Cote d'Ivoire, 1999 — military coup

Event Summary

On 24 December 1999 the government of President Henri Konan Bedie was overthrown in the first coup in Cote d'Ivoire's history. Soldiers mutinied in Abidjan on 23 December over pay, conditions, and the detention of opposition Rally of the Republicans figures, and after Bedie refused their demands, retired general Robert Guei appeared on national television on 24 December to announce that the government had been removed. Bedie and his family took refuge at the French ambassador's residence and were moved to the French military base at Port Bouet; on 26 December a French helicopter flew him to Togo and into exile.

Guei headed a National Committee of Public Salvation, pledged a transition, and freed political prisoners, while mutineers looted parts of Abidjan. The coup was widely welcomed at home by opponents of Bedie's Ivoirite policies, which had barred Alassane Ouattara from the presidency, but the juntai ultimately kept the exclusion in place through the July 2000 constitution, and the disputed October 2000 election that Guei tried to steal from Laurent Gbagbo ended with street protests forcing Guei from power. The instability seeded the 2002 civil war, in which Guei was killed.