Coup Atlas Research Database
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51608022006ConspiracyMilitary coup

Burundi, 2006 — military coup conspiracy

Burundi (BDI)East Africa, AfricaAugust 2, 2006

Event Summary

This entry is coded 2 August 2006, corresponding to the alleged August 2006 coup plot against President Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi. On 1 August 2006 the internal intelligence agency arrested eight people, including former Vice-President Alphonse Marie Kadege and former rebel leader Alain Mugabarabona, over claims they were planning a coup, and on 2 August a colonel, Damien Ndarisigaranye, was arrested at a Bujumbura bank, bringing to nine those held on a government list of fifteen people wanted for preparing to overthrow the elected institutions. Former President Domitien Ndayizeye was arrested later in the month.

Nkurunziza, a former rebel leader whose CNDD-FDD had taken power in 2005 elections ending over a decade of civil war, said intelligence officers had uncovered a plot involving civilians, military, and police. Critics charged that the ruling party had invented the plot to quash dissent. In 2007 the Supreme Court acquitted Ndayizeye, Kadege, and several others because the prosecution rested on a single witness, while convicting Mugabarabona and one other, who said their statements had been extracted under torture.

The 2 August 2006 coding matches this crackdown.

Researched Details

Researched

Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: Nkurunziza's government arrested the alleged plotters, but a court later acquitted most
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
President Pierre Nkurunziza (target)
former President Domitien Ndayizeye and former VP Alphonse Marie Kadege
former rebel leader Alain Mugabarabona

Sources

Secret service agents in Burundi arrested an army colonel, Damien Ndarisigaranye, at a bank in Bujumbura on 2 August 2006, bringing to nine those held since Monday on a government list of 15 people wanted for preparing to overthrow the elected institutions.
SOURCE REVIEWED ReliefWeb (IRIN): Burundi, Colonel arrested as coup crackdown continues open source ↗
Burundian secret service agents arrested eight people on 1 August, including a former vice-president and a former rebel leader, over claims they were planning a coup against President Pierre Nkurunziza.
SOURCE REVIEWED ReliefWeb (IRIN): Burundi, Former VP, ex-rebel leader arrested over coup plot open source ↗
All seven accused were arrested in August 2006 and accused of planning to overthrow Nkurunziza's government, and the court later acquitted five, including former President Ndayizeye and former vice-president Kadege, because the prosecution had based its accusations upon the evidence of only one witness.
SOURCE REVIEWED The New Humanitarian (IRIN): Court acquits ex-president over coup plot open source ↗
During the hearing the prosecution relied on evidence from Mugabarabona, who told the court intelligence officials had tortured him into naming the alleged plotters, while critics said the case was one among many rights abuses in the country.
SOURCE REVIEWED The New Humanitarian (IRIN): Court acquits ex-president over coup plot open source ↗

Editorial Note

Coded 2 Aug 2006 matches the 1-2 August 2006 crackdown and arrests. Verified as a discrete event, though disputed: a court later acquitted most defendants and the key testimony was alleged to be torture-induced. First Burundi record in the run.

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
51608022006

How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Nkurunziza's government arrested the alleged plotters, but a court later acquitted most.

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

Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
⚑ This citation establishes the coded baseline record; use the claim-level sources above for the researched narrative.

Baseline Source-Document Entries

CSP

Named in the baseline source document; no article citation was recorded.

UPI Newstrack

“8 charged with Burundi coup plot,” August 2, 2006

BBC Monitoring Africa

“Burundi: Senior army officer arrested as coup crackdown continues,” August 3, 2006

New York Beacon

“Burundi arrests after ‘coup plot’,” August 3, 2006

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 →

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