It was the first coup d'état since the independence of Ivory Coast and led to the President Henri Konan Bédié being deposed.

Bédié was accused of corruption, political repression, and of stripping immigrants from neighboring countries of their political rights by promoting the concept of Ivoirité, which placed in doubt the nationality of many people of foreign origin and caused tension between people from the north and the south of Ivory Coast.

He also made a television address to the people and foreign diplomatic personnel, in which he gave assurances that democracy would be respected, international agreements would be maintained, the security of Ivorians and non-Ivorians would be guaranteed, missions to foreign countries would be sent to explain the reasons for the coup, and the problems of farmers would be addressed.

[2] Many Ivorians welcomed the coup, saying that they hoped the army would improve Ivory Coast's shaky economic and political circumstances.

The Ivorian Human Rights League (French: Ligue ivoirienne des droits de l'homme) issued a condemnation of human rights abuses, charging the security forces, among other things, with summary executions of alleged criminals without investigation and of harassment of commercial entities.

[5][6][7] Following the mutiny of July 2000, four officials of the Rally of the Republicans (French: Rassemblement des républicains (RDR)) were also arrested during an investigation into a possible coup attempt.

The RDR is the party of Alassane Dramane Ouattara, Félix Houphouët-Boigny's last Prime Minister and the political rival of the ousted former president Henri Konan Bédié.

The four arrested officials, including Amadou Gon Coulibaly, the Deputy Secretary General of the RDR, were released without charge some days later.

All of the major opposition candidates except for Laurent Koudou Gbagbo of the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) were barred from standing.