Ibrahim Coulibaly

Ibrahim Coulibaly (24 February 1964 – 27 April 2011) was a military and rebel leader in Côte d'Ivoire. A Staff Sergeant in the Armed Forces of Côte d'Ivoire, Coulibaly had served since at least the early 1990s. As Côte d'Ivoire slid into communal conflict, Coulibaly joined the 1999 coup led by Robert Guéï. A second coup, following 2000 elections that made Laurent Gbagbo President, saw Coulibaly in a leadership position, after which he came into conflict with fellow military leader Guillaume Soro. During the ensuing eight years of division in the country, Coulibaly came into conflict with both sides, eventually returning to lead an Abidjan-based militia supportive of Alassane Ouattara. Following the end of fighting, Coulibaly was killed in Abidjan by Ouattara's forces during an attempt to disarm his group. Known popularly as "IB", he was 47 years old at the time of his death.

Ibrahim Coulibaly was born in 1964 in Bouaké, Côte d'Ivoire. He entered the Armed Forces of Côte d'Ivoire in 1985, rising to the rank of Staff-Sargent. in the early 1990s Coulibaly attracted attention within the military as a soldier and as a Basketball player, and was promoted to the bodyguard unit of then Prime Minister of Côte d'Ivoire Alassane Ouattara. Here he became involved in politics and came to meet higher-ranking officers who would eventually be involved in the 1999 Ivorian coup d'état.

Ibrahim Coulibaly became known as one of the leaders of the December 1999 coup that deposed President Henri Konan Bédié and brought military leader Robert Guéï to power. It was Guéï who first appointed Coulibaly to political position, naming him military attache to the Ivorian Ambassador to Canada. When it became clear Guéï wished to continue in power after planned elections, a September 2000 assassination attempt was reputedly planned by members of the military. Coulibaly, implicated in the plot, fled the country.

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