Robert Guéï (; 16 March 1941 – 19 September 2002) was the military ruler of the
Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...
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 of the
Yacouba
Dan is a Southern Mande language spoken primarily in Ivory Coast (~800,000 speakers) and Liberia (150,000–200,000 speakers). There is also a population of about 800 speakers in Guinea. Dan is a tonal language, with around 9-11 contour and ...
ethnic community. He was a career soldier: under the French administration, he was trained at the
Ouagadougou
Ouagadougou ( , , ) is the capital and largest city of Burkina Faso and the administrative, communications, cultural, and economic centre of the nation. It is also the country's largest city, with a population of 2,415,266 in 2019. The city's n ...
military school and the St Cyr military school in France. He was an ardent supporter of longtime President
Félix Houphouët-Boigny
Félix Houphouët-Boigny (; 18 October 1905 – 7 December 1993), affectionately called Papa Houphouët or Le Vieux ("The Old One"), was the first president of Ivory Coast, serving from 1960 until his death in 1993. A tribal chief, he wo ...
, who in 1990 appointed him chief of the army following a
mutiny
Mutiny is a revolt among a group of people (typically of a military, of a crew or of a crew of pirates) to oppose, change, or overthrow an organization to which they were previously loyal. The term is commonly used for a rebellion among member ...
. After the death of Houphouët-Boigny in 1993, Guéï became distanced from the new leader
Henri Konan Bédié
Aimé Henri Konan Bédié (born 5 May 1934) is an Ivorian politician. He was President of Ivory Coast from 1993 to 1999. He is currently the President of the Democratic Party of Ivory Coast - African Democratic Rally (PDCI-RDA).
. Guéï's refusal to mobilize his troops to resolve a political struggle between Bédié and the 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)
Bédié was overthrown in a coup on Christmas Eve, 1999. Although Guéï had no role in the coup, the popular general was encouraged out of retirement to head the
junta
Junta may refer to:
Government and military
* Junta (governing body) (from Spanish), the name of various historical and current governments and governing institutions, including civil ones
** Military junta, one form of junta, government led by ...
until the next elections. On 4 January 2000, he became President of the Republic. Guéï stood in the October 2000 presidential election as an independent. He only allowed one opposition candidate,
Laurent Gbagbo
Koudou Laurent Gbagbo , FPI website . ( 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, Aboudram ...
, to run against him. Guéï was soundly defeated by Gbagbo but refused to recognize the result. It took a spate of street protests to bring Gbagbo to power. Guéï fled to
Gouessesso
Gouessesso is a village in western Ivory Coast. It is in the sub-prefecture of Biankouma, Biankouma Department, Tonkpi Region, Montagnes District
Montagnes District (french: District des Montagnes) is one of fourteen administrative districts of ...
, near the
Liberia
Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...
n border, but remained a figure in the political scene. He was included in a reconciliation forum in 2001 and agreed to refrain from undemocratic methods.
Guéï withdrew from the forum agreement in September 2002, but was killed along with his wife, former
First Lady
First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non-monarchical
A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state fo ...
Rose Doudou Guéï
Rose Doudou Guéï (died September 19, 2002) was wife of the Head of State of Cote d'Ivoire, Robert Guéï, and consequently First Lady of Ivory Coast from 1999 to 2000.
Coup in 2000
A mutiny within Cote d'Ivoire's military evolved into a coup d ...
, and their children on 19 September 2002, in the
Cocody
Cocody (, ) is a suburb of and one of the 10 urban communes of Abidjan, Ivory Coast. It is upmarket and has an abundance of mansions. Cocody is where most of the wealthy businesspeople, ambassadors, and other affluent people live in Abidjan. The U ...
district of
Abidjan
Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, ...
at the first hours of the
civil war
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
. The circumstances of his death remain mysterious, although generally attributed to forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo. Several members of his family and the interior minister,
Émile Boga Doudou
Émile Boga Doudou (1952 – September 19, 2002) was an Ivorian politician who was minister of state for the interior and decentralization from 2000 to 2002. He was killed in the failed coup attempt at the start of the Ivorian Civil War.
...
First Ivorian Civil War
The First Ivorian Civil War was a civil conflict in the Ivory Coast (also known as Côte d'Ivoire) that began with a military rebellion on 19 September 2002 and ended with a peace agreement on 4 March 2007. The conflict pitted the government of ...