Ivory Coast: Rémy Rioux rumored for the French Embassy, a choice that is already stirring conversation in Abidjan.

The profile of the outgoing director general of the French Development Agency (AFD), Rémy Rioux, is set to be proposed to Ivorian authorities to succeed Jean-Christophe Belliard at the head of the French embassy in Abidjan, according to Africa Intelligence. His candidacy has reportedly been approved by President Emmanuel Macron, although the request for approval has not yet been officially submitted to Yamoussoukro. According to the same specialized publication, the appointment would not take place before September 2026. Belliard has been in office since 2020.

Rémy Rioux left the general management of the AFD, which he had held since 2016, after a successor was appointed to lead the institution in April 2026. His farewell visit to Ivorian Prime Minister Robert Beugré Mambé on April 1 in Abidjan had already been interpreted as a signal. “We were very proud to have made this contribution, given the results achieved, at the moment of leaving our positions at the head of the AFD,” he stated on that occasion, according to the Ivorian News Agency. The AFD manages a portfolio of about 3 billion euros in Côte d’Ivoire and supports nearly 70 development projects in the country.

A former ENA student, close to Macron and former chief of staff to ex-Socialist Minister of Economy Pierre Moscovici, Rioux is described by Africa Intelligence as familiar with Alassane Ouattara. His name had been mentioned for the presidency of the French Court of Auditors before that option was dropped. If his appointment in Abidjan is confirmed, it would be that of a non-diplomat by training to one of the most strategic African posts of the French diplomatic network, a practice endorsed by Macron, who abolished the diplomatic corps during his term.

Paris bets on Abidjan as a support point in West Africa

The choice of a profile from the development world for the Abidjan embassy is consistent with the French strategy in West Africa since the withdrawal from Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. Côte d’Ivoire has become the main anchor point of the French presence in the region. In this context, the appointment of someone well-versed in financing and infrastructure issues sends a signal about Paris’s priorities: to preserve and develop Franco-Ivorian economic interests at a time when French influence is declining elsewhere in the sub-region.

However, the figure of Rémy Rioux is not untouched by recent Ivorian history. In his book co-authored with journalist François Mattei, former President Laurent Gbagbo referred to him as “the linchpin” of financial restrictions implemented via the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) during the post-electoral crisis of 2010-2011, when he was deputy director of international affairs at the French Treasury. Gbagbo wrote that these actions aimed to “financially suffocate” his government. Rioux was then executing the instructions from the Élysée under Nicolas Sarkozy.

Persistent internal crisis in the PDCI

Internally, the Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire (PDCI) has been undergoing a governance crisis for several months. Four deputies – N’Gouan Jérémie Alfred (Aboisso), Alain Adja (Port-Bouët), Eliane N’Zi, and Athanase Kouamé (Bocanda) – suspended their participation in the parliamentary group in March 2026, publicly criticizing the president of the parliamentary group, Me Jean Chrysostome Blessy, accused of making decisions without consultation. About ten other elected officials are also expected to do the same, according to sources close to the matter.

The crisis revolves around the prolonged absence of the party’s president, Tidjane Thiam, who has remained in France for months. A former leader of Credit Suisse, Thiam took the helm of the PDCI after the death of Henri Konan Bédié and positioned himself as a candidate for the presidential election in October 2025 – a candidacy that ultimately faced legal obstacles. The PDCI did not field a candidate for this election, a strategy that the dissident deputies believe has led to the current weakening of the party. The PDCI parliamentary group lost half of its members between the 2021 elections and those in December 2025, according to Afrik Soir.

The party leadership reacted in March by recalling the chain of command, through its deputy executive secretary Geneviève Manoua.