Chad, 1971 — rebel coup attempt
Event Summary
The dataset records an event coded as an attempted rebel coup in Chad on 26 August 1971, during the rule of President Francois Tombalbaye, whose government faced the Muslim northern rebellion of FROLINAT and repeated plots amid the wider civil war. In late August 1971 Tombalbaye accused Libya, under its new leader Muammar Gaddafi, of backing an attempted coup against him by Chadian exiles and dissidents. Tombalbaye broke diplomatic relations with Libya, expelled its diplomats, and in retaliation recognized and offered support to Libyan opposition figures, deepening the hostility between the two governments.
The alleged coup did not unseat Tombalbaye, who survived numerous challenges through his increasingly erratic and repressive rule, including a later turn to authenticity campaigns, until he was killed in a military coup in April 1975. The 1971 episode was one strand of the long instability that engulfed Chad from independence into decades of civil war.
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
48308261971
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: President Francois Tombalbaye survived the alleged August 1971 coup and ruled until he was killed in 1975.
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
New York Times
Chicago Tribune
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 →