Mamadou Koulibaly (born 21 April 1957) is an Ivorian politician, Chairman o
LIDER
(Liberté et Démocratie pour la République), a classical liberal political party he founded in July 2011. Previously, he was President of the

National Assembly of Côte d'Ivoire The National Assembly is lower house of the Parliament of Ivory Coast since November 2016. From 1960 to 2016, the National Assembly was Ivory Coast's unicameral legislative body. Evolved from semi-representative bodies of the French Colonial p ...

from 2001 to 2011, Minister of the Budget in 2000 and Minister of Economy and Finance from 2000 to 2001. For years he was leading member of the

Ivorian Popular Front The Ivorian Popular Front (french: Front populaire ivoirien; abbr. FPI) is a centre-left, democratic socialist and social democratic political party in Ivory Coast. FPI was founded in exile in 1982 by history professor Laurent Gbagbo, Aboudrama ...

(FPI), briefly leading the party in an interim capacity in 2011 before quitting it.

Political career

A Muslim and a native of the north of Côte d'Ivoire,"After the phoney war"
''Africa Confidential'', volume 45, number 7, 2 April 2004. Koulibaly was born at Azaguié-Gare and studied economics, becoming an economist and economics professor. Under the transitional military regime of

Robert Guéï Robert Guéï (; 16 March 1941 – 19 September 2002) was the military ruler of the Ivory Coast from 24 December 1999 to 26 October 2000. Biography Guéï was born in Kabakouma, a village in the western Man Department, and was a member o ...

, Koulibaly served in the government as Minister of the Budget from 15 January 2000 to 18 May 2000, then as Minister of the Economy and Finances from 18 May 2000 to January 2001. When Guéï was ousted following the disputed results of the October 2000 presidential election and FPI leader

Laurent Gbagbo Koudou Laurent Gbagbo
, FPI website . ( December 2000 parliamentary election and was elected to the National Assembly from

Koumassi Koumassi is a suburb of Abidjan, Ivory Coast. It is one of the 10 urban communes of the city. Koumassi is one of four communes of Abidjan that are entirely south of Ébrié Lagoon, the others being Treichville, Marcory, and Port-Bouët Port-Bou� ...

constituency. He was then elected as President of the National Assembly on 22 January 2001"Ruling party secures Ivorian parliament's top position", Associated Press, 22 January 2001. without opposition. Another FPI deputy, Emile Boga Doudou, was also a candidate, but withdrew prior to the vote. The opposition Democratic Party of Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI) supported Koulibaly's candidacy as a gesture of cooperation. In the aftermath of the 2002–2003 civil war, in which rebels failed to unseat Gbagbo but seized control of the north of the country, Koulibaly was noted as one of the main hard-line FPI figures surrounding Gbagbo who were hostile to the Marcoussis peace accord and despised opposition leader

Alassane Ouattara Alassane Dramane Ouattara (; ; born 1 January 1942) is an Ivorian politician who has been President of Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) since 2010. An economist by profession, Ouattara worked for the International Monetary Fund (IMF)Simone Gbagbo Simone Ehivet Gbagbo (born 20 June 1949), National Assembly website (2007 archive page) . is an Ivorian politician. She is the President of the Parliamentary Group of the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) and is a Vice-President of the FPI. As the wif ...

, who was Gbagbo's wife as well as President of the FPI Parliamentary Group. Alleged coup plotters led by

Ibrahim Coulibaly Ibrahim Coulibaly (24 February 1964 – 27 April 2011)United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

mediators, Koulibaly strongly criticized the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI) in an interview with the newspaper ''Le Courrier'' that was published on 1 February 2006. According to Koulibaly, UNOCI had ceased to play a positive role in the resolving the Ivorian conflict and was only exacerbating the situation. In June 2010, Koulibaly accused Désiré Tagro—the Minister of the Interior and another top ally of Gbagbo—of embezzling money and showing regional favoritism regarding admissions to a training school for the police. Gbagbo ordered an investigation into the allegations; in July 2010, the investigation judged that the allegations were without merit, and Tagro, who continued to enjoy Gbagbo's favor, was ultimately unscathed by the episode. Following the second round of the October–November 2010 presidential election, both Gbagbo and Ouattara claimed victory. Although his claim to victory was rejected by regional and international institutions, Gbagbo was promptly sworn in for a new term on 4 December 2010. Koulibaly was notably absent from the hastily arranged swearing-in ceremony, raising some eyebrows. In an interview a few days later, Koulibaly explained that he had been out of the country at the time. Regarding the severe political controversy that had erupted between Gbagbo and Ouattara, Koulibaly urged calm and stressed that the dispute should be peacefully resolved through the creation of a

national unity government A national unity government, government of national unity (GNU), or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties (or all major parties) in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other nat ...

. He said that was the method settled upon for the resolution of post-election disputes in Africa and he said that it should be done quickly. Koulibaly attempted to resolve the situation through dialogue and met with Ouattara, but his efforts came to nothing. Although known as a long-time Gbagbo loyalist, he did not actively take sides in the conflict. As the political dispute turned violent and the two sides battled in Abidjan in March–April 2011, Koulibaly went to neighboring

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

. After Ouattara's forces captured Gbagbo and effectively took control of Abidjan on 11 April, Koulibaly returned to Abidjan on 19 April 2011. He met with Ouattara on 20 April and discussed the situation, especially the need to constitutionally normalize it by formally swearing in Ouattara as president and putting Ouattara's orders through the National Assembly. Ouattara appeared willing to leave the existing National Assembly, dominated by the FPI and chaired by Koulibaly, in place for the time being. Koulibaly also complained that his homes had been looted, his family had been threatened, and the National Assembly's offices had been damaged. He stressed reconciliation and expressed concern regarding persecution of FPI members and attacks on members of Gbagbo's Bété ethnic group. FPI President

Pascal Affi N'Guessan Pascal Affi N'Guessan (born 1 January 1953) is an Ivorian politician who is the President of the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI).national unity government A national unity government, government of national unity (GNU), or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties (or all major parties) in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other nat ...

, Koulibaly said on 25 May 2011 that the FPI would consider such participation only if Gbagbo and others who supported him were released. Koulibaly finally resigned on 12 July 2011 over the unwillingness of hardline members of the FPI to accept Ouattara's victory and take steps to form a credible political opposition party
LIDER

Party positions

Koulibaly was the FPI's Deputy Secretary-General in charge of Economic Questions and West African Integration before becoming one of the party's Vice-Presidents.Christophe Boisbouvier
"Le cas Koulibaly"
''Jeune Afrique'', 23 September 2007 .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koulibaly, Mamadou Presidents of the National Assembly (Ivory Coast) Finance ministers of Ivory Coast Ivorian Muslims 1957 births Living people Ivorian Popular Front politicians Government ministers of Ivory Coast Ivorian economists Ivorian academics Member of the Mont Pelerin Society