Congo, 1972 — military coup attempt
Event Summary
The dataset records an attempted military coup in the Republic of the Congo, or Congo Brazzaville, on 22 February 1972, against the Marxist Leninist government of President Marien Ngouabi and his Congolese Party of Labour. This event is generally identified with the coup attempt led by Lieutenant Ange Diawara, a former political commissar and radical leftist who, with allied officers, tried to overthrow Ngouabi from the ultra left. The attempt failed and Ngouabi survived, though Diawara escaped and mounted a guerrilla resistance in the Congolese bush before he was eventually captured and killed in 1973.
The rising was one of several challenges Ngouabi weathered as he consolidated his doctrinaire one-party state amid rivalries within the army and party. Ngouabi remained in power until he was himself assassinated in March 1977, part of the recurring violent power struggles that defined the politics of Congo Brazzaville in this era.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Sources
Editorial Note
Cross-Reference
Datasets agree. At least two of the three reference datasets we check against carry this event, and none of them disagrees about its date or its result.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
- Cline Center id
48402221972- Albrecht/Koehler/Schutz (CAM) id
CAM-484-1972-02-22
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: President Marien Ngouabi survived the February 1972 Diawara coup attempt and ruled until his 1977 assassination.
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
Wikipedia
New York 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 →