The Ivorians saw off the Super Eagles of Nigeria in a tense 2-1 defeat.

Two strikes from Franck Kessie and Sebastien Haller were enough to see off Troost-Ekong’s opener.

Bedie served as president from 1993 until his ouster in 1999 and later ran a losing race against his long-time political rival President Alassane Ouattara in elections in 2020 when he was 86 years old.

It is not clear how Bedie died.

His spokesman could not be reached for comment.

He was long remembered – and in some parts reviled – for his role in promoting the issue of “Ivoirite”, or Ivorian identity.

The issue fuelled tensions between those who considered themselves natives in the south and east, and the many foreign workers from neighbouring countries long settled in the country’s north.

Speaking to AFP, the officials said Western support was also critical to halting Russia’s Wagner mercenary group which has made major inroads in violence-torn Sahel countries, including by allying with Mali’s military junta.

Vice President Kamala Harris, visiting Ghana last month as part of a growing US push in Africa, promised $100 million over 10 years to reinforce resilience in coastal West Africa. State Department officials are also looking at additional funding including from the counter-terrorism budget.

In a new global strategy to prevent conflict and promote stability, President Joe Biden’s administration identified coastal West Africa as a priority for the coming decade.

The report, released in March, said that the Sahel to the immediate north had experienced more terrorist attacks than any other region and that it was critical to “prevent violent conflicts from emerging or further spreading across the region.”

While coastal cities connected to the world through seaports have been mostly unscathed, violence has been rising in areas bordering Mali and Burkina Faso.

“It’s a significant and burgeoning threat,” said Michael Heath, the deputy assistant secretary of state in charge of West Africa.

“It’s something of concern to us because the capabilities of the governments in place — they’ve never faced a threat like this before,” he told AFP.

“They’re trying to cope with this, and we’re trying to see what kind of tools they need,” said Heath, who recently returned from a trip to the region with other State Department officials to assess needs.

Heath said he has not yet seen a presence in the three countries of the Wagner Group, which has been accused of human rights abuses in several countries including Ukraine, where the unit has played a key role in the invasion.

“They’re not yet in the coastal West African states, but we know they’re looking for opportunities to take advantage of instability wherever they see it,” he said.

US officials accuse Russia of stepping up disinformation in French-speaking Africa, seeing a ripe audience due to post-colonial resentments.

President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria, Presidents Alassane Ouattara of Ivory Coast, Macky Sall of Senegal, Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger and Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana are some of the leaders who arrived in Bamako on Thursday.

InsideOjodu had earlier reported that the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, on Wednesday said President  Muhammadu Buhari, would be flying out of Abuja for Bamako, Mali, on Thursday on a peacekeeping mission.

According to Adesina; “President Muhammadu Buhari will Thursday depart for Bamako, Republic of Mali on a one-day visit, following the briefing by the ECOWAS Special Envoy to the country, former President Goodluck Jonathan.

“The Nigerian President and some ECOWAS leaders led by the Chairman of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the sub-regional organisation, President Issoufou Mahamadou of Niger Republic, agreed to meet in Mali to engage in further consultations towards finding a political solution to the crisis in the country.”

Ouattara said “Fellow compatriots, Ivory Coast is mourning. It is with deep pain that I announce to you that Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly has left us. I salute the memory of a statesman, a man of great loyalty, dedication and love for his homeland”

Officials said Coulibaly was unwell during a ministerial meeting at the presidential palace in Abidjan and was rushed to a hospital where he passed away.

Coulibaly had returned to Ivory Coast last Thursday after undergoing medical treatment for two months in France. Local media have speculated that the medical treatment was related to his 2012 heart transplant.  He was expected to be RHDP presidential candidate in March after president Ouattara announced that he would not seek a third term.

Coulibaly served as the prime minister since January 2017 after serving as secretary-general of the presidency for six years.

Nigeria, Algeria, Angola, Ivory Coast, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia were identified as African nations with direct links or a high volume of travel to China.

The statement read “WHO has identified 13 top priority countries (Algeria, Angola, Cote d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia) which either have direct links or a high volume of travel to China. To ensure rapid detection of the novel coronavirus, it is important to have laboratories which can test samples and WHO is supporting countries to improve their testing capacity. Since this is a new virus, there are currently only two referral laboratories in the African region which have the reagents needed to conduct such tests. However, reagent kits are being shipped to more than 20 other countries in the region, so diagnostic capacity is expected to increase over the coming days. Active screening at airports has been established in a majority of these countries and while they will be WHO first areas of focus, the organization will support all countries in the region in their preparation efforts. It is critical that countries step up their readiness and in particular put in place effective screening mechanisms at airports and other major points of entry to ensure that the first cases are detected quickly”.