Editing Robert Guéï (section)

==Biography==
Guéï was born in Kabakouma, a village in the western [[Man Department]], and was a member of the [[Gio people|Yacouba]] ethnic community. He was a career soldier: under the French administration, he was trained at the [[Ouagadougou]] military school and the [[École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr|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 but sacked again in August 1996 and forced out of the  army in January 1997.<ref name="encyclopedia.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2506000022.html |title=Robert Guéï 1941–2002 |publisher=encyclopedia.com |year=2008 |accessdate=11 April 2011}}</ref>

Bédié was overthrown in a [[1999 Ivorian coup d'état|coup on Christmas Eve, 1999]]. Although Guéï had no role in the coup, the popular general was encouraged out of retirement to head the [[Military junta|junta]] until the next elections. On 4 January 2000, he became President of the Republic.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www1.rfi.fr/actufr/articles/034/article_19210.asp|title = RFI – 1999–2003 : Trois années de turbulences}}</ref>  Guéï stood in the [[2000 Ivorian presidential election|October 2000 presidential election]] as an independent. He only allowed one opposition candidate, [[Laurent Gbagbo]] of the [[Ivorian Popular Front]], 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]], near the [[Liberia]]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.<ref name="encyclopedia.com"/>

Guéï withdrew from the forum agreement in September 2002, but was killed along with his wife, former [[First Lady of Ivory Coast|First Lady]] [[Rose Doudou Guéï]], and their children on 19 September 2002, in the [[Cocody]] district of [[Abidjan]] during the first hours of the [[First Ivorian Civil War|civil war]]. 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]], were also killed.<ref name="encyclopedia.com"/>

Following Guéï's death, his body stayed in a morgue until a funeral was held for him in Abidjan on 18 August 2006, nearly four years after his death.<ref>[http://www.itnsource.com/shotlist//RTV/2006/08/19/RTV1365806/ "IVORY COAST: Funeral for former military ruler Robert Guei, nearly four years after he was shot dead during the coup of 2001"], ITN Source: 19 August 2006. Retrieved 11 April 2011.</ref>