DATE=12/26/1999
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=GENERAL GUEI PROFILE
NUMBER=5-45121
BYLINE=CHALLISS MCDONOUGH
DATELINE=NAIROBI
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The new military ruler of Ivory Coast has been
at odds for years with the president he ousted on
Friday, Henri Konan Bedie. In fact, General Robert
Guei has twice been fired by the Bedie government -
once for allegedly plotting a coup. So supporters of
the ousted president say they are not surprised to
find General Guei at the center of the military
rebellion. V-O-A's Challiss McDonough has this
profile of the man who has taken command of the West
African nation.
TEXT: General Robert Guei is a 58-year-old career
soldier trained at an elite officers' school in
France.
He was tapped to serve as army chief of staff in 1990,
when the country's founding president asked him to
restore order after an army mutiny. General Guei
kept the defense post when Henri Konan Bedie assumed
the presindency in 1993. But relations between the
two men quickly deteriorated.
General Guei himself says their rivalry emerged during
a brief contest over who would succeed the President
Felix Houphouet-Boigny after his death. Former Prime
Minister Alassane Ouattara had challenged Mr. Bedie
for the office and claimed to have the support of the
army, headed by General Guei. Mr. Bedie won the
contest, but he entered the presidency with a distrust
of his military leaders.
Mr. Bedie first fired General Guei in 1995 after the
military chief criticized the government for using the
armed forces to suppress student riots. The General
also served a brief stint in the cabinet but was
dismissed and accused of plotting a coup.
He refused to answer the charges and was placed under
house arrest. But there was little evidence to
support the allegations. The general was released and
never formally charged with a crime.
Since then, General Guei had been keeping a fairly low
profile until Thursday's military revolt. But he says
was not involved in sparking the rebellion.
He says disgruntled young soldiers began rioting and
demanding unpaid wages, and then asked him to serve as
their spokesman after the unrest started.
The general insists it was a spontaneous uprising and
not a planned coup d'etat. The new military rulers of
Ivory Coast say they simply want to "clean house" in
preparation for democratic elections. But they have
yet to set a timetable for the transition back to a
civilian government. (signed)
NEB/CEM/JO
26-Dec-1999 06:03 AM EDT (26-Dec-1999 1103 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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