Former Ivory Coast president Henri Konan Bédié dies at 89

Ivory Coast's former president Henri Konan Bédié has died aged 89 in hospital in Abidjan, a member of his party's communications team told AFP late on Tuesday.

Bédié succeeded Ivory Coast's post-colonial founding father, Felix Houphouet-Boigny, serving as president from 1993 to 1999 -- when he was overthrown by the military in the country's first-ever coup.

"A career politician, Bédié died at the Polyclinique Internationale Sainte Anne-Marie," the party source said.

"A crowd had begun to gather outside his residence in Abidjan," an AFP journalist said.

The veteran politician had not ruled out running in the country's next presidential election.

While in power, Bédié enforced a nationalist policy that discriminated against immigrants in favour of people with two Ivorian parents, affecting countless workers on the country's cocoa plantations.

The measure was contrary to Houphouet-Boigny's sustained efforts to uphold unity and played a part in the armed conflict and turmoil that erupted in 2000.