Robert Guéï

Robert Guéï (French pronunciation: [ʁɔbɛʁ ɡe.i]; 16 March 1941 – 19 September 2002) was an Ivorian politician who served as the third president of the Ivory Coast from 24 December 1999 to 26 October 2000. He succeeded President Henri Konan Bédié after the 1999 Ivorian coup d'état and lost to Laurent Gbagbo in the ensuing 2000 Ivorian presidential election. Guéï, his wife Rose Doudou Guéï, and his children were killed on 19 September 2002 on the first day of the First Ivorian Civil War.

== Biography ==

Guéï was born in Kabakouma, a village in the western Man Department, and was a member of the Yacouba ethnic community. He was a career soldier: under the French administration, he was trained at the Ouagadougou military school and the St Cyr military school in France. He was an ardent supporter of longtime President Félix Houphouët-Boigny, who in 1990, had him chief of the army following a mutiny. After the death of Houphouët-Boigny in 1993, Guéï became distanced from the new leader Henri Konan Bédié. Guéï's refusal to mobilize his troops to resolve a political struggle between Bédié and the opposition leader Alassane Ouattara in October 1995 led to his dismissal. He was made a minister...