Burkina Faso, 2003 — military coup conspiracy
Event Summary
This entry is coded 1 October 2003, corresponding to the alleged October 2003 coup plot against President Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso. Compaore, who had come to power in the October 1987 coup in which his predecessor Thomas Sankara was killed, ruled with a heavy hand and relied on the elite Regiment of Presidential Security, an outfit whose loyalty was at times doubtful. In October 2003 his government announced an alleged plot to oust him, resulting in the imprisonment of several members of the military and political dissidents.
On 7 October 2003 the alleged attempted coup and its failure were announced publicly by a government prefect chairing the military court of the capital Ouagadougou; several people had been arrested, most of them connected to the military, especially the Regiment of Presidential Security. The episode unfolded amid periodic social and political unrest in Burkina Faso in the early 2000s, compounded by economic strain from the civil war in neighbouring Cote d'Ivoire. The 1 October 2003 coding sits at this early-October 2003 plot, announced days later.
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
43910012003
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Compaore suppressed the alleged plot 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
Associated Press
IHS Global Insights
Africa News
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 →