funeral cortege was met with cheers, applause, and tears. One dedicated supporter planned to follow the procession to its final destination: “President Bédié has passed away. He was our grandfather, our great president. We must honor him fully. We cannot let our president make his final journey alone. We will bid farewell to our president, farewell to our elder. Only once he is there will we return to Abidjan.”
After Yopougon, the cortege made stops in several towns before arriving in Daoukro in the afternoon. The funeral rites will continue there for the entire week, culminating in the burial of Henri Konan Bédié on June 1 in the family vault in his village of Pepressou.
Henri Konan Bédié passed away on August 1st, 2023, at the age of 89. Throughout his career, he served as an ambassador, minister, and president of the National Assembly. Known affectionately as “HKB,” he ascended to the presidency in 1993 following the death of Félix Houphouët-Boigny, the first president of Côte d’Ivoire (1960-1993). Bédié remained in office until 1999 when he was ousted in a coup d’état.