The
political career of Henri Konan Bedie was strongly supported / groomed from the
start by the founding father of Ivory Coast : President Felix Houphouet Boigny.
As soon
as Henri Konan Bedie finished his university academia and post graduate degree
in economics, he was appointed - in 1959 - deputy head of the social security
welfare body of Cote d'Ivoire..At the age of 25.
A
the age of 27, in 1961, he was appointed Ambassador to the United States of America.
At
the age of 32 in 1968 he was appointed ministry of finance and economy in the
government of President Houphouet-Boigny; he managed the ministerial department
till July 1977.
The
country economy was driven upward during the 1970's by the highest prices ever
for its main cash crops : cocoa and coffee. The
prices of these commodities skyrocketed - seven times for cocoa (from 140 F.CFA
to 1,000 F.CFA) and four times for coffee (from 200 F.CFA to 800 F.CFA). Click
here for currency equivalence. Cote d'Ivoire was then recognized as a regional
West Africa's economic power.
To
take advantage from that influx of money, the Ivorian government decided - in
the mid 1970's - to diversify the economy and introduce the production of sugar.
A sugar plan, based on the development of sugarcane agribusiness was established;
and a state owned company SODESUCRE - Société de Dévelopment
du Sucre - setup to implement the plan.
The
establishment of Sodesucre and the construction of four over sized sugar refineries
were implemented with some funds / financial resources mismanagement
under the supervision of the ministry of finance and economy; the ministry
of planning and the ministry of agriculture.
As an inevitable consequence the country started experiencing budgetary and financial
problems due to the increasing indebtedness and the recurrent resulting huge external
loan load and unbearable loan repayment.
President
Houphouet sacked the ministries responsible for the downturn - on July 20, 1977.
However
he lobbied with the then president of the World Bank - Robert Mcnamara - and Henri
Konan Bedie was appointed to the International Finance Corporation - IFC
- as advIsor to the President for African affairs.
Bedie
held that position for quite 2 years and returned to Ivory Coast - in 1979 - to
be elected in 1980 - member of parliament and president to the national assembly.
He became de facto the constitutional heir to the Head of State
in accordance with Art 11 of the constitution.
He
remained president to the national parliament body for 14 years till the death
of President Houphouet.
In
the meantime - on November 7, 1990 - Alassane Dramane Ouattara was anointed -
by President Houphouet - Prime minister in charge of the economy recovery (in
fact he has been appointed supervIsor of the government activities since April
18, 1990); and the stage was set-up for the rivalry between Ouattara and Bedie.
BEDIE
AS HEAD OF STATE
At the
evening of the death - on December 7, 1993 - of president Houphouet, Bedie made
an unscheduled appearance on the national television broadcasting system to announce
to the Ivorians, in a short declaration, that he is in charge of the state power
in conformity to Article 11 of the constitution which
grants the president of the national assembly the right to rule the country -
as acting president - for an interim period covering the remaining ruling time
of the deceased president.
So,
Bedie inherited the country supreme power for quite two years and won a turbulent
1995 presidential election boycotted by the main opposition party Front Populaire
Ivoirien - Ivorian Popular Front - (FPI) of socialist leader Laurent
Gbagbo.
BEBIE
CHANGES HOUPHOUET STRATEGY
To
secure his election to the head of state position in the 1995 ballot, Bedie denied
to Ouattara the right to run for the presidency - on the false / litigious ground
that he was not a true Ivorian - and was supported by France who argued that
the constitution must be respected.
Alassane
Ouattara joined - September 1994 - the IMF as deputy managing director; abiding
for his time to run for the next presidential election scheduled to take place
on October 2000.
As
soon as he consolidated his grip on power as elected head of state, Bedie and
his counsellors engineered a new political strategy which took a contrary path
to the open
door policy implemented by the founding father of Cote d'ivoire Houphouet
Boigny.
The basis of that new policy was the concept of "Ivoirité";
a strictly nationalistic concept under which are eligible to
the highest position in Cote d'Ivoire the natives whose parents are both born
Ivorian.
Alassane
Dramane Ouattara citizenship does not fully
comply with the new law and was excluded from the presidential ballot.
Further, the
new law was damaging to the unity of the country as the majority of the northerners
are sons and daughters of migrants from neighboring countries of Mali
and Burkina Faso. Tthe
immediate collateral effect of the "Ivoirité" concept was that
the northerners were denied or harassed to obtaining the deliverance of their
national identity cards and passports.
Political
tension started rising ahead of election scheduled for October 2000, and the economy,
which boomed after the devaluation in 1994 of the Franc
CFA, slowed down from the beginning of 1998. Rock bottom cocoa prices spurred
farmers to blockade the Abidjan harbor in protest in November 1998.
The downturn of the economy
accelerated in mid 1999 and was exacerbated when European Union, the International
Monetary Fund and World Bank, froze the disbursement of loans in retaliation to
corruption and mismanagement practices occurring in Ivory Coast's government circles.
In September
1999, Alassane Dramane Ouattara resigned from his position of deputy managing
director of the IMF and took the leadership of Rally of the Republic (RDR) party
and announced his candidacy for the incoming presidential election of October
2000.
The government
of Bedie reacted violently and reiterated its opposition to the candidacy of Ouattara.
Eleven leaders of Ouattara's Rally of the Republic (RDR) party, including four
legislators, were jailed for two years in November 1999 for public order offences
by activists.
Beginning
of December 1999, first ethnic troubles started in the South-Western part of the
country and nearly 20,000 people originated from Burkina-Faso
and living and working in the region - some of then since more than 40 years -
were expelled to Burkina-Faso.
Ivory
Coast was obviously tittering towards a civil and religious war between Southerners
and Northerners.
On December
22, 1999 rank members of the national army staged a mutiny pretexting non payment
of due salaries and incentives for service rendered within the United Nations
peace keeping forces in the Republic of Centrafrique (MINURCA).
That
was the beginning of the "coup d'etat" which toppled the regime of Henri
Konan Bedie - on December 24, 1999 - and brought to power General
Robert Guei; put an end to the supremacy of Democratic Party of Cote d'Ivoire
(PDCI) which ruled the country for half a century from 1948 to 1999
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