Mamadou Koulibaly

Mamadou Koulibaly (born 21 April 1957) is an Ivorian politician, Chairman of LIDER (Liberté et Démocratie pour la République), a classical liberal political party he founded in July 2011. Previously, he was President of the National Assembly of Côte d'Ivoire from 2001 to 2011, Minister of the Budget in 2000 and Minister of the Economy and Finance from 2000 to 2001. For years he was leading member of the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI), briefly leading the party in an interim capacity in 2011 before quitting it.

A Muslim and a native of the north of Côte d'Ivoire, Koulibaly was born at Azaguié-Gare and studied economics, becoming an economist and economics professor. Under the transitional military regime of Robert Guéï, Koulibaly served in the government as Minister of the Budget from 15 January 2000 to 18 May 2000, then as Minister of the Economy and Finances from 18 May 2000 to 25 October 2000. When Guéï was ousted following the disputed results of the October 2000 presidential election and FPI leader Laurent Gbagbo was sworn in as President, Koulibaly retained his post as Minister of the Economy and Finances, while gaining the role of Government Spokesman. He remained in those posts until 15 January 2001.

Koulibaly stood as an FPI candidate in the December 2000 parliamentary election and was elected to the National Assembly from Koumassi constituency. He was then elected as President of the National Assembly on 22 January 2001 without opposition. Another FPI deputy, Emile Boga Doudou, was also a candidate, but withdrew prior to the vote. The opposition Democratic Party of Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI) supported Koulibaly's candidacy as a gesture of cooperation.

In the aftermath of the 2002–2003 civil war, in which rebels failed to unseat Gbagbo but seized control of the north of the country, Koulibaly was noted as one of the main hard-line FPI figures surrounding Gbagbo who were hostile to the Marcoussis peace accord and despised opposition leader Alassane Ouattara. He was closely associated with Simone Gbagbo, who was Gbagbo's wife as well as President of the FPI Parliamentary Group. Alleged coup plotters led by Ibrahim Coulibaly were said to have conspired to kill Koulibaly along with President Gbagbo and Gbagbo's wife before being thwarted in August 2003.

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