The atmosphere is heavy this Friday July 17 at Korhogo, in northern Côte d'ivoire. Very solemn. Until the end, the name of the Prime minister died suddenly at the age of 61 years, the last week has resonated in countries Poro. Very steeped in tradition, tied to the values of the custom of the people of the senufo, Amadou Gon Coulibaly will have by all means contributed to their radiation. He was buried at the end of a week of national mourning.
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Korhogo diving in sadness
" The lion of Korhogo ", as nicknamed his followers, was buried in the intimacy, in the family vault, located in the district of Soba with his grandfather and his father gone to him also a certain day of July, 1990, at the same age. Previously held a funeral prayer at the grand mosque to the fourth largest city in the country, in the presence of president Alassane Ouattara and hundreds of faithful. In his sermon, the imam Ousmane Diakité has set the tone, and urged the Ivorian people to remember the positive actions of the deceased descendant of the prestigious lineage of the founder of the city. "Individually, one should reflect and imitate the values embodied and verified by El Hadj Amadou Gon Coulibaly. But beyond this, we should make effort to the memory of the works, the example that has left Amadou Gon Coulibaly does not last only the time of our emotions. We need to ensure that present and future generations can learn, understand and imitate the example he has left ", he said, before the Friday prayer before the prayer mortuary.
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The disappearance of this top part was left in the turmoil of an entire people. The Prime minister, " it was a reference, an example ", said to AFP El Hadj Bambadji Bamba, a teacher. "Today is the funeral of a chief. We came in large numbers. It was essential to be there. After all this man has done for our country, it was good for people to come and express to him our gratitude. "
A great vacuum for the region
Amadou Gon Coulibaly, who was the ruling party's candidate for the October presidential elections, died of a heart attack at the end of a council of ministers, a few days after his return from France where he had been treated for two months. His death sudden shift in the political game of côte d'ivoire, three and a half months of the presidential election and will leave a great void for the people of the region.
Roads, schools, clinics : Korhogo, the fourth largest city of Côte d'ivoire, has developed a lot thanks to the child of the country, Amadou Gon Coulibaly, and after the unexpected death of the Prime minister, the inhabitants are worried about the future. In the largest city in the north of côte d'ivoire, the world, even the political opponents will acknowledge that Amadou Gon Coulibaly has done a huge amount for this city of some 250,000 inhabitants and its area of Poro, exporting of cashew, cotton and mangoes.
And there was still more if he had been elected president of the Republic, since he was the candidate nominated by the ruling party for the presidential election in October. Until his sudden death on July 8 of a heart attack, at 61 years old.
As in Côte d'ivoire, as in many countries, the development of a region often follows the ups and downs of the political career of its main representative. And Yamoussoukro, simple village was the birthplace of former president Félix Houphouët-Boigny (1960-93) became the political capital of Côte d'ivoire has been stagnating since the death of the father of independence.
"In Korhogo, until the early 2000s, there was a lot of dust, streets impassable, it was difficult to circulate in the region due to the state of the roads and countless checkpoints," says the president of a transportation company, Seydou Coulibaly.
"over the past ten years, with the arrival in power of the RHDP [the party of president Ouattara, who had made Gon Coulibaly, said," AGC ", his successor, ED], we have experienced a great change, " notes the economic operator. "It has paved the large arteries of the city, the neighborhoods, electrified the city, the outskirts, the villages in the area, given the water supply, built a lot of schools, health centres ", explains the mayor of the Rally of houphouëtistes for democracy and peace (RHDP) Lazani Coulibaly. "It has changed the face of the city and has done more in ten years than in the forty previous years," says-t it.
" It was our star ", is full of the traditional chief of the canton Issa Coulibaly. The opponent Moussa Silué, of the ivorian popular Front (FPI), the party of ex-president Laurent Gbagbo, pointe, however, youth unemployment continues to be important in the region. "The majority of the population is young, little educated, there are not enough jobs in the agriculture or the industry," he states. He also criticized the "clanisme" AGC, namely, the grabbing by relatives of the contracts and good jobs.
But while all the Korhogolais pay tribute to AGC, one question is on everyone's lips. "Who will take over ? That will finish the job to Korhogo ? " asks Soro Yetoumana, welder. The death of AGC, "it is a blow, one has the impression that the sky we fell on the head," says the carrier Seydou Coulibaly.
The mayor Lazani Coulibaly is optimistic : "We do not worry too much, because the power remains the same. The projects that it [AGC] had begun, it is already finalised ", he want to believe. "The people of the senufo [which belonged AGC] knows how to fight, but we can not evolve without their support, concern, however, Seydou Coulibaly. "We hope that we will not forget about us. "
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"Amadou, I love me too"
The funeral of Prime minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly began on 14 July with a tribute to the nation on the forecourt of the presidential palace, in the presence of president Alassane Ouattara, his counterpart from senegal, Macky Sall, and of the French minister of European and foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian.
This first ceremony was followed on Wednesday 15 July a homage of his party, the Rassemblement des houphouëtistes for democracy and peace (RHDP) at the palais des sports in the morning and a reading of the qur'an followed by a blessing at the great mosque of the Riviera golf in the afternoon before the transfer of the deceased mortuary in Korhogo.
The president, who spoke publicly for the first time since the death of his " son ", has not entered the field of politics : "After the pain, I couldn't not take the word [...] Amadou, I love you, me too," he said, responding to the "I love you" in public to the Prime minister on his return from France on 2 July.
