Abidjan (UNA-OIC) – Prime Minister of Côte d’Ivoire Amadou Gon Coulibaly has died at the age of 61, the Ivorian presidency announced in a statement on Wednesday.
The prime minister’s death occurred six days after his return from a two-month stay in France where he had been undergoing health check-ups.
Coulibaly had been chosen to run as the ruling party’s (Rally of Houphouëtists for Democracy and Peace) candidate in this year’s October presidential election.
Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara described the prime minister, who passed away on Wednesday afternoon, as his closest collaborator over a 30-year period.
“I salute the memory of a statesman, of great loyalty, devotion and love for the homeland. He embodied this young generation of Ivorian leaders of great skill and extreme loyalty to the Nation,” Ouattara said on Twitter.
AB/UNA-OIC
