The Galatasaray striker, with 96 caps and 60 goals for his country, was dropped for March’s qualifier against Gambia, and will now also miss the matches against Gambia and Tanzania in June.
Manchester City defender Kolo Toure has also been left out, but his brother Yaya will once again be the driving force as the Elephants look to extend their one point lead over Tanzania at the top of Group C.
Goalkeepers: Boubacar Barry (Lokeren/BEL), Ali Badra Sangare (Ivoire Academie), Sylvain Gbohouo (Sewe San Pedro)
Defenders: Souleymane Bamba (Trazbonspor/TUR), Arthur Boka (Stuttgart/GER), Benjamin Brou Angoua (Valenciennes/FRA), Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro (Toulouse/FRA), Serge Aurier (Toulouse/FRA), Jean-Jacques Gosso (Mersin Idman Yurdu/TUR), Ousmane Viera Diarrassouba (Pandurii/ROM), Brice Dja Djadja (Evian-Thonon-Gaillard/FRA)
Midfielders: Didier Zokora (Trabzonspor/TUR), Yaya Toure (Manchester City (ENG), Didier Ya Konan (Hanover 96/GER), Abdul Razak (Manchester City/ENG), Cheick Ismael Tioté (Newcastle United/ENG), Giovanni Sio (Sochaux/FRA), Geoffroy Serey Die (Basel/SUI), Romaric N'Dri Koffi (Real Zaragoza/ESP)
Attackers: Gervinho (Arsenal/ENG), Salomon Kalou (Lille/FRA), Wilfried Bony (Vitesse Arnhem/NED), Lacina Traore (Anzhi Makhachkala/RUS), Arouna Kone (Wigan)