Ibrahim Coulibaly Ibrahim Coulibaly ( 24 February 1964 – 27 April 2011 ) was a military and rebel leader in Côte d ' Ivoire . A Staff Sargent 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 . Early career . 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 became involved in politics and came to meet higher - ranking officers who would eventually be involved in the 1999 Ivorian coup d ' état . 1999 coup . Ibrahim Coulibaly became known as one of the leaders of the December 1999 coup that deposed President Henri Konan Bédié and brought 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 . Ivorian Civil War . The contentious October 2000 elections , in which Ouattara was disqualified , thwarted Guéï ' s attempt to remain in power and made Laurent Gbagbo President of Côte d ' Ivoire . Continued tensions of citizenship and ethnicity , like those that led to the 1999 coup , saw another failed coup attempt in January 2001 . Coulibaly was again implicated and fled to Burkina Faso , where he and other opponents of the Gbagbo government were sheltered by regional rival Blaise Compaore . In September 2002 Coulibaly returned to the north of Côte d ' Ivoire , helping lead a seemingly successful coup against Gbagbo ' s government . Côte d ' Ivoire Coulibaly ' s faction , one of many on the rebel side , held territory in and around Bouaké before both sides fell into a stalemate that became the First Ivorian Civil War . Various factions were uneasily united in the northern based Forces Nouvelles de Côte d ' Ivoire , led from Bouaké . in In August 2003 he was arrested in Paris under suspicion of seeking to destabilize the Ivorian government , but he was released on bail in September . In June 2004 fighting broke out between his followers and those of rival rebel commander Guillaume Soro . In January 2005 Coulibaly expressed support for efforts by the African Union at mediating the political crisis . Coulibaly ' s associates were allegedly responsible for the assassination attempt on Ivorian Prime Minister Guillaume Soro in June 2007 . On December 30 , 2007 , the New Forces ( former rebels ) accused Coulibaly of attempting a coup on the night of December 27 – 28 . It said that he had moved towards the Côte d ' Ivoire - Ghana border to " join his accomplices " on that night ; he had previously been staying in Cotonou , Benin , but was ordered to leave Benin by that country ' s government for allegedly working to destabilize Côte d ' Ivoire . A clash on that night in Bouake led to the death of Seydou Traore , who the New Forces said was working for Coulibaly as the " central coordinator of the conspiracy " . Those involved in the clash who were captured were said to have identified Coulibaly as the leader of the plot . Arrest warrants . France and Côte d ' Ivoire have both issued international arrest warrants for Coulibaly . On March 10 , 2008 , a trial of Coulibaly , involving his alleged plot to seize power and kill Gbagbo with mercenaries in 2003 , began in Paris . Coulibaly was tried " in absentia " ; his lawyers said that they did not know where he was . 12 co - defendants were on trial with him , and most of them were present , having been arrested in France in mid - 2003 . On March 11 , Coulibaly denied the charges in an interview with Agence France - Presse , saying that he had never attempted to recruit any mercenaries in France . According to Coulibaly , he was in Belgium at the time of the interview and would not go to France to participate in the trial . He claimed that the legal proceedings against him were intended to keep him from returning to Côte d ' Ivoire to run against Gbagbo in the 2008 presidential election . The French court found Coulibaly guilty of " heading or organising a group with mercenary objectives " , and sentenced him " in absentia " to four years in prison on June 4 , 2008 . Five of his co - defendants were acquitted and the remaining seven were given sentences lighter than Coulibaly ' s . 2010 – 2011 Ivorian crisis . In January 2011 Coulibaly appeared as the reputed head of a militia group opposed to Laurent Gbagbo . Based in the Abidjan neighborhood of Abobo , the militia calling itself " The Invisible Commandos " led a series of surprise raids against his forces . After the March 2011 offensive by forces loyal to Ouattara reached the capital and deposed Gbagbo , the Ivorian Armed Forces siding with Ouattara and Guillaume Soro ( the Republican Forces of Côte d ' Ivoire ) began operations to disarm militias on both sides , including Coulibaly . On 27 April 2011 , according to an Ivorian defense ministry spokesman , Coulibaly was killed by FRCI forces .