Ivory Coast: Ibrahim "IB" Coulibaly’s Breathes His Last

By Eunice Kilonzo

Abidjan--- Warlord Ibrahim "IB" Coulibaly was badly beaten before being shot in the chest, his spokesman, Felix Anoble said. He said this amidst allegations by Guillaume Soro, the prime minister that Coulibaly had committed suicide. 47-year-old Ibrahim Coulibaly was killed on Wednesday night when troops seized Coulibaly's stronghold in Abidjan. He was the leader of the so-called Invisible Commandos. Mr. Coulibaly's forces had helped Mr. Ouattara gain control of parts of Abidjan during the recent Ivory Coast crisis but the pair had since fallen out.

Mr. Coulibaly has had a long feud with Prime Minister Guillaume Soro, who led the Republican Forces of Ivory Coast (FRCI) for many years in their northern strongholds. This is because Soro ousted him from the leadership of their rebel group, which attempted to overthrow Gbagbo in 2002.

A photograph posted at www.abidjan.net showed the body of a man, arms stretched above him, with an apparent bullet wound to the chest and a bloodied face which looked like Coulibaly. The killing took place in Abidjan's poor PK18 area of Abobo district.

"Did you not see the photograph?" Felix Anoble asked. "That's him. His face is all swollen because they beat him badly before delivering the final shot." Mr. Anoble said he was killed after his troops were attacked while waiting for United Nations peacekeepers to arrive and disarm them.

Ivory Coast's President Alassane Ouattara, whom Coulibaly had said he considered "a father" on Thursday, expressed his regrets at the death of his wife's one-time bodyguard, who began the pro-democracy battle for Abidjan that put him in power. He however gave no details about Coulibaly's death, saying only "things happened as reported in the media".

BBC's John James journalist in Abidjan says Mr. Coulibaly's death eliminates a potential cause of instability for the new government. This comes at a time that Mr. Ouattara announced that he would be inaugurated on May 21 in the administrative capital of Yamoussoukro. He won a November presidential poll but was unable to take command because strongman Laurent Gbagbo refused to cede power, plunging the West African nation into four months of chaos.

An investigation has been opened into alleged human rights abuses committed by Mr. Gbagbo and his forces during the four-month standoff. On Tuesday, the government said it had launched a preliminary probe on "crimes and offences" committed by Gbagbo and his associates. But Ouattara's forces are still facing resistance from fighters loyal to his rival who are holed up in Abidjan's northwestern Yopougon neighborhood.

Mr. Coulibaly, the modern day Moses, liberated his people from the shackles of slavery and dictatorship but did not live to reach the Promised Land.