Algeria, 1967 — military coup attempt
Event Summary
From 14 to 16 December 1967 Colonel Tahar Zbiri, the chief of staff of the Algerian People's National Army, led a failed coup against President Houari Boumediene, whom he had helped bring to power in the 1965 overthrow of Ahmed Ben Bella. Zbiri, a former guerrilla commander of the Aures region who had grown disillusioned as Boumediene sidelined the old maquis fighters in favor of professional officers and technocrats, marched armored columns on Algiers from the Chlef area. Boumediene, who had assumed direct command of the army, met the rebel tanks with air power.
The air force bombed the columns near El Affroun, inflicting heavy casualties and breaking the advance. On 15 December Boumediene fired Zbiri and announced over national radio that he had taken personal command against the irresponsible act of disobedience, and by 16 December the last rebel troops surrendered. Zbiri fled into the mountains and then exile.
Boumediene emerged with his authority consolidated for the long stable rule that followed.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Sources
Editorial Note
Cross-Reference
Datasets agree. At least two of the three reference datasets we check against carry this event, and none of them disagrees about its date or its result.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
- Cline Center id
61512141967- Albrecht/Koehler/Schutz (CAM) id
CAM-615-1967-12-14
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: President Houari Boumediene defeated the Zbiri coup with air power and consolidated his rule.
Baseline coding: Coup attempt failed to remove the incumbent. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.
Baseline Dataset Citation
Baseline Source-Document Entries
CSP
Luttwak
Powell and Thyne
Wikipedia
New York Times
New York Times
New York Times
This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →