Burkina Faso, 2015 — military coup
Event Summary
On 23 September 2015 the week long coup by Burkina Faso's presidential guard collapsed and the transitional government was restored, with interim President Michel Kafando reinstated. After the Regiment of Presidential Security seized power on 16 September and installed General Gilbert Diendere's junta, it faced a rapid and unified backlash: mass street protests in which people were killed, condemnation from ECOWAS and Western governments, and above all the regular army, which marched on Ouagadougou and issued an ultimatum for the RSP to surrender. Facing the prospect of a confrontation with the far larger regular army, Diendere backed down, and a deal was reached for the RSP to withdraw to barracks.
On 23 September Kafando announced he had returned to work and that the civilian transition was again exercising state power. In the aftermath the transitional authorities moved decisively against the guard: the RSP was formally dissolved on 25 September, and Diendere and other coup plotters were arrested and prosecuted. Diendere was later convicted and, in 2019, sentenced to 20 years for his role in the coup, one of the rare instances in which coup leaders faced substantial legal accountability.
The restored transition went on to hold the delayed election, won by Roch Marc Christian Kabore.
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
43909232015
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: The coup plotters were defeated: junta leader Gilbert Diendere and other RSP officers were arrested and prosecuted after the transition was restored.
Baseline coding: Incumbent executive removed from power. Recorded leader fate: deposed; arrested or jailed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.
Baseline Dataset Citation
Baseline Source-Document Entries
Wall Street Journal
The Epoch 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 →