robert gu

Robert Gu (March 16, 1941 - September 19, 2002) was the military ruler of the Cte d'Ivoire from December 24, 1999 to October 26, 2000. Gu was born in Kabakouma, a village in the western Man region, and was a member of the Yakouba tribe. He was a career soldier: under the French administration, he was trained at the Ouagadougou military school and the St Cyr academy. He was a firm supporter of Flix Houphout-Boigny, and in 1990 he was made chief of the army following a mutiny. Following the death of Houphout-Boigny in 1993, Gu became distanced from the new leader Henri Konan Bdi. Gu's refusal to mobilise his troops to resolve a political struggle between Bdi and the opposition leader Alassane Ouattara in October 1995 led to his dismissal. He was made a minister but sacked again in August 1996 and forced out of the army in January 1997. Bdi was overthrown in a coup on Christmas Eve, 1999. Although the coup was not led by Gu, the popular general was encouraged out of retirement to head the junta until the next elections. In the October 2000 elections, Gu was defeated by Laurent Gbagbo of the Ivorian Popular Front, but he refused to recognize the result and it took a spate of street protests to bring Gbagbo to power. Gu fled to Gouessesso, near the Liberian 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. Gu withdrew from the forum agreement in September 2002, but was killed in the Cocody district of Abidjan during an attempted coup. His wife and the interior minister, mile Boga Doudou, were also killed.

Robert Gu

See also