Ivory Coast’s President Alassane Ouattara on Friday named Patrick Achi, one of his close confidants, as the country’s new prime minister, following the death of the West African country’s second premier in less than eight months, reported Africa News. The country has lost two prime ministers in recent months.
Achi’s appointment was announced by President Ouattara’s chief of staff, Fidele Sarassoro, during a media briefing.
The statement announcing Achi’s appointment said that the new prime minister of Ivory Coast would have to propose a government as early as possible.
The 65-year-old Achi joined the Ivory Coast’s government in 2000 as minister of economic infrastructure and government spokesman. He served as secretary-general in the presidency for the past four years and was named as the interim prime minister since Hamed Bakayoko was hospitalized with cancer earlier this month. Bakayoko died of cancer in Germany on March 10where he was receiving medical treatment.
Bakayoko had succeeded Amadou Gon Coulibaly, who died in July after returning back to the Ivory Coast from Paris for treatment of a heart condition.
Gon Coulibaly was chosen as the ruling party’s candidate for the October 2020 presidential election. But, his sudden death led incumbent President Ouattara to run and win a controversial third term, arguing a 2016 constitutional amendment reset the two-term limit.
Ouattara’s candidacy led to unrest before and after the vote in which at least 85 people were killed. It was Ivory Coast’s worst violence since the 2010-11 civil war.
Ouattara forced Gbagbo out of office in 2011 after a post-election civil war that claimed hundreds of lives and left the country into a split.
After his removal from the office, Gbagbo was flown to the International Criminal Court in The Hague to face war crime charges arising from that conflict.
Acquitted in January 2019, he is currently living in Brussels as the outcome of an appeal by the ICC prosecutor remains pending.
