Burkina Faso, 1989 — military coup conspiracy
Event Summary
This entry is coded 25 December 1989, during President Blaise Compaore's continued consolidation of power in Burkina Faso after the summary execution of his two former triumvirate partners in September 1989. Compaore had seized power in the 15 October 1987 coup in which his friend and predecessor Thomas Sankara was killed, then ruled in a triumvirate under the Popular Front with Major Jean-Baptiste Boukary Lingani and Captain Henri Zongo. On 18 September 1989, while Compaore was on a state visit to China, authorities said a coup plot by Lingani and Zongo was discovered; the two and two other conspirators were arrested and summarily executed by firing squad the next day, 19 September, an event widely questioned as possibly a pretext to eliminate rivals.
In the aftermath further arrests followed, including of Junior Minister Jean Yado Toe and former National Revolutionary Council figure Soumaila Keita, as Compaore purged remaining Sankarist and hardline elements and moved toward a new constitution. The 25 December 1989 coding sits in this late-1989 climate of purge, alleged plotting, and consolidation under Compaore.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Sources
Editorial Note
Cross-Reference
Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
- Cline Center id
43912251989
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Compaore consolidated power after eliminating Lingani and Zongo and ruled until the 2014 uprising.
Baseline coding: Plot discovered and disrupted before execution. 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
New York Times
Globe and Mail
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 →