He reversed his retirement plan in 2020 to stand for a third term after the sudden death of his planned successor Amadou Gon Coulibaly...

The President's omnipresent younger brother Téné Birahima Ouattara aka 'photocopie' was widely rumoured to be anointed his brother's dauphin after the deaths of Ouattara's first two choices Amadou Gon Coulibaly and Hamed Bakayoko but it was not to be (AC Vol 62 No 6 Many shoes to fill)...

Similarly the Ivorian government spokesman Amadou Coulibaly told local media on 7 July that the government had made no decision regarding Keïta...

However having first taken on the mantle of a lofty figure far above the fray the sudden death of his preferred successor Amadou Gon Coulibaly plunged him back into the political hurly burly (AC Vol 61 No 15 Quest for a new dauphin)...

President Alassane Ouattara – there with his wife Dominique and Bakayoko's widow and daughter – was visibly affected by his close ally's death which came less than a year after the death of Bakayoko's predecessor as Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly (AC Vol 61 No 15 Quest for a new dauphin)...

Many Ivorians are angered by the manner in which the president has pushed the legal limits – on the grounds of a new constitution introduced in 2016 – to restart the two-term limit clock and stand for a third successive mandate after the sudden death in July of his chosen successor candidate Amadou Gon Coulibaly (AC Vol 61 No 15 Quest for a new dauphin)...

President Emmanuel Macron had welcomed Ouattara to the Elysée for lunch on 4 September but his officials publicly stated that France remained firmly of the view that the Ivorian head of state should have stuck to his retirement plan and left the RHDP to choose a new succession candidate after Amadou Gon Coulibaly's death...

' The previous evening on state television Ouattara said he had decided to stand following the sudden death of his designated succession candidate Amadou Gon Coulibaly...

Politics is in deep turmoil following the sudden death on 8 July of the man widely expected to have become the new president by the end of the year Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly...

On top of the insurgency edging southwards there are worries of more political turmoil if the succession of Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly to the presidency in October's elections doesn't take place...