Abidjan, 14 April, 2021 / 6:00 pm (ACI Africa).
Following the death of the President of the Higher Council of Imams, Mosques and Islamic Affairs (COSIM) in Ivory Coast, members of the Clergy in the West African country have expressed their condolences to the Muslim community, describing the late religious leader as an “ardent artisan” interreligious dialogues, particularly between Muslims and Christians.
Sheikh Aima Mamadou Traore Boikary died Tuesday, April 13 reportedly after a long illness. He was 77 years old.
In a Tuesday, April 12 message, the Parish Priest of the Holy Family Catholic Church in Riviera 2 of the Archdiocese of Abidjan, Fr. Abekan Norbert-Éric, said that the West African nation “has lost an ardent artisan of interreligious dialogue.”
“His death is an immense loss for the national community. Islamic-Christian dialogue has lost a great figure in the person of Sheikh Al Aïma Mamadou Traore,” Fr. Abekan says in his Facebook post.
He goes on to describe the Sheikh as an “illustrious leader” whose “commitment to Islamic-Christian dialogue was exemplary.”