Congo, 1992 — military coup attempt
Event Summary
The dataset records an event coded as an attempted military coup in the Republic of the Congo on 20 January 1992 during the delicate democratic transition that followed the end of Denis Sassou Nguesso's one party Marxist rule. A sovereign national conference in 1991 had stripped Sassou Nguesso of most of his powers, installed a transitional government under Prime Minister Andre Milongo, and set the country on a path to multiparty elections, reducing the longtime president to a figurehead. The transition was tense, with the army, long a Sassou Nguesso stronghold, resistant to civilian control.
In January 1992 elements of the military moved against the transitional authority under Milongo, reportedly attempting to seize power or reverse the reforms, in a confrontation that threatened the fragile transition. The attempt did not topple the transitional government, which pressed ahead with elections later in 1992 that brought Pascal Lissouba to the presidency. But the underlying militarization of Congolese politics persisted, and the country would slide into devastating civil war in 1993 and again in 1997, when Sassou Nguesso, backed by Angolan troops, fought his way back to power.
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
48401201992
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: The transitional government under Andre Milongo survived the January 1992 military move and held elections that year.
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
The Ottawa Citizen
Chicago Tribune
Constitution Writing & Conflict Resolution
University of Central Arkansas
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 →